Set in an alternate present-day, Rupert Triumff stumbles upon a plot that threatens the Queen (still Elizabeth, not our Elizabeth).
I was quite looking forward to this one because I like swashbuckling tales and the setting of the alternate world added a dash of science fiction to this, and I love it when genres collide and blend together. There are some nice touches here, like the fact that Triumff’s weapon is a kind of swiss army knife, yet it’s not used as a magic plot device that can get him out of anything. The style feels authentic and has a very old time quality to it. The narrator even inserts himself into the story at certain points, with the utmost modesty, of course.
There are also some pop culture references, like a cop called Clint Eastwoodho, or a secret service gadget man named Kew. There were probably others I missed as well, so I would have liked to see more of this, and more ways in which contrasts were struck between our world and Triumff’s.
But for all the dashing heroism and the flowing style, I feel somewhere the plot got lost in the muddied waters of the author enjoying writing about this world. After having finished it I’m struggling to recall the finer details. There was a plot of a secret society and it threatened to find Magick with which to overthrow the Queen, but it didn’t have any impact on me and it really lost steam towards the end. I feel the author was going for something that was over the top, but I don’t think there was enough humor to make it a comedic read, and the plot wasn’t strong enough to make it a page turner. Mr. Abnett is a skilled writer in the technical sense, but the substance of the story unfortunately did not grab me.
