Confusing at times but always entertaining, Sweet Silver Blues was a fantastic introduction to this series. Garrett and the secondary characters, Dorley, Marsha, and Doris, especially added to my overall enjoyment of this book and I will definitely be reading the next in the series.

A fantasy mystery detective novel! What a peculiar combination! But under the pen of Glen Cook it works marvelously well. This book had everything one might want or expect from a fantasy / detective story: hard-boiled & unique characters, tangled & mysterious plots, lots of action & grit, funny & witty dialogue, fantastical monsters & crazy magic... should I go on? If you like the things I just mentioned, read it; you won't be disappointed!

Cook nails exactly what he's going for--an homage to the great noir novels set in a fantastical world. Garrett is a tarnished knight worthy of Chandler. The repartee is snappy, the dames curvy and fiery, the action nasty and brutish, and the schemes as twisty and turny as you could want. There's a reason why Cook keeps churning these out. Immensely readable fun.

Took me a while to get into, but good good fun. I do have rather a penchant for the whole fantasy noir thing, after all. ;)

Sweet Silver Blues has been one of my go-to comfort books since I first read it, in 1987. In fact, I still that same copy.

I have enjoyed the series' hard-boiled mystery aspect transplanted to a complex fantasy world.

In this book, Garrett takes on a case to find a misplaces inheratrix but he keeps tripping over his past. Perhaps the coincidences are a bit too coincidental and perhaps you never get a good understanding of the object who drives the story but I can forgive that because the building blocks of the series are here: the characters, the setting, the protagonist's characteristics, the language and dialogue.

One thing I have also always enjoyed is the setting - Tunfaire and the Cantard loom so large, they nearly make for additional characters and add a richness to the background without becoming the story.

i'd give 3.5 if I could but 4 would be a bit too much.

i waited for a well-written female character to show up

i'm still waiting

Surprisingly wholesome

My first book this year and the first after an almost two-month reading break. When no book felt worth beginning and nothing could spike my interest, this little gem hidden in the depths of my eBook shelf managed to break the ice.

I didn't remember when I downloaded it or even why, and so went in blind without any expectations whatsoever. The book turned out to be surprisingly nice, refreshingly humane and short enough to keep the tension consistently high.

It starts out rather cliche: a grumpy protagonist who is not a morning person (are there even books about morning persons?), a cumbersome case, a romantic backstory. Oh well, I thought, that will be one of those gritty tails about hard-boiled tough guys who leave their enemies dead and their groupies swooning in their wake. That was not the case.

It was refreshing to have a hero group who actively avoids unnecessary kills, who go out of their way (sometimes literally) to avoid conflict where it can be avoided, and who openly admit to being out of their depths and scared witless.

Despite the story taking place in war-ravaged lands where mythical racism prevails, it maintains an aura of wholesomeness and comfort. It is easy to get into and short chapters cater nicely to reduced attention spans, making it perfect for stressed out readers looking for some escapism.

Subjective reviewer that I am, instead of giving it the nice-but-nothing-special three stars it probably deserves, I'll rate it solid-good four for bringing me out of my reading slump. And for being wholesome and refreshing.

4/5