Mythmaker by Marianne de Pierres (Peacemaker #2)

7/10

Mythmaker by Marianne de Pierres is the second book in the Peacemaker series where urban fantasy meets cyberpunk meets spaghetti western meets various other sub-genres and labels. It's always great to read a book by an author who wants to push the envelope, and while Mythmaker didn't work for me as much as I wanted it to; I still respect de Pierres for continuing to press against those boundaries.

The story follows on from the events of the first book, with our heroine Virgin trying to come to terms with all the revelations that rocked her in the second book. Control of her own life is being systematically dismantled as Virgin is roped into working for the GJIC, an organisation trying to combat the Mythos threat. Everyone wants a piece of her, and as the book says in the blurb, things start to get messy.

Most of the things that I enjoyed about Peacemaker have transitioned over to Mythmaker. de Pierres has crafted a weird and wonderful world, populated it with various larger than life characters, and makes sure there is plenty of friction between each and every one of them. It feels like barely a scene can go past without having a character spoiling for a fight, which is fun at first but can get very tiring as it persists for the whole book. And for all the bluster and the friction and the fighting and mess that Virgin becomes involved with, there isn't much meaningful plot that actually happens. I kept waiting for the story to kick me in the teeth and take hold of me, but I had to wait until the last few chapters before I got the type of story progression I was wanting. The ending was great, but the journey just felt empty.

The characters are still fantastic, though it felt like Nate Sixkiller was on some type of stereotype enhancement drugs that sent his "Southern Gentleman" persona into overdrive. It was just a little too over the top for me, and took away from some of the finer aspects of his character. One character that got a ton of screen time in this book was Jason Statham knock-off Hamish Burns. In Mythmaker, Hamish evolves from Jason Statham as the Transporter into Jason Statham as Chev Chelios, rushing around at a million miles an hour trying to keep his heart rate high so the poison doesn't kill him. These are fun characters, and hopefully they get to sink their teeth into some meatier story in the next book.

After having such a good time with Peacemaker, I couldn't help but feel disappointed with Mythmaker. The pace was electric, the characters were colourful, but the plot progression was minimal. Mythmaker is a filler story, and it's good filler, but ultimately it feels like the purpose of this story is simply to position all the pieces to make sure they're ready for the third book. I'll be there for the third book, but my excitement to read it has definitely diminished.