DigitalRob reviewed Seven Shades of Evil by Robert McCammon
An Amazing Collection that Builds the Supporting Characters
5 stars
Like all of the Corbett novels, I loved this. My reading of the novels is spread out over time, so I struggle at times to place specific incidents into specific novels, so I wish it was easier to figure out when each story takes place in relation to the novels. Even with the month and year given for each story, I’ve struggled with this.
For the most part each story focuses on one or two characters, giving some much appreciated insight into some of the support characters. My favorites are “The Scorpion’s Eye,” “Skeleton Crew,” “The Pale Pipe Smoker,” and “The Incident on the Lady Barbara” because they focus on the women, who are frequently background characters that wouldn’t pass the Bechdel Test if the novels were movies.
“Wandering Mary” is a solo Matthew story. It takes him to a town just outside of Boston to act as an outside …
Like all of the Corbett novels, I loved this. My reading of the novels is spread out over time, so I struggle at times to place specific incidents into specific novels, so I wish it was easier to figure out when each story takes place in relation to the novels. Even with the month and year given for each story, I’ve struggled with this.
For the most part each story focuses on one or two characters, giving some much appreciated insight into some of the support characters. My favorites are “The Scorpion’s Eye,” “Skeleton Crew,” “The Pale Pipe Smoker,” and “The Incident on the Lady Barbara” because they focus on the women, who are frequently background characters that wouldn’t pass the Bechdel Test if the novels were movies.
“Wandering Mary” is a solo Matthew story. It takes him to a town just outside of Boston to act as an outside observer in the determination of the sanity for a patriarch who is seeing his dead wife. This one felt like a real mystery, and it is the longest of all of the stories, more of a novella than a short story, IMHO.
I also loved the supernatural elements of “Night Ride.” I wonder if I reread “Wolf’s Hour” and the other connected novels if I’d find a connection.
These details are taken from the website MatthewCorbettsWorld.com: “The Four Lamplighters”: Matthew and Hudson sign on as bodyguards to a band of traveling musicians and wind up with mud on their faces. “Night Ride”: Matthew finds himself in the middle of an age-old war. “‘The House At The Edge Of The World”: Hudson learns that a cyclops is not only a creature of mythology. “The Scorpion’s Eye”: Minx is on the hunt for a stolen jewel with a fantastic and deadly power. “The Pale Pipesmoker”: Katherine and Minx come to the aid of a man who’s been challenged to a duel by a cunning killer. “Skeleton Crew”: Katherine helps an ex-slave being tormented by a band of marauding skeletons on horseback. “Wandering Mary”: A ghost trying to lure a wealthy man to his death takes Matthew to a haunted castle. “Incident On The Lady Barbara”: A disappearance at sea puts Berry in the position of being a problem-solver.”