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tregina's review against another edition
4.0
I love stories about the underbelly of London--not a criminal underbelly but the weird side, the supernatural side, the dark and hidden secret things and places that exist parallel our known world. (I would love stories about the underbellies of other cities too, but somehow it's usually London.) This one is very reminiscent of Miéville, though a little less weird and with its own distinctive voice (in some places more than others).
There's something about it that didn't quite sweep me along, and I didn't always buy the character interactions, but at the same time there were a lot of compelling moments and I was really captured by the ending. So definitely a win overall.
There's something about it that didn't quite sweep me along, and I didn't always buy the character interactions, but at the same time there were a lot of compelling moments and I was really captured by the ending. So definitely a win overall.
fallingwings's review against another edition
3.0
This was a pretty interesting and unique book.
It has some short comings though.
I understand that the author probably didn't want Beth to appear as some sort of tag-along in this story, but she really stole the spotlight from Filius, who is meant to appear as an important role. He's the son of a Goddess and for some flackin' reason, hardly anyone wants to aid him in his fight against their supposed enemy. But thanks to Beth, the ordinary human girl with a big mouth, they all eventually come around.. Did she have to be the one who fixed the problems he faced or convinced his allies to join their war? Basically, it goes: Fil tells her not to talk and just stand by while he negotiates, negotiations end up in a argument of some kind, Beth swoops in and saves the day. Filius should have way better skills when it comes to handling this stuff. Also, the fact Beth just...accepts everything when she learns London isn't what it seems kinda threw me off. No questions, no hesitation, just "yeah. cool. no biggie." It didn't really feel like a realistic response.
The world building of this London kinda bothers me in terms of how its creatures are handled. I love the idea and what the author did but, surely there was a better way to handle why people never noticed them. Where does Beth get her money? She's in highschool and, as far we know, she doesn't have a job. In the beginning of the book, she leaves some money for her dad. Later on, she's seen eating a burger from a fast food joint. I understand this is a small complaint -- but I couldn't help wondering WHERE she got this money from. Does she pick pockets? Did she get an allowance that she had been saving growing up? Her father doesn't work to my understanding, stuck in a pit of depression. How does he keep their house? Disability check? If so, why does Beth even need to leave him money? Again, very small complaint but one that would have been nice to have more details on to help us connect more to Beth's life "before" she went gallivanting off with Fil.
I didn't really feel the spark between Filius and Beth. Like, I get what was happening that drew them together, but for some reason, it just didn't click for me with them in terms of chemistry. I liked them both well enough but the romance felt a bit forced.
The writing is decent and well enough, though there were times I had trouble picturing a scene or some of the creatures (like Electra and the others until we saw Pen's perspective of them). Even though we're slammed with multiple plot twist at the end, I actually enjoyed them very much.
It has some short comings though.
I understand that the author probably didn't want Beth to appear as some sort of tag-along in this story, but she really stole the spotlight from Filius, who is meant to appear as an important role. He's the son of a Goddess and for some flackin' reason, hardly anyone wants to aid him in his fight against their supposed enemy. But thanks to Beth, the ordinary human girl with a big mouth, they all eventually come around.
Spoiler
I mean, I get it. In the end, he wasn't the son of a Goddess. BUT NO ONE KNOWS THIS EXCEPT GLAS.The world building of this London kinda bothers me in terms of how its creatures are handled. I love the idea and what the author did but
Spoiler
saying most people don't see them because they don't pay attention and the ones who do are stuck in mental institutions feels like a cheap cop outSpoiler
and am I understanding this right: That Filius was reborn in the end? How? And Beth is going to...wait for him to grow up and remember? How is that going to work? I guess it'll be answered in the next books but... I don't know how I feel about this idea.I didn't really feel the spark between Filius and Beth. Like, I get what was happening that drew them together, but for some reason, it just didn't click for me with them in terms of chemistry. I liked them both well enough but the romance felt a bit forced.
