Factotum by D.M. Cornish is the third (and final?) book in a series which was called “The Monster Blood Tattoo” series, but which is now being called “The Foundling’s Tale.” I personally like the title change. The first two books in the series are Foundling and Lamplighter (review here).
Ah, books in series. I have to admit that they are much more my speed. Although I like a good short story if it’s really really good, give me a novel and I’ll be more satisfied. A good series, though, is a happy investment. The only problem is that sometimes a series can suffer from quality issues. For example, sometimes the author changes styles and themes wildly like Anne Rice did with her famous Vampire Chronicle novels. Sometimes things get really really weird, like in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series. Other times the more you read, the less patience you have with the author, which is what happened to me while reading through all of James Ellroy’s “LA Quartet” (although I still really highly recommend Black Dahlia). It seems like, inevitably, simply because of the time and effort involved in writing something so massive, there are going to be some inconsistencies, and the reader is going to prefer one book over another.
Wow, it almost sounds like I’m winding up to deliver some bad news. Actually, the books are very consistent well-written. To me, they don’t have any of the problems associated with novels in series that I mentioned above. There is a little bad news: The first quarter of Factotum is a kind of dry and stiff. I ended up getting kind of annoyed with the hero of the series, Rosamund himself. The kid is earnest and he means well. He just keeps getting into trouble. I guess that there has to be conflict, otherwise there wouldn’t be any plot and most books would feature people who just sort of float along through the landscape. But at the same time, the main conflict of this book seemed manufactured to me, and I think that it got in the way of what should have been the real adventure. That being Rosamund working for Europe and the fallout from the events of the second novel. Maybe with some Threnody thrown in for good measure.
What happens? Rosamund and Europe travel to Europe’s home after the events of the second book. They’re kind of dazed and looking to get back to “normal”, whatever that would be in this situation. As mentioned above, Rosamund manages to stir up some new trouble, and a little old trouble comes looking for them. Then they leave town on a monster-hunting trip with the hope that things back home will cool down. Rosamund and Europe go to slay monsters for pay, but find themselves on an adventure of discovery.
On to the good news. The book is at least as imaginative as the other two in the series, and once the adventure starts the book is extremely entertaining. I had a hard time putting it down. Fans of the first two books will be happy to find that some of the loose ends of the series get a little better tied up. I also think Cornish did a great job of adding depth and explanation to what was happening in the background of the series without spelling it out for the readers. We get a lot more of Europe, which is good news. However, there is no Threnody, which I guess shouldn’t be a big surprise, but I was still disappointed.
Creepy Factor: 3 out of 5
Suspense Factor: 4 out of 5
Weird Erotic Tension Factor: 0 out of 5 (it’s about a boy, so…)
Funny and/or Strange Factor: 3 out of 5
Final result: I didn’t think this was as amazingly great as the first two books, but I still loved it. Great adventure, deep characterizations, cool illustrations, hard lessons, strange monsters, and enormous suspense all in one place.
Foundling by D.M. Cornish – Speak – 2007
Lamplighter by D.M. Cornish – Putnam – 2008
Factotum by D.M. Cornish – Putnam – 2010
Get Foundling on Amazon
Get Lamplighter on Amazon
Get Factotum on Amazon
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