Marina Fontaine reviews: Hell Spawn

Over at her blog, Marina Fontaine gives Hell Spawn a resounding review.

Just some highlights. You'll have to go to her blog for more.

I view Hell Spawn, the first in Finn's Saint Tommy, NYPD series, as essentially a superhero origin story .... the climax has him performing feats which would not be out of place in the next comics-based blockbuster.

Works for me.

In other hands, the tone of the story could have turned intolerably dark

It's a gift.

[Creates] an image of a city under siege from the forces of darkness which cannot be defeated by conventional means.

I call him DiBlasio. :)

From the title and the clear Catholic orientation of the novel, one might expect numerous pauses for theological discussions and explanation, but that's not the case. The required information comes to us in pithy chunks, never interfering with the pace or the steadily building tension leading to the climax. 

I'm always happy to pull that off.

Ironically, the only time the story lagged for me is during a prolonged series of fights between Tommy and a large number of ... let's just call them the bad guys, to avoid spoilers. This probably would've worked better in a movie, where we could see and appreciate the graphic, intricately choreographed brawl rather than reading the blow-by-blow description. Perhaps having been spoiled by the fast pace of the book, I did not wish to slow down for anything, not even to enjoy seeing the hordes of baddies beat up over the span of several pages.

..... Okay, that's new.

I'm looking forward to seeing where the story goes from here, but for now I unreservedly recommend Hell Spawn as a solid start.

The rest of the review is found here if you want it.
You can find all of the Saint Tommy books here -- to buy, or to review, if you haven't already.

And if you've gone through it all already, then please take a moment to chip in to the Dragon Awards Discussion. I post the June updates on Tuesday.