The writing is decent and well enough, though there were times I had trouble picturing a scene or some of the creatures (like Electra and the others until we saw Pen's perspective of them). Even though we're slammed with multiple plot twist at the end, I actually enjoyed them very much.
abaugher's review against another edition
5.0
This book is an amazing piece of work, grungy, beautiful, filthy, dark, dirty, oily, shining, strong, resilient, delicate, fascinating and horrifying in turns, this is the world of London streets at night, and the astounding life that is supported there. You cannot help but fall in love with the city and all it's strange inhabitants. Thank the Goddess of the Streets that this is just the first of three!
rollforlibrarian's review against another edition
5.0
The City's Son is inventive, gritty and visceral. China Mieville and Neil Gaiman are clear influences but Pollock remains highly original. The London we are introduced to is dirty, brutal and teeming with bizarre life in unexpected places. The multitude of creatures are unlike anything I've met in other urban fantasies. They are not clearly defined as good and evil - even the protagonists are a decided shade of grey, flawed and very real people.
The beginning of the book establishes the scene well, but initially didn't grab me. The characters were strong but the story wandered through a series of depressing developments. I kept reading out of curiosity and before I knew it a whole new world opened up before my eyes and I was thoroughly hooked. With spectacular worldbuilding London gains greater and greater complexity with time, and the possibilities for the rest of the series are huge. I won't spoil it for you - but the end of the book brings huge revelations that change everything. One in particular was quite thrilling - I had to sit back for a moment to let it sink in.
This book is relatively demanding of the reader - not because the concepts explored are demanding or that enormous leaps in logic are required, but because everything is completely different - China Mieville's Perdido Street Station does something similar, but to a greater degree. I do not find this a problem as I love a book that demands my undivided attention, however it's not particularly a book to read when you're already half asleep.
The beginning of the book establishes the scene well, but initially didn't grab me. The characters were strong but the story wandered through a series of depressing developments. I kept reading out of curiosity and before I knew it a whole new world opened up before my eyes and I was thoroughly hooked. With spectacular worldbuilding London gains greater and greater complexity with time, and the possibilities for the rest of the series are huge. I won't spoil it for you - but the end of the book brings huge revelations that change everything. One in particular was quite thrilling - I had to sit back for a moment to let it sink in.
This book is relatively demanding of the reader - not because the concepts explored are demanding or that enormous leaps in logic are required, but because everything is completely different - China Mieville's Perdido Street Station does something similar, but to a greater degree. I do not find this a problem as I love a book that demands my undivided attention, however it's not particularly a book to read when you're already half asleep.
patchworkbunny's review against another edition
5.0
London City is alive. When Beth and her best friend Pen are caught spraying graffiti at their school, Pen turns Beth in. Reeling from the betrayal, Beth stumbles into another London, one where railwraiths transport memories of passengers, where the lights are living glass people who dance at night, where the statues are imprisoned men, repaying their debts to their absent goddess, and where a danger threatens the very essence of the city that no one sees. And that city has a son.
Wow, I’m not sure how much I can express my love of Tom Pollock’s hidden London without spoiling the discovery for others. It reminds me of how children’s imaginations create worlds out of the incredibly mundane environment that surrounds them, street lights can be beautiful and exotic women that dance and flirt and real dangers such as trains and barbed wire can be turned into monsters.
After Beth’s ride on the railwraith she meets Filius, son of Mater Viae, the goddess who the creatures of London worship. At first, she takes him for a dirty street urchin but she saves his life and he hers and she finds herself following him further into his world, where Reach threatens the existence of those who have called the streets home for centuries. Reach is the god of cranes; they appear on the horizon wherever he is erecting his mirrored skyscrapers, something residents of London will know well. Reach represents progress destroying the character and essence of London.
Meanwhile, Pen has her reasons for her betrayal to Beth and her story is a sad one. She sees Beth’s paintings on the walls and follows her, with no inclination of the danger she could be in. Amongst the story of the city there are some very real themes threaded throughout and I think Pen’s parting words sums things up perfectly. Beth’s father is also suffering from deep depression after the loss of his wife and Beth’s mother and now he must face the idea that his daughter is lost too. There are some incredibly touching moments amongst the fantastical.
