The Great Game

Although I've given both books three stars, this is a better book than its precedessor. It's more confidently written, more convincing, well paced, and fairly gripping throughout.

It's also a different kind of book. The first book was the story of a major revolution; this one is a murder mystery: a whodunnit. But the murder has serious political implications, so it's fairly important.

Both books contain scenes of conflict between rival magicians. I still feel that the word ‘magic' is not entirely appropriate, and that the mental powers displayed are rather too powerful for comfort. But they were so firmly established in the first book that the author can't do much about them in the sequels.

The murder mystery is complex and well plotted and there are various motives and suspects hanging around. I'm not a particular fan of whodunnits myself. Those who are may be disappointed that the vital evidence doesn't turn up until near the end. So, you can try to guess the murderer in advance, but even Sherlock Holmes would be unlikely to provide a rational solution any sooner than the heroine does.

Nuttall is an author who adds a minimum of scenic description to his novels. For me, this is not a major fault, but I've recently been reading novels by S.M. Stirling, who does a great deal of research and describes the scenery in some detail; and the contrast in writing styles is rather striking. I would surely never have the patience to write in the Stirling style even if I were capable of it, but it adds to the sense of depth and helps you to feel really there. It does lengthen the book and slow the pace a little.

As an example, in this book the heroine has to attend a meeting in Buckingham Palace. There are very brief descriptions of two rather anonymous rooms in the palace (could be anywhere), but her entry and exit are completely undocumented. I feel that Stirling, thorough fellow that he is, would have researched the palace and given some description of her progress through it; or, failing that, would have located the meeting in some place that he could describe more plausibly. But Stirling is rather unusual in this respect, at least in the sf and fantasy genres.