Blind Shrike by Richard Kadrey
09 Apr 2005
It's been a long time since I read some good old scifi fantasy novel. The thing that caught my eye about this one was that Richard Kadrey was giving away Blind Shrike free under a Creative Commons license. And the fact is I needed a break from the heavy non-fiction books I'm reading. I feel like it's been all about work the last few weeks since I started the new job and needed a weekend to my own thought processes.
I didn't know what to expect but I have to admit I really enjoyed Blind Shrike. I polished it off in 2 evenings of reading which is a lot more than I can say for a lot of the other stuff I've been reading lately. Nice offhanded style, interesting and imaginative writing. Not much more you can ask for really. Hardly high literature but entertaining and probably a staple for hard core fans of the genre.
I can definitely see the guy trying to develop it into a series as its left a little open ended and its interesting how many different mythological concepts it pulls off successfully without blowing the overall flow of the story. The author said it's an orphaned book he's letting out into the world, but the fact is I liked it enough, I want more. I think it teeters on the edge of fascinating and almost clichéd (more regular genre readers might want to chime in here), but I enjoyed it enough I would have definitely paid for it had I known (oops, sorry... forgot my new book resolution - "would have definitely ordered it from the library."... ahem...).
Hope he's planning on penning another if he gets enough interest as a CC 'net phenom. And just in case, Kadrey ever reads this... I wanted to thank you for giving a gift to the reading public. Thanks. Tis very, very cool of you and I'm glad you let you let your creation loose in the world rather than letting it sulk in some unused desk drawer.