In the Company of Ogres [Mass Market Paperback]

He may not be as famous as Stephen King or John Grisham, but A. Lee Martinez is a writer to watch. His first novel _Gil's All Fright Diner_ is a hilarious romp that combines pseudo-Lovecraftian menace with Joe R. Lansdale styled blue collar humor. So I waited and waited for his next novel _In the Company of Ogres_ to arrive at my local Barnes and Noble. The wait was worth it.

While _GAFD_ pretty well parodized horror, _ItCoO_ parodizes fantasy. I'm not really a fantasy fan (nothing against it, it's just not for me), but I couldn't resist giving Martinez another chance even if the genre is one I don't normally read. Even though I consider myself much more of a horror fan, I found _ItCoO_ to be the more enjoyable of the two. It's funnier and has a more complex and thought out plot.

The main character here is an average person named Never Dead Ned, a man who is unexceptional in every way except for the fact that he dies repeatedly, and comes back to life shortly after. He's a soldier with a perfectly average job of balancing the books for Brute's Legion. Just when he finds his niche in accounting, he is immediately transferred to Ogre Company. Ogre Company is a rowdy band of orcs, goblins, trolls, elves, treefolk, humans, and obviously ogres. It also happens to be the most undisciplined, and hardest drinking, unit in the whole Legion. He now has six short months to whip these sad sacks into fighting shape. This task is further complicated by the fact that Ned isn't that great of a soldier himself.

However, his poor military bearing is not his only problem. Every Commander before him has perished in clandestine circumstances. And once he learns the reason for his multiple deaths and resurrections, he has to try harder than ever to stay alive for not only himself - but the whole universe. Once he learns this secret, he is pursued by a vengeful wizard and a power-hungry pint-sized demon.

Having read a couple of interviews of Martinez, he says that his two novels are not so humor fiction as they are fiction with humorous elements. Be that as it may, I found both books extremely funny. Let me give you a couple of examples of the humor you'll find in _ItCoO_. There is a blind oracle, who claims he can't read minds, who can somehow answer questions even before the whole question has been uttered. This would of course create a paradox. The second is an instance in which the morning bugler can't put enough oomph, pizzazz, or shebang into the morning wakeup call. That's just two examples. There's much more where that came from.

As it happens so often, I find myself playing the waiting game again. Martinez has a third novel due out sometime in 2007 entitled _The Nameless Witch_. There's not I can tell you here, except that the humor will take a more subtle direction. Yet if one truly likes an author, one appreciates the fact the author has to do different things now and then.

BRING ON THE THIRD BOOK!!! AND THE FOURTH!!! AND THE FIFTH!!! AND...

In the Company of Ogres is the second A. Lee Martinez novel I've run into. Gil's All Fright Diner was the first, and I quite liked it as a new look at the generally-tired vampire/were-wolf genre. He does the same thing with ogres/orcs/magical animals in Company of Ogres - he comes up with a new way of approaching it.

The first fifth of the book is a bit standard, as it has to be. Mostly introductions to the scene, the characters and a bit of back-story. And the rest of the book falls generally into the "Fish Out Of Water, With Diverse Motley Friends" category. The same thing as the Doc Savage books of 60 years ago, as the Mad Scientist Club, a zillion live-action 70s Disney movies (e.g. Bad News Bears), any movie placed at a summer camp (e.g. Meatballs), "Up Periscope", the Ebenuzum books by Craig Shaw Gardner, Friends/Cheers/Night Court... it's again not unique, but heavily used.

And yet, despite all this, the book is still filled with surprises and is a very fun read.

Compared to other books in this genre, this one is a bit longer than most (although it certainly doesn't feel long - it feels just right), and is a breezy fun read. It doesn't have the puns and literary references of Terry Pratchett, but then again, neither did Pratchett's first few books. I am eagerly awaiting the next Martinez book.

I called Gil's All Fright Diner an excellent debut novel in my review of that book, and it is. But In The Company of Ogres is simply an excellent novel, period.

A passive main character is exceedingly difficult to write and keep interesting, but Mr. Martinez handled it with great aplomb. The other characters are equally intriguing, from the suicidal, yet perpetually cheerful goblins to the two-headed ogre who is always exceedingly polite with itself. Like Gil's, Mr. Martinez throws many fantasy conventions to the wind and creates a world that is both unique and familiar.

Even if you aren't a huge fan of fantasy fiction, In The Company of Ogres is a wonderful tale sure to delight anyone.

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