There is also a spattering of humour, mostly from the wonderful character of Victor, a homeless Russian who offers his translation services and whose friendly manner evolves into a sort of surrogate father figure for Beth. This lightens what is otherwise a dark, yet utterly brilliant tale.
There’s no denying that The City’s Son put’s the urban into urban fantasy, the setting being crucial. Scenes may be a little disturbing for younger readers although I’m not sure it’s being marketed towards young adults despite the teenage characters.
Wow, I’m not sure how much I can express my love of Tom Pollock’s hidden London without spoiling the discovery for others. It reminds me of how children’s imaginations create worlds out of the incredibly mundane environment that surrounds them, street lights can be beautiful and exotic women that dance and flirt and real dangers such as trains and barbed wire can be turned into monsters.
After Beth’s ride on the railwraith she meets Filius, son of Mater Viae, the goddess who the creatures of London worship. At first, she takes him for a dirty street urchin but she saves his life and he hers and she finds herself following him further into his world, where Reach threatens the existence of those who have called the streets home for centuries. Reach is the god of cranes; they appear on the horizon wherever he is erecting his mirrored skyscrapers, something residents of London will know well. Reach represents progress destroying the character and essence of London.
Meanwhile, Pen has her reasons for her betrayal to Beth and her story is a sad one. She sees Beth’s paintings on the walls and follows her, with no inclination of the danger she could be in. Amongst the story of the city there are some very real themes threaded throughout and I think Pen’s parting words sums things up perfectly. Beth’s father is also suffering from deep depression after the loss of his wife and Beth’s mother and now he must face the idea that his daughter is lost too. There are some incredibly touching moments amongst the fantastical.
There is also a spattering of humour, mostly from the wonderful character of Victor, a homeless Russian who offers his translation services and whose friendly manner evolves into a sort of surrogate father figure for Beth. This lightens what is otherwise a dark, yet utterly brilliant tale.
There’s no denying that The City’s Son put’s the urban into urban fantasy, the setting being crucial. Scenes may be a little disturbing for younger readers although I’m not sure it’s being marketed towards young adults despite the teenage characters.
sienna727's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
annabrewer972's review against another edition
5.0
Loved this book! The characters, the magic, the imagination - totally unique and really brought London into a different light. I was enchanted right from the start.
carolineroche's review against another edition
5.0
This is an amazing fantasy book, and I just couldn't put it down. Set in an alternate London, you see the landscape in a different way. It is similar to Gaiman's Neverwhere and Mielville's Un Lun don, both set in London, but not in London. This is equally brilliant, telling the story of the prince of London, son of the Goddess London, who fights against his mortal enemy Reach, the one who wants to tear down the old and rebuild the new London. A brilliant book.
fruitylish's review against another edition
4.0
A whole new world, definitely eye-opening and very inventive. <3
siavahda's review against another edition
2.0
Okay. First off, this is a arguably a good book. I will grant it that. I particularly liked the ending, which tied in very well with the overall themes of gritty hopelessness. I loved the relationship between Beth and Pen, and that their friendship was ultimately more important than the book's romance.
But, but, BUT. Kate Griffin did it first, and she did/does it better. The core of Pollock's story - a magical London where the 'magic' is made up of petrol and neon and garbage instead of wands and potions - is straight out of Griffin's Madness of Angels.
There's no inherent problem with this - originality is difficult to come up with, and lots of authors/stories are inspired, sometimes heavily inspired, by other authors/stories. Take Sunny's Monere series; they pull heavily from Anne Bishop's Black Jewels books.
Oh, wait. At the beginning of each Monere book, Sunny thanks Bishop for inspiring her. Gives her some of the credit. There's no such mention of Griffin in Pollock's book, which pisses me off on a personal level.
