The Palace Job by Patrick Weekes - Not Exactly Bad

		The Palace Job by Patrick Weekes Edition: Paperback Price: $8.97
Not Bad Exactly, November 19, 2013 This review is from: The Palace Job (Paperback) Book Description Publication Date: October 8, 2013 Loch is seeking revenge. It would help if she wasn’t in jail. The plan: to steal a priceless elven manuscript that once belonged to her family, but now is in the hands of the most powerful man in the Republic. To do so Loch—former soldier, former prisoner, current fugitive—must assemble a crack team of magical misfits that includes a cynical illusionist, a shapeshifting unicorn, a repentant death priestess, a talking magical warhammer, and a lad with seemingly no skills to help her break into the floating fortress of Heaven’s Spire and the vault that holds her family’s treasure—all while eluding the unrelenting pursuit of Justicar Pyvic, whose only mission is to see the law upheld. What could possibly go wrong? The Palace Job is a funny, action-packed, high-fantasy heist caper in the tradition of Scott Lynch’s Gentleman Bastards series, from debut author Patrick Weekes. This really was not a bad fantasy book, although at times it read more like a comic book. It was quite interesting and in places even exciting. But it had its down moments. There are so many secondary characters, tertiary characters and more that you sometimes feel as if you need a score card to keep everyone straight. And you never know when you can simply dismiss a character, because sooner or later they almost all, show back up in the book. There is descent world-building, but at times the author confuses his world with our world and that can oull you out of the story. This is a magical world, not a place for computers. Yet in one memorable sentence, you get to see the character having his mind (or body) brought 'back on line'. I don't mind when fantasy writers mix the two worlds, but it should be consistent. The bias/prejudice and political talk started getting a little tedious once the points had been made. This novel could have done with some judicious cutting - it was quite long for what it ultimately ended up as.