Just finished reading The Palace Job by Patrick Weekes which was a thoroughly enjoyable fantasy adventure/heist story packed with unusual characters and lots of fun.

The story starts off with a crazy inventive prison break.  Loch and her fellow prisoner Kali have to get out of the Cleaners before something seriously ‘bad’ happens.  And, basically they take their chances and go for it.  That right there – that should give you a damn good idea what the rest of the story will be like – anyway, you can definitely over think a plan.

Loch has a curious background – quite unexpected in fact when the full story eventually comes out.  She’s an ex-soldier and was in prison for deserting – along with her colleague and friend Kali.  Of course, it turns out that this could have been a set up because whilst she’s been away from home it seems like her future and inheritance has been stolen.   Now, Loch is determined to steal from the man who stole from her.  She has her sights set on an ancient elven manuscript and needs to put together the best crew possible to pull off the impossible.

Let me recount the ways in which this is good.

Firstly, and I like to think rather importantly a great cast of characters.   I mean, there is a lot going on here and plenty of people to populate the story so the character development isn’t maybe as deep as you could hope for but I still thought Weekes did a good job.  Let’s put it this way, I liked them.  More to the point, as things rolled forward and the proverbial started to hit the fan I was worried about them.  We have Loch – can this woman fight or what!  Why yes she can.  Her trusty sidekick Kali who trusts her completely.  Kali is your typical joker and seems to be able to crack ‘mother’ jokes in multiple languages.  We have a unicorn, nope, not kidding – oh, and this unicorn can shape shift.  A young male who seems the most unlikely recruit and his would-be friend the wizard, a skilled lock picker and an acrobat and last, but not least a death priestess and her talking warhammer.  Yep, wow.  I love this cast.  Like I said, the development could have probably used a bit more time but having said that it would have made the story a heck of a lot longer and would also probably have diluted the dialogue and humour to an extent.

Secondly, I think the pacing and plot is excellent.  It’s a very clever story and clearly being a little less clever I was delightfully surprised for the majority of the book – I am just basically useless at second guessing and to be honest I tend to think why even try – just get on with the story, become immersed and everything will eventually become clear.  On top of which, reading this with a sense of wonder and surprise all adds to the tension you feel for the characters.  The plot – well, what I can say is that Weekes puts you through the wringer a little bit in terms of the characters – to such an extent that certain elements of the plot definitely take a back seat because you’re so desperate to read on and find out what happens next.

Thirdly, Great imagination. The world.  Well, again, probably could have used a little development but on the whole we have such a lot going on.  Mummies, satyrs, prophecies, steam punk elements, elves.  Basically, you name it and Weekes has probably thought it!

I’m actually not going to give a lot more away.  A quick recap.  A strange yet great bunch of characters – oh, I forgot about Pyvic – this is the guy who is hot on the tail of the escaped prisoners – and another really good character to read about.  Anyway, as I was saying.  This is very entertaining.  I think it will give you a whole bundle of laughs.  It’s clever, quick and imaginative.  I found myself almost desperately wondering how on earth the characters could survive.

I can’t wait to pick up the next in series.

I received a copy of this courtesy of the publishers through Netgalley for which my thanks.  The above is my own opinion.