Another excellent RJ novel. I just finished it this past weekend.

Also, great reviews in this series of posts. It was fun to compare
my own thoughts with everyone else.

**Spoiler Supposition**

A lot of "what-ifs" here...but, if the Lilitongue really is going
to take Tom to The Otherness, and Tom both looks a hell
of a lot like Jack, and has that close genetic link to him,
added to the fact that The Otherness (and many of its
denizens) are very aware of Jack's responsibility in killing
off the Rakoshi (so much so that they tried to pull Jack
through a portal to the other side in CONSPIRACIES), one
might think that all of these denizens of The Otherness
might mistake Tom for Jack and exact their retribution
which could either be a horrible long drawn out death,
or worse (converting/transforming Tom to a puppet of
the otherness...a sort of...anti-jack)?

What do you think?

Mike

It's an FPW book, so that pretty much means I'm gonna like it. But I do definitely have hang-ups.
First and foremost, as far as I could tell there were no mentions of either the phrase 'cheek by jowl' or the all-time-favourite word, 'maw'.
That was not good! Get your act together - some things should always remain a constant!
On a more serious note, most of the comments on this thread I agree with.
Specifically:
Tom was a despicable character (Junior, not Senior, obviously) throughout the book and so his sudden change of heart right at the end just didn't sit well with me.
And nor did the 'let's confuse the lilitongue' routine. It had survived for hundreds of years, it could hover and float and unleash the mark of death, but it couldn't tell Tom and Jack apart? Hmmmmm.
I don't want to go down the route of saying how it should have been done - hell, if I could do that, you'd all be worshiping at my alter, not FPW's. But usually when I finish an FPW book, I'm not left thinking to myself, "Well, he should have done that, or this, or the other." One of the things that makes FPW stand out as a writer (to me) is that at the end of one of his books there simply aren't ways it could have been done better. Sure, there are always different ways to do things, but that's the 'I wish' factor: I wish he'd done that differently, not he should have done it differently.
But I did still enjoy it. Hell, there was even a 'moist eye' moment (well, more than a few, actually!) when Jack was telling Vicky that he had to go away. That was done brilliantly.
And another good thing: maybe I was just reading too fast, but has FPW gone and got himself a new proof reader? Usually his books are littered with typos but I don't think I saw a single one!

The best part of the book, for me, was when Jack found out he could take the stain from Gia. He put his hands in the goo and toched her back instantly, without even a thought of it. If he could "fix-it" later he would, but all he knew was he'd rather be the one in jeopardy than her. That was "cool".

Another excellent RJ novel. I just finished it this past weekend.

Also, great reviews in this series of posts. It was fun to compare
my own thoughts with everyone else.

**Spoiler Supposition**

A lot of "what-ifs" here...but, if the Lilitongue really is going
to take Tom to The Otherness, and Tom both looks a hell
of a lot like Jack, and has that close genetic link to him,
added to the fact that The Otherness (and many of its
denizens) are very aware of Jack's responsibility in killing
off the Rakoshi (so much so that they tried to pull Jack
through a portal to the other side in CONSPIRACIES), one
might think that all of these denizens of The Otherness
might mistake Tom for Jack and exact their retribution
which could either be a horrible long drawn out death,
or worse (converting/transforming Tom to a puppet of
the otherness...a sort of...anti-jack)?

What do you think?

Mike

I do think that we'll be seeing more of Tom in the future. And Tom as an anti-Jack would be a cool idea. Wonder how Jack would deal with that?

Another excellent RJ novel. I just finished it this past weekend.

Also, great reviews in this series of posts. It was fun to compare
my own thoughts with everyone else.

**Spoiler Supposition**

A lot of "what-ifs" here...but, if the Lilitongue really is going
to take Tom to The Otherness, and Tom both looks a hell
of a lot like Jack, and has that close genetic link to him,
added to the fact that The Otherness (and many of its
denizens) are very aware of Jack's responsibility in killing
off the Rakoshi (so much so that they tried to pull Jack
through a portal to the other side in CONSPIRACIES), one
might think that all of these denizens of The Otherness
might mistake Tom for Jack and exact their retribution
which could either be a horrible long drawn out death,
or worse (converting/transforming Tom to a puppet of
the otherness...a sort of...anti-jack)?

