Never Trust an Elf (Shadowrun #6)

Kham. The tough razor guy ork who picked on and questioned the competency of Sam Verner during Robert N. Charrette's "Secrets of Power Trilogy" takes center stage in "Never Trust an Elf." Because he was one of the few runners to question Sam Verner, who automatically receives a A in my book. The story begins a few years after "Find Your Own Truth." and makes a lot of references to 'dog boy' aka Sam Verner in the story. The book also has cameo's by Sally Tsung, Ghost, Dodger, Urdli and Professor Laverty. Running shotgun alongside Kham is the thief, Neko, a character from "Find Your Own Truth," and Lofwyr Down on his luck and short on money, Kham and his crew of orks take a job from a elven Mr. Johnson. Alongside three other runners, the crew goes out into the NAN wilderness and run muscle backup as two very powerful elves with magical ability conduct a ritual of some kind. After successfully pulling off the run, and earning a lot of nuyen in the credit the teams go back to their normal lives...or so they think. Charrette picks up right where he left off. It's sad that this was his last SR book, because over the course of time his writing gets better. You know during his books that someone is going to die, and that there is a story behind everything. He introduces a lot of key concepts in his writing, and in this one brings the reader face to face with the Hellions, a sort of cyberzombie like creature. He has a decent vocabulary, and really makes the world come to life. He's one of the better writers to come out of this line of books. Never Trust an Elf is a good book if you enjoyed the Secrets of Power Trilogy. The jury is still out on its strength on a book of its own. For the most part I enjoyed it. The characterization was okay, and it was a fun ride all together.

I must admit that i am somewhat biased about this book because i love orks and orc culture. I loved the whole book except the ending, kinda weak. still i love everything shadowrun so all n'all not a bad book. hell, charette set the whole thing off anyway huh ? how bad could it be ?

it seems to me that the story was written to be a follow-up to his first story arc secrets of power. The characters seem to have developed and grown between the stories. It was nice to see a shadowrun author " stretch" out a story and show a different side of the characters. Hope he writes another story to continue the past four.

The main character, an Ork, is excellent. He really gives you can idea of how life is for the poor and down-trodden in Seattle. The storyline was a bit lacking.