Customer Reviews:
 Hell is bureaucracy May 24, 2008
David Roy (Vancouver, BC)
I greatly enjoyed Liz Williams' "Snake Agent", partially for the excellent characterization but also for the unique setting. Williams captures the Chinese atmosphere perfectly, and I've heard from other sources that she does it pretty accurately. I'm not that familiar with the details of Chinese culture, but it certainly seems accurate to my limited knowledge. Most importantly, it *feels* right. She gets the mood down perfectly, an oppressed city, stifling heat (it's unclear whether that's due to global warming or the proximity to Hell, or if that's just Singapore's climate) and a mix of high-end neighborhoods and downtrodden slums. Her version of Hell is wonderfully portrayed too, massively bureaucratic and structured, with various ministries in charge of doing things to keep evil in the real world. However, there are certain rules they have to follow, and they can't step on each others' toes. Zhu Irzh is on the Vice Squad not to prevent and control Vice, but to make sure that everything's being done properly. We don't see Heaven in the novel, but we do see how it interacts with the real world and with Hell, as Hell's minions do have to watch their step so Heaven's bureaucracy doesn't get involved. Williams' description of everything makes you feel like you're there, sweltering in the heat or down in Hell when Chen has to go there to finish his mission.
Chen is an extremely interesting character. He's married to a demon who has escape from Hell because of an attempted forced marriage (all of this happened in a previous unpublished adventure). He's world-weary, but he's definitely good at what he does. He's on the outs with his goddess right now, which will make visiting Hell a bit tougher because he won't have her protection. Zhu Irzh is a wonderful creation, a demon with a few ethics; he's not a "good" demon, but he wants to make sure everything runs smoothly and correctly. Chen and he form an interesting relationship of respect but distrust, and their interplay is a lot of fun to read. In fact, sometimes Zhu is a more interesting character then Chen, especially with little details such as how he keeps on getting his favorite coat messed up and how annoying he finds that. The ending of the book promises that in subsequent novels, we will be seeing more of Zhu, which made me very happy. I wasn't quite as impressed with Chen's wife, but she started to hold her own as her storyline moved forward. Williams also has a handle on her minor characters, making them distinctive even if they aren't a major part of the plot.
I really did enjoy Snake Agent, and would recommend it highly to any fantasy or science fiction fan looking for something just a little different. The book can be slow going at times, but that's usually because you're spending more time immersed in the setting and Williams' wonderful prose. I'm usually a quick read, and I was a bit annoyed at first that this book was taking me so long. Then I realized that I was enjoying my stay in it and it was all right. It's an interesting setting and a wonderful book.
David Roy
Awesome chinese flavoured occult investigation - not to be missed! February 2, 2008
T. ANDERSEN (UK)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Liz Williams' Detective Inspector Chen series starts off with a bang with 'Snake Agent' - the first in a supposedly 4 part series. Set in near future China this novel is interesting and compulsively readable, fusing a huge array of exotic concepts and genres including police procedural, near future Sci Fi, occult magic, goddesses, demons and flitting between parallel worlds.
A shakey partnership between occult detective Chen and demon Zhu Irzh develops during a fast-paced investigation into the ministries of Hell, virgin ghost killings, a cross world kidnap and a government sanctioned bioengineered plague.
What follows is one of the best new novels i have read in months - a great display of cultural knowledge, interesting concepts, beautiful description and tight plotting. Williams has outdone herself creating an ornate world, populated with memorable characters and scenes and monsters and magic to put many fantasy novels to shame.
About 3 years ago i read 'Banner of Souls' by Williams - it was an awful novel of bad plotting, ineffective description and concept absurdity that i was hard pressed to finish.
i am SOOOO glad that i gave this novel (Snake Agent) a chance (on the strength of its cover - of all things!) and that Williams has proved that she can write - Snake Agent is well structured and readable, understandable, tightly plotted and fast paced.
Chen is the police liason with hell and when Chinese goddeses, dragons, ghosts and demons walk between realms he has got his work cut out for him.
Overall a great novel, pick up this new paperback edition (although the truely beautiful cover is missing and hard and expensive to find) and enjoy something very unique in a genre (supernatural investigation) that can be very stale.
10/10
Fast-paced and fascinating, and even better, more to come November 20, 2006
Helen Semple (London, UK)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Each one of Liz Williams' novels shows a different aspect of her apparently inexhaustible knowlege of different cultures and their mythology, which provide fascinating exotic backgrounds while never alienating the reader from her characters. Here a near-future Chinese nation-state is the setting for a novel with her other typical strengths of tight plotting and a tone that is light while never becoming flippant (some material is almost more like horror).
I'm really pleased that this author has found a setting and characters she likes enough to explore in more detail over several books. I've already ordered the second in the series.
 Interesting and Eastern August 17, 2006
Andrew J. Codling (Surrey, UK)
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
It is sometime in the future, the internet has been superseded by the bioweb. But that doesn't really matter.
In Singapore 3 there is a policeman, who deals with the supernatural, this is Inspector Chen. The borders between Heaven, Earth and Hell are now more flexible than before, and he is blessed by one of the goddesses with some magic so that he can help the spirits of the dead.
Doesn't really cover it.
OK the Heaven and Hell are of the Chinese variety. We don't see Heaven at all, however Hell appears to be very bureaucratic there is a ministry for war, a ministry of epidemics, vice and so on. Into this walks Inspector Chen, originally to find out why a dead teenagers spirit destined for Heaven has ended up in Hell, however he eventually ends up involved in a struggle between two ministries aided by a demon, all the while trying to find his wife.
Cannot really do the story justice without revealing more than I would wish, however the book itself is well written, relatively light, and from my POV interesting in giving me a greater insight into Chinese beliefs. Recommended, however there is a lot of back story leading me to suspect that this may be the second book in the series, although if that is the case I have not yet tracked down the first.
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