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Dante - The Strangelove Gambit
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9th
February 05 |
Nikolai
Dante - The Strangelove Gambit
David Bishop
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What to Expect:
What to expect: The Russian Rogue fighting, drinking and... something else
beginning with ‘F’, through various glamorous locations.
Review by Richmond
Clements
One description
I read of this book, was like a James Bond movie, fused with a Carry On movie
in far future Russia. I dunno about you, but to me that sounded pretty good, so
did it work out that way?
Well, it starts
off well, with a fun prologue, as a teenage Dante and his mentor, who has a name
that will cause the first of the may groans you’ll find yourself making
throughout the book. So, they’re in the Casino Royale, and they’re
there to steal a Faberge Egg. It’s a lovely start, but can Bishop keep it
up for the rest of the book..?
Fast forward to
Dante now; Bishop writes another cracking chapter, this one serving as an introduction
to Dante and the Crest. Some nice banter between Dante and the Crest is on display
here, as we’re given a display of what Dante and the crest can do together,
as they are helped and hindered in equal measure by Flintlock and Spatchcock.
The first half
of the book is kind of slow, as far as plot is concerned, as it is used to show
the reader around Dante’s world, and introduce us to some of the main players
in his life. But when we get to the main plot, boy is it worth it. Here’s
what happens, Dante and his sidekicks end up in a boarding school, and in the
rouge’s own words, ‘A finishing school for young ladies between eighteen
and twenty-one? No, I don’t think that should present any difficulties...’
Let’s be honest, it kind of writes itself from that point, doesn’t
it?
Earlier, I mentioned
the fact that you’ll be groaning a lot. That’ll be the Carry One element
of the novel. I was going to say that Bishop is fond of the double entendre, but
that is false. Bishop is dealing in single entendres here, nothing as fancy as
a double!
Apart from the
smut, there’s the sex. Plenty of it too, but don’t get excited quite
yet: it’s a 2000AD novel, not the letters page in Razzle (whatever that
is...). And action, let’s not forget that, when it comes, it comes thick
and fast (bloody hell, I’m at it now too). I had a slight complaint about
some confusing writing in an action scene in Bishop’s last 2000AD book,
Kingdom of the Blind, but there are no such problems here.
One of the best things about the Dante character is the underlying element of
darkness in both the character and the strip. I’ve always had a feeling
that Dante uses his relentless carousing to cover up the fact that he is, deep
down, pretty unhappy most of the time, and I like that Bishop has managed to reflect
this side of the tale too.
This book is great.
Bishop has Dante nailed perfectly from the beginning, and he is obviously having
far too much fun for something he’s getting paid to do. This is one of the
best, if not the best, Black Flame novel so far. I’m looking forward to
the follow-up already.
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this book from Amazon.co.uk
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