Now for my problems as a reader: Son is dark. And I mean very dark. I don't have a problem with dark books as a rule, in fact I usually enjoy them very much, especially when the characters manage to overcome the dark depressing-ness. But that wasn't the case here. Yes, there's a sort of 'hopeful' ending, but only sort of. When Son starts to unfold, it looks like another Madness of Angels, in that it's going to be weird but also magical and beautiful and ultimately bolster our love of the amazing city that is London. But as it goes on, every bit of revealed 'magic' is shown to have a dark side, and then a darker one on top of that. Everything is cruel, everything is broken, everything is vicious. There are no real good guys - which, okay, I can accept that because life is mostly like that too - except that then there are, and they get screwed for no reason at all. After the first third or so of the book it just becomes one more depressing, cruel, evil thing after another; and yes, Pollock tries to get across a message of triumphing over racism and the joys of 'working together', but that doesn't work so well when you kill nearly everyone in a hopeless war they were never going to win.
I adored Beth. I adored Pen. Not just their relationship but the two of them as individuals are fantastic characters. They're both strong in very different ways, Pen especially in less obvious ways, and they're good examples of strong young women in YA. But the book itself felt like someone trying to be dark and gritty just for the sake of it, and eventually losing the story to needless cruelty and violence. Instead of making London a magical place, Pollock makes it dark and twisted, a horrible, horrible place full of nightmares, not magic. Son is far more horror than fantasy.
Also, every single magical thing alliterates. Women in the Wall. Pavement Priests. Railwraiths. If the book hadn't been on my kindle I would have hurled it across the room. OKAY, WE GET IT. ALLITERATION IS COOL. BUT NOT THIS MUCH OF IT! Christ.
So, yeah. I won't be recommending this to anyone.
But, but, BUT. Kate Griffin did it first, and she did/does it better. The core of Pollock's story - a magical London where the 'magic' is made up of petrol and neon and garbage instead of wands and potions - is straight out of Griffin's Madness of Angels.
There's no inherent problem with this - originality is difficult to come up with, and lots of authors/stories are inspired, sometimes heavily inspired, by other authors/stories. Take Sunny's Monere series; they pull heavily from Anne Bishop's Black Jewels books.
Oh, wait. At the beginning of each Monere book, Sunny thanks Bishop for inspiring her. Gives her some of the credit. There's no such mention of Griffin in Pollock's book, which pisses me off on a personal level.
Now for my problems as a reader: Son is dark. And I mean very dark. I don't have a problem with dark books as a rule, in fact I usually enjoy them very much, especially when the characters manage to overcome the dark depressing-ness. But that wasn't the case here. Yes, there's a sort of 'hopeful' ending, but only sort of. When Son starts to unfold, it looks like another Madness of Angels, in that it's going to be weird but also magical and beautiful and ultimately bolster our love of the amazing city that is London. But as it goes on, every bit of revealed 'magic' is shown to have a dark side, and then a darker one on top of that. Everything is cruel, everything is broken, everything is vicious. There are no real good guys - which, okay, I can accept that because life is mostly like that too - except that then there are, and they get screwed for no reason at all. After the first third or so of the book it just becomes one more depressing, cruel, evil thing after another; and yes, Pollock tries to get across a message of triumphing over racism and the joys of 'working together', but that doesn't work so well when you kill nearly everyone in a hopeless war they were never going to win.
I adored Beth. I adored Pen. Not just their relationship but the two of them as individuals are fantastic characters. They're both strong in very different ways, Pen especially in less obvious ways, and they're good examples of strong young women in YA. But the book itself felt like someone trying to be dark and gritty just for the sake of it, and eventually losing the story to needless cruelty and violence. Instead of making London a magical place, Pollock makes it dark and twisted, a horrible, horrible place full of nightmares, not magic. Son is far more horror than fantasy.
Also, every single magical thing alliterates. Women in the Wall. Pavement Priests. Railwraiths. If the book hadn't been on my kindle I would have hurled it across the room. OKAY, WE GET IT. ALLITERATION IS COOL. BUT NOT THIS MUCH OF IT! Christ.
So, yeah. I won't be recommending this to anyone.