Clever. Diffrent. Not as good as the first.

The Devil in Amber
von Mark Gatiss

Bewertet mit 3.5 Sternen

I deify this genius of words and his skilful storytelling, but I have to acknowledge the second part of this trilogy wasn’t as pleasing as his predecessor. Well, it wasn’t that hideous either, but I feel compelled to articulate my distress about certain aspects of this imaginative tale. I have chosen to verbalise my thoughts on The Devil in Amber in a preposterous and extravagant fashion to not just appeal to your delicate taste (and to appear savvier myself), but as a tribute to the ingenious and divinely author of aforementioned book who owns a seemingly unlimited vocabulary and puts it to an extensive use.

First of all (and much to my chagrin) I found myself missing a beloved character and I experienced quite a difficult time (trying not to cry on that bus full of strangers) when the reason for his absence was revealed.

Secondly I was a bit displeased with the supernatural aspect of the plot and its solution, but that is purely a matter of taste and doesn’t affect the elaborate and well-wrought story line at all.

Taken as a whole it was a rewarding book which will most certainly result in an accretion of the readers vocabulary. I cried, I laughed, I reflected and I swore. I was aghast and delighted. I found myself baffled and was proud when I beat the protagonist in unravelling the mysteries (although I am aware that those were the enigmas the reader is supposed to solve (as it is common knowledge that the audience is pleased when given the opportunity to outsmart the hero (even if it’s just due to the fact that he got handed all the necessary information on a silver platter) which is why the authors of books(, movies, plays, shows, games.. (everything that contains a story really)) scatter those simple (and sometimes quite obvious ) riddles (some of which just planted to lead astray) in their tales so that their audience considers themselves clever and cunning) but that doesn’t dampen the experience of pride at all) and as a result predicted the outcome of a situation more then once.

Of course that is not to say the story was predictable! Of course it was genuine and extraordinary… I mean if a story about a British and bisexual secret agent named Lucifer who tries to stop “a fascist messiah” from “summoning” the devil in Switzerland in the 1920s isn’t at least a bit of extraordinary then I don’t know what is.

If you managed not going bonkers till this point, you’re definitely ahead of me, ’cause my ability to think straight is kind of raddled, busted… shagged out, haywired, cactus, kaput… not working at all!! Maybe it’s because it’s 3 am and I’m a liiiiiittle bit tired (maybe not (who cares??))?

To top this gallimaufry of my queer thinking off I’ll give you this representative quotation from page 180 out of Mark Gatiss “The Devil in Amber”:

    ‘You heard what Mr Flarge said. I’ll blow you away if you get clever.’

    ‘Charmin’,’ I retorted, “But I can’t get clever, Mr Daley. I am clever.’