Book review: Tintian and the King’s Claw

The Sci-Fi thriller ‘Tintian and the King’s Claw’ follows the crime fighting footsteps of Leigh Tintian and the reformed alcoholic Millesabord as they try to uncover the shady dealings and track down the crew of the ship Shikahogh (which sounds like a Lovecraftian monstrosity but sadly isn’t) in a joyful but slightly forgettable romp through space.

I managed to read this in about a week and enjoyed coming back for more each time. This was due to several reasons, like the quirky natures of the characters. A favourite of mine was the drunk Captain Millesabord who decided after a small drink to start a fire in a star craft in the middle of space (showing that she can hold her drink about as well as a teenager who has only had Doritos to eat for the last 24 hours).

Another reason, was the fast rate that the book progresses, with not a word in the book slowly meandering to the point but cutting straight to it. This keeps the book going at a galloping rate, never leaving you in a dull moment.

With two strong female leads, it nice that this book includes a healthy dose of female empowerment in it which is much appreciated in this era of story book characters generally being men, with women being pushed to the supporting roles.

However … while this book has its good points, it certainly is no classic. The pacing of the scenes sometimes felt a bit wonky leading to me not being on the edge of my seat in action scenes and some of the character’s development was poorly implemented and brought you out of the experience. It also had completely average world building, nothing stood out to me as a particularly imaginative or things that I hadn’t seen before.

Not every book though has to be a work of art to be enjoyed.  I would say reading this novel is a lot like eating popcorn, while there is not much substance there, you’ll munch it down happily before you maybe move on to something more fulfilling. I would definitely recommend you to read this if you are between books or maybe want to get back into reading with something easier to digest.