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| - Autor: Nigel Findley Data wydania: czerwiec 1995 ISBN 0-451-45370-0 Okładka: Jim Thiesen Shadowrun #17 The Brighter The Sun The Darker The Shadows Shadowrunner Dirk Montgomery trafia do Królestwa Hawajów, uciekając przed długiem, jaki był winien jednej z megakorporacji. Na miejscu musi wygrać z przeżartymi korupcją frakcjami, walczącymi o kontrolę nad wyspą. Dirk Montgomery, former Lone Star cop turned shadowrunner, knows the dark byways of Seattle and the Amerind city of Cheyenne. He knows when to take chances and when to take cover. But when a megacorporate exec demands payment of an old debt, Dirk finds himself where the familiar rules don 't apply anymore. The Kingdom of Hawai'i is a tropical playground... with a sinister underside. Dirk must navigate its treacherous paths as he tries to stay one step ahead of all the factions battling to control the islands: the megacorps, the government, the rebels, and the yakuza. not to mention dragons, elves new friends... and old enemies. This, the seventeenth novel written in the Shadowrun universe, appears to be the last printed work written by Nigel Findley. According to a memorial page at the beginning of this book, Mr. Findley passed away in February of 1995. Let me say that I considered Mr. Findley to be one of Shadowrun's best writers and that I will miss his work. House of the Sun features the return of Dirk Montgomery, the flawed protagonist from 2XS. To avoid confusion, 2XS is required reading. Allusions are made to the current state of the city of Chicago so a familiarity with either the novel Burning Bright or the sourcebook Bug City is recommended but not essential. Finally, readers should be acquainted with Harlequin's Back or the final sequence of the book will be perplexing. Dirk returns to us here in basically the same condition as we left him. He is just as rash, troubled, flawed, impulsive, neurotic, paranoid and inappropriate as he was before but with the added factor of having lost his nerve. Jacques Barnard also returns as Mr. Johnson to provide Dirk, and the plot, with a little direction. Those of you who have read Lone Wolf will also enjoy a cameo part by Rick Larson. References are made to the shadowrunner Argent, but he never appears. Finally, to my dismay, Mr. Findley has fallen victim to incorporating two plot devices that I am becoming tired of; those wacky elves and the insect spirits. The insect spirits device you should all be familiar with from previous material. "Those wacky elves" are the recurring instances of the immortal, mysterious and infuriating elves who show up with bucketloads of arrogance and power. Taken as a whole, House of the Sun takes a long time to develop. That is not to say that this book is a slow starter. On the contrary, this work has frequent and engrossing action but the overall picture is very vague. This book is the story of Dirk being lead about by the nose, being forced to accept tasks for which he has no explanation Dirk Montgomery is back and battling new enemies---or are they old ones? Sent to Hawaii by a megacorp exec to repay an old debt, Dirk finds himself caught between Hawaiian nationalists, the government, the Yakuza, dragons and the most horrible enemy of all! Dirk Montgomry is back and more annoyed than ever. He may have left Seattle, but Cheyenne apparently hasn't done much to calm him down. He's still a private investigator, too. His past catches up to him at last when an old... business acquaintance tracks him down to call in a debt. Dirk has to go off to Hawai'i to deliver a message. That's all, that's it, no strings. Of course, this is Shadowrun. There are always strings, even if the client himself thinks there aren't. I like Findley's style. I like Dirk. I like Hawaii. And the fact that he brings out the insect shamans again despite what happened a few books back is good too, because Findley manages to actually make them somewhat sympathetic villains. But they're not even really the villains of the book. They appear, but the real baddies... well, read the book. Another reason I like this book is that it is a kind of passing the baton from one villain to the other. The insect stuff is done with, they're defeated (for now, anyway). But there's a new ultra-baddie looming over the horizon, and the first hints of it are in this book. It's really too bad Findley died during the final edit of this. I'd really have liked to see what he planned for his characters later in the series. Oh well. Shadowrun #17House of the Sunby Nigel D. Findley (1995)
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