Sean Stewart
Resurrection Man
Ace Books 1995

When Dante and his stepbrother Jet finds Dante's dead body, Dante is sure he's going to die within a week. Now he's got some things do in the time left: he needs to find out why he's going to die, and Jet needs him to find out how and why Jet lost his soul when he was only two weeks old. Together they discover all (?) the dark secrets of their family.

The story is set in our world and our time, but in a strange version of it. After World War II the magic returned, and this has for example made the political situation slightly different, with China the major super power because of their superior understanding of the way magic works. I can't say I understand how it works, but some people are more or less "angels" or "minotaurs", that is they have some kind of magical abilities. "Minotaurs" are using a dark and dangerous magic, operating mainly in the slum districts. "Angels" are by no means as righteous as their name might make you presume, and Dante has always supressed the "angel"-side of his personality.

I'm not particularly fond of this kind of stories. I don't know what to call it. Horror? Magical realism? Anyway, it's not really my cup of tea. Not that there wasn't some interesting stuff in it. Some of the characters are very interesting, especially the members of Dante's strange family. Sometimes the book reminds me of gothic novels: a house populated by strange people, ghosts and mysteries. It also reminds me of Katharine Kerr's "Freezeframes", but this one is actually a bit better, I think. But the book is nowhere near his masterpiece "Nobody's Son".

Karl Henriksson

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Books by the same author:
"Nobody's Son"

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