Book Review - Anyone else out there like Special Agent Pendergast?

[botias]

I enjoyed the lastest book, The Wheel of Darkness, but was also disappointed. I'm a fangirl of Special Agent Pendergast so I'm pretty happy to tune in just to watch his usual antics. (P.S. Thanks for the shirtless scene, guys. Yum!) But Pendergast and his ward, Constance, seem locked in a stasis for this book when it comes to character development or meaningful conflict. Though Pendergast is theoretically concerned with his ward's mental health, and his efforts in that direction set up the plot, the book drops the ball, and if Pendergast is feeling any fallout himself from his harrowing and excruciatingly personal battle with Diogenes, we don't see it effect the course of events in any meaningful way.

I get that the authors want each book to stand alone, but that's no excuse for zero character arc. Of course it's nice that Agent P. saves the world, but it's just a mental exercise if we can't connect to the characters. Also missing was any acknowledgment the consequences of the Special Agent's single-minded and conscienceless manipulation of others in pursuit of the greater good. While I'm making up a wish list, another thing that would be nice is if he could be thwarted once in a while by his obvious flaws.

SPOILER! A missed opportunity was a point in the book where Pendergast becomes EVIL (!!!) Given how super human the authors have made this character, this could have, and I would argue, should have, been extremely terrifying. Instead, we learn that his big plan, now that he is a being of pure evil, is to hole up in his mansion with a few thousand good books. Which, I find kind of charming, actually (see my fangirl confessions above) but still... Also disappointing was that he apparently has no romantic notions whatsoever towards Constance since he displays no sexual interest in her even when freed of all moral and cultural inhibitions. (So sue me! I like a bit of romance, and some sexual menace doesn't go amiss either.) I was so sure that Constance had a crush on her guardian, and that she would be made to painfully confront it.

I'm thinking of this as an entertaining interlude, and hoping that the next book will hit the ground running.

Comments

[diachrony.livejournal.com]

Okay, I'm going to say this ... I find the books ridiculously bad!ficcy when they make Pendergast do absurdly superhuman feats ... the first few times it happened, I had to blink and re-read paragraphs several times while muttering to myself "What effery is this?!"

BUT I HAVE A SEKRIT CRUSH ON HIM.

It snuck up on me. I had absolutely no idea when I started reading the books that I was going to get any more than light thriller pulp.

He's really pinging for me, oddly enough. (I think if I read these books as a teen I'd have had it bad. I'd have written reams of fanfic in my head, I'm sure.)

I have only read several-four of the books - haven't read the one you're talking about and it does sound disappointing. But I have a feeling they're never going to deliver, and the UST for the reader will forever be unresolved.

[botias.livejournal.com]

Yes, I kind of remember my first WTF moment. I think it was when Pendergast spoke some obscure dialect of an obscure language fluently.

It would be one thing if they were just stringing the readers along. And maybe that's what they meant to do. But it felt like they just kinda forgot to do character development in that book. Oh, well! But dropping the ball with him being evil was just sadness making. As my hubby put it, Pendergast's big plan now that he is a being of pure evil is to start in on his TBR shelf. :/ I'm sure he would have hit it those books hard and read very evilly.

[diachrony.livejournal.com]

As my hubby put it, Pendergast's big plan now that he is a being of pure evil is to start in on his TBR shelf. :/ I'm sure he would have hit it those books hard and read very evilly.

LOL!!!! :-D

[cleoius.livejournal.com]

*giggles* Is it wrong that hearing the whole "my evil plan is to hole up with a thousand good books" made me think of Lezard? XD

[botias.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but I get the idea that the books would all be about human sacrifice and animating the dead, etc.

[cleoius.livejournal.com]

Yes, a good portion of them. But he's also well read on the Gods, time travel, and various magic artifacts! XD