What do you think?

Mike

Interesting point, Mike, but do we know for sure that human magic like the Infernals are necessarily connected to the Otherness?

The best part of the book, for me, was when Jack found out he could take the stain from Gia. He put his hands in the goo and toched her back instantly, without even a thought of it. If he could "fix-it" later he would, but all he knew was he'd rather be the one in jeopardy than her. That was "cool".

And Gia knew it could only be transferred one more time and didn't tell Jack.
Bad planning on her part. She didn't say anything so Jack could fix it with the one more try. I'm pretty sure she knew what Jack would do when he found out she had the stain, she should have warned him sooner than she did. Oh well, it worked out.

And Gia knew it could only be transferred one more time and didn't tell Jack.
Bad planning on her part. She didn't say anything so Jack could fix it with the one more try. I'm pretty sure she knew what Jack would do when he found out she had the stain, she should have warned him sooner than she did. Oh well, it worked out.

Yeah, her secrecy about the entire thing was a little annoying, and stupid (on her part). Jack has proven himself over and over, but she doesn't have enough faith in him to let him in on the discovery of transferring the stain. Some team. She does her own thing and then leaves him to figure out how to fix it. Just makes me care about her less and less.

Some Infernal Spoilers...

Just finished Infernal (before, during and after classes today ) Haven't found the urge to bring a good book to school with me in a long while.

Like everyone already said, Infernal had more character depth than some of the others, though I must admit I guessed a lot of what happened in the plot. But when Jack's dad died, I didn't even respond at first because I thought it wasn't for real. Totally caught me by surprise there.

I love how Jack was fine with Gia making her own decision to see the opera with Tom. A lot of guys probably would never trust their girlfriend like that. Thumbs up for a good example of the tacit depth of their relationship there. I like Gia's character; it's like Abe's: familiar, predictable and a dose of stability.

I loved seeing Charlie and Lyle again! It was so sad reading about Charlie in Haunted Air, so it was really nice to see them both again. Same goes for the hidden room in Brady's cabin; loved the connection. I almost felt like I was in a text-based game or something. "Open up trapdoor back in room 1...Acquire book! Move to Level 3." Jack would be such a kickass hero in an RPG.

I hope Tom comes back.

The people who designed the cover included an extra diver and sealife! They should've at least Photoshopped those out or something.

I had the strangest urge, when Tom and Jack were trying to move the levitating Lilitongue, to want one of them hold on to it with both hands and dangle from it. For whatever reason, if I ever came across an immovable floating object, that's something I'd want to do. No clue why :confused:

Overall I thought Infernal was a great book. No set realistic fixits which are the highlights of my readings, but still plenty interesting. And now I've seen illustrated what's been alluded to all along: Jack's rich! Just hope Gia, Vicky and baby'll just keep hanging on there so they'll be able to enjoy all that gold with Jack...

I had the strangest urge, when Tom and Jack were trying to move the levitating Lilitongue, to want one of them hold on to it with both hands and dangle from it. For whatever reason, if I ever came across an immovable floating object, that's something I'd want to do. No clue why :confused:

...

I'd like to climb on top of it "King of the Mountain" style.

I'd like to climb on top of it "King of the Mountain" style.

I'd put Crazy Glue on my hardhat and........

no, that's just silly

I finished Infernal last week and I'm still ruminating over what happened. The death in the Airport felt like a kick in the stomach. I haven't been shocked like that since Reborn and the fence scene. I mentioned that someone died early to some folks at work who have read the first 2 or 3 RJ novels but didn't tell them who died. They assumed by how messed up I was that it was Vicky or Gia. If Gia died I'd probably do a happy dance. Vicky I'd feel bad, but nothing like this.

But moving forward, Jack having that book opens up LOTS of possibilities. The picture of the double edged sword mentioned is, I'm guessing, a recipe on how to cook up Glaeken's sword. I wonder if there is a resipe in their to take care of The One, or at least to give him a bad rash. I do think the Ally, the Otherness, and whatever power the women with the dogs represent are all potenetial threats to Jack and his loved ones. I don't think the Otherness is after Jack and Gia's baby. The Ally? Good chance. The Women? Maybe. Anya was nice but the others have been neutral at best.