Harlequin (The Inquisition War #2) by Ian Watson

Harlequin (The Inquisition War #2) Reviews

• 
  Pinkerton

  Mah… Jaq & Co. giocano un po’ troppo all’allegra famigliola e il loro muoversi in continuazione affrontando scontri random genera più confusione che entusiasmo. Le descrizioni falliscono l’incarico di decantare la maestosità gotica di questo universo, rendendo invece ancor più arduo il compito di districarsi nella sua complessità. L’arrivo degli Eldar dà una botta di vita alla storia, eppure anche la figura degli Arlecchini, in primo piano… almeno in teoria, delude (il che è un vero smacco data la loro teatralità). La trama continua a barcamenarsi scegliendo finalmente una direzione da prendere soltanto in chiusura, il che porta alla formazione del nuovo gruppo - sempre che un trio lo si possa definire tale.
  Quasi dimenticavo, la “Biblioteca Nera” - che uno va su di giri solo a sentirla nominare - è stata di una bruttezza imbarazzante T_T
• 
  Mel

  The next book was set 100 years after the first with the characters having gone into statis. Like the first book the first half didn't do much for me. It had them travelling and reuniting with their friends. One of who, very sloppily, revealed another conspiracy behind the one they had discovered earlier. The biggest problem with this book was that they hardly touched on the previous consipircay, and the new one was never fully developed. Half way through one of the space marine characters showed up and he added a nice balance to the "party". But the whole journey to get into the web to retrieve a book from the black library (while a cool idea) just seemed a bit pointless in the end.
• 
  Nathan Balyeat

  This book was almost painful to read. The author's prose might have recommended him to write mediocre screenplays (Spielberg's A.I.), but it does NO justice to the complex universe of 40k and creates completely flat characters that its very hard to care about. The grimdark seems forced and I found this short novel a struggle to get through.
  
  It passes my threshold of "do not recommend" only because other fans of the Warhammer 40k universe might want to read it and that it's only going to be available in cheap used copies and thus not much of a financial investment.
• 
  Roman Kurys

  So overall, somehow, I really enjoyed this book and have to disagree with the majority rating.
  
  For me "Space Marine" was the least interesting of the lot and the hardest to get into. Draco picked up the pace and got me sucked into the Warhammer 40k world.
  
  Harlequin was just awesome!
  
  Plot: 4
  Although it appeared to not directly continue after Inquisitor to tell us about Hydra Conspiracy, it instead focused on a different, parallel path of the Black Library and mysterious Eldar. Gritty and dark it was just a thrill from page one until the end. I could hardly put it down.
  
  Character: 3
  This is where the book is just average. The only reason I felt good and attached to the characters was because of the previous book. I already knew them. No real character growth happens, with one major exception on the part of Melhindi...but read the book to find out more. Hint: it's worth it!
  
  Setting: 5
  Absolutely love the setting of Warhammer 40K. It's like a horror, sci go and fantasy smashed into one. Dark gritty worlds, interplanetary travel, finicky and evil gods, sort of good Emperor...all sorts of things going wrong in the worst possible ways and the ambiance of the entire world is just horrifying. I absolutely loved it.
  
  Obviously, I'll be reading the last part of the trilogy sometimes in the future, that is for sure!
  
  Roman "Ragnar"
  
• 
  César González

  Esta segunda parte es bastante floja, la trama básicamente no avanza nada. La narrativa es bastante confusa en muchos momentos, hay varios capítulos en los que hay un avance temporal considerable y el autor no te avisa ni nada, pasas de estar de un sitio a otro y no te enteras.
• 
  Steve

  A bit all over the place.
• 
  Rob

  Lex is back!
• 
  Joanne

  3.5
• 
  Tepintzin

  This is just not good. It’s interesting for the look back to earliest 40k lore, but the writing is embarrassingly bad.
• 
  Chip Hunter

  Ian Watson's second installment in The Inquisition War continues the story of Jaq Draco and the mysterious plots that he has become wrapped up in. As in the first book, HARLEQUIN is a non-stop, action-packed thrill ride that will keep you on the edge of your seat with brutal battles and intriguing riddles. A number of new characters are introduced in this book, but the original cast maintains the prominent roles. Death and brutality are widespread throughout the book, with characters coming and going quite frequently. This book doesn't do much to answer questions about the overall story, leaving you with more questions than when you started.
  
  This book delves into some of the most obscure aspects of the WH40K universe. One of the first books to provide a good look at the Eldar, HARLEQUIN gives some detail to the ancient enigmatic race. A significant part of the book takes place within the Eldar interdimensional Webways, where the heroes face unstoppable-seeming adversaries as they travel to discover the mysterious Black Library. Also, some of the inner workings of the Inquisition are uncovered, revealing the shadowiness of the galaxy's secret police.
  
  Ian Watson's view of the WH40K universe differs in many aspects from that of most other authors, and while it upsets many die-hard 40K fans, I think its good that he was able to show some leeway in his interpretations. His version of the universe is even darker than most and the near-total despair and miserableness he portrays casts the universe in an even grimmer light. Grotesque piercings, tattoos, and scars seem nearly universal in these books, with every character having severe bodily alterations. Personally, I don't like this vision as much as those of Abnett and King, who tend to make the WH40K universe a lot more livable.
  
  Overall, this book brings the story of the Inquisition War along nicely and leaves you with a burning desire to finish the trilogy.
• 
  Michael T Bradley

  This book is even foggier in my memory than part one. After hiding in cryo tanks for a hundred years to get free of the warrants & death threats against them, our intrepid "heroes" return to fight again! There's this conspiracy they deal with, and I can't remember the details, but it has something to do with the Emperor & like ... possible hidden children of his? It's pretty wide-spanning and insane, and I'm sad I don't really remember it. Somewhere during this book the sort of ... cohesion of the plot begins to break down. Ostensibly this book is about the gang going into the Webway & infiltrating the Eldar's Black Library, but ... it starts off REALLY slow with like 1/3 of the book just seeming to be a maguffin party-separation thing put in there to fill space ... sense starts going out the window ... you could tell book 3 was either going to be brilliant or horrible.
• 
  Győző

  Not much happens, while you get bored with the little that actually going on. Read the Spacemarine twice instead. Sadly needs to be done if you want the whole trilogy (Jaq, Harlequin, Chaos Child)