Bloodlines
by Peter Hartog
BOOK DETAILS: Series: The Guardian of Empire City, Book One Publication Year: 2019 Format: Kindle Eition Length: 446 pages Read Date: January 4-10, 2022
“Aren’t you supposed to be governed by logic and all that?”
“Even your most famous literary detective said, ‘once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth,’” she said.
“Sherlock Holmes wouldn’t have believed in vampires, either,” I countered.
“Well, we do live in interesting times, Holliday,” Deacon quipped.
What’s Bloodlines About?
Er, actually…this is the wrong place to start. Let’s try this instead:
Describe this World
This takes place in a futuristic world where human population/civilizations have been destroyed through a combination of “terrorist cyber-attacks, a bunch of nuclear catastrophes, and the pandemics that followed.” Nations have been replaced by a number of enclaves throughout the world, like Empire City (that grew from the ruins of New York), the Confederate States of Birmingham (a theocratic state), and the People’s Republic of Boulder.
Long story short: one of the side effects of the nuclear catastrophes was a new form of energy in the world that acted close enough to magic that people called it that. Also, it made it possible for beings from another dimension to travel to Earth. They’re called Vellans, and I’m going to leave it to Hartog to describe them to you when you read the book (a thing I think you should do).
So, as our setting we’ve got that rebuilt NYC, patching a society and culture together, in a world that looks not dissimilar from Scott’s Blade Runner, powered by magic, and that has pan-dimensional aliens walking around. Clear enough?
Now, with that out of the way, we can ask:
What’s Bloodlines About?
“They aren’t equipped to deal with the things that I want Special Crimes to handle.”
“Such as what, exactly?” I asked.
“Things that require more than a badge, a pair of handcuffs and a warrant,” Mahoney replied, fierce heat coating his words. “Things that laugh at the law, thinking they are above, or beyond it. Things that don’t give a damn about you or me.”
Our protagonist/narrator is Detective Tom “Doc” Holliday, his career has taken a hit and while he still gets to investigate the occasional homicide, he’s primarily the guy who does paperwork for everyone else. He’s recruited to be part of the Special Crimes Unit, working on “the unsolvable and inexplicable” (think Dresden Files‘ Special Investigations or Rivers of London The Folly). At this point, the unit consists of a retired legend of ECPD leading a former Protector (a law enforcement officer from Birmingham) and another consultant. But once they make their mark on the city, there’s a suggestion that they’ll get more legitimacy and funding. Holliday doesn’t much care, it’s a chance to do more than paperwork.
Their first case involves a murder that a tabloid is claiming a vampire committed (farfetched, sure, but it’s a solid explanation for the eyewitness testimony and the physical evidence—at first glance, anyway). Still, a vampire is far-fetched even for this new magical reality. Holliday doesn’t buy it, he’s looking for a more rational explanation. But this is the kind of thing that SCU is for so Holliday and the tiny team dive in.
Doc Holliday
I live and work in the real world. I go after criminals, arrest them, then do it again, and hope I don’t get killed in the process. I do it because it’s my job, I’ve got the training and it’s the right f****** thing to do.”
If you can enjoy—to some extent—Holliday, you’re going to enjoy the novel. I can see where some won’t get along with him, and they’ll have a miserable time with this book. Me? I’m not going to declare us BFFs after just one book, but I’d be more than happy to have a few cups of coffee with the man.
In addition to being the driven detective (at one time, he was considered one of the top three homicide detectives in the enclave), he has a Ph.D. in Literature and a Master’s in gourmet cooking. That’s a tried and true combination of interests, sure to resonate with fans of Detective Fiction. His troubled past, self-destructive tendencies, and wiseguy mouth/attitude add to that appeal.
Along those lines, I appreciate the way Holliday leans on his literary background to get him through tough moments, quoting Shakespeare or other notables to talk steel himself—or calm himself—in a tight situation is nice to see.
As for his clairvoyance? It’s interesting to see in action, and hopefully, as he learns to master and develop the ability, I’ll enjoy it more. It’s a good start at a character with magic, but he needs a little work.
A Question of Genre
As I’ve established before, once I decide to read a book, I pretty much forget everything I learned about it. I remembered that this was an Urban Fantasy—which made me a little leary, and also insanely curious. It’s been a while since I read a new-to-me Urban Fantasy, because most of the new ones I dabbled in didn’t work for me. At the same time, I really want a new-to-me Urban Fantasy series…
I wasn’t prepared for this “blend of science fiction, urban fantasy and crime thriller” (as the author describes it at the end of the book). I’d read one book like that years ago—and it was…okay? In many ways, this is that book, but better. Significantly better.
This reads more like a Futuristic Police Detective novel with Urban Fantasy flourishes. Most of the time. The rest of the time, it’s an Urban Fantasy with neat technology.
The magic system is pretty vague at this point in the series—one of the advantages of “magic” being a new thing to this world, so no one understands it that well, and an author can make it do whatever he wants. Each instance of magic at work is just cool. It reminded me of why I got into Urban Fantasy in the first place, actually, any kind of Fantasy with magic users.
So, what did I think about Bloodlines?
This really impressed me—I was distracted with a non-reading project most of the time that I was reading this book, so I couldn’t devote the time I wanted to devote to it, only reading thirty minutes or so a day. It’s the kind of thing I could’ve been very happy to read in a session or to (and I might have enjoyed it more if I could’ve taken the plunge).
I’m a little tired of authors mining a vague, pop-understanding of Roman Catholicism for their Magical/Fantasy purposes. But I guess it’s easier to do that than to try to find aspects of Protestantism to serve that purpose (the presence of someone with roots in a vaguely Southern Evangelical culture suggests that Hartog intends to try). I’m not going to hold it against this book, I’m just taking the opportunity to belly-ache. Because, if you’re doing to co-opt bits of Roman Catholic practice, this is a pretty tame way to go about it.
I’m definitely coming back for more—I want to explore this world some more, I want more time with the members of the Special Crimes Unit, and I’m curious about the overarching story introduced in the latter parts of this book. I’m not there yet, but I can see me becoming a pretty big fan-boy for this series.
I think anyone who thinks an Urban Fantasy/Science Fiction/Detective mashup novel might be interesting will find themselves entertained with this one-stop source to get your genre-itch scratched. Give it a try, let me know what you think.
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