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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
Great mix of fantasy and noir. It's very well done how you suspect quite early who the real culprit is, but you only get the pieces what is really going on bit by bit.
This was just not my sort of book, so I decided to put it down early. I am not going to rate it, because I feel like it might be a great book for people who like this sort of fantasy-thriller novels. However, still have two great quotes to share:
"The Bleeding Virgin was the kind of dive that made you want to scrub your skin with lye as soon as you walked out" (17).
"And the lieutenant says, 'What makes you think that way is east? And he says, 'Cause that's the morning sun in my eyes or I'm blinded by your brilliance, and if it was the latter, you'd know how to work a compass'" (45).
"The Bleeding Virgin was the kind of dive that made you want to scrub your skin with lye as soon as you walked out" (17).
"And the lieutenant says, 'What makes you think that way is east? And he says, 'Cause that's the morning sun in my eyes or I'm blinded by your brilliance, and if it was the latter, you'd know how to work a compass'" (45).
Drug dealers, hustlers, brothels, dirty politics, corrupt cops . . . and sorcery. Welcome to Low Town. From the back of the book itself, you can see that there's way too much going on here. I would've liked to see a few hundred more pages just to flesh out the whole world or town or land or whatever - had the writing been better. However, while the plot is interesting and Low Town itself is a pretty cool place, the writing is sloppy and could've used a much more stringent editor. It was way too obvious who the real bad guy was about a third of the way through, so although Warden was supposed to be a badass, he certainly was not.
"Drug dealers, hustlers, brothels, dirty politics, corrupt cops . . . and sorcery. Welcome to Low Town."
A noir fantasy, who could resist? I wanted, desperately, to like this book - but unfortunately ... it was not to be.
It's a shame. The author had all the elements needed for a good book, but it just didn't come together for me. Children are dying, and it's up to an ex-cop, now drug dealer and petty crime lord, to figure out what's going on. Cool, right?
Alas, the story meanders, taking unnecessary twists and turns - and the ending is immediately obvious. I knew within the first quarter of the book what to expect, and spent the next three quarters hoping I was wrong because it was so ridiculously blatant. Nope. I was right. So, no mystery, no real tension, and the character of the Warden - potentially fascinating - is pretty unexplored and under-developed.
Still, for a first time author - the world was interesting, and the story idea was great - it just needed some tightening up. I'll reserve judgement for now, and check out the sequel to see if he improves - because I do feel that all of the problems with this first novel are totally fixable.
A noir fantasy, who could resist? I wanted, desperately, to like this book - but unfortunately ... it was not to be.
It's a shame. The author had all the elements needed for a good book, but it just didn't come together for me. Children are dying, and it's up to an ex-cop, now drug dealer and petty crime lord, to figure out what's going on. Cool, right?
Alas, the story meanders, taking unnecessary twists and turns - and the ending is immediately obvious. I knew within the first quarter of the book what to expect, and spent the next three quarters hoping I was wrong because it was so ridiculously blatant. Nope. I was right. So, no mystery, no real tension, and the character of the Warden - potentially fascinating - is pretty unexplored and under-developed.
Still, for a first time author - the world was interesting, and the story idea was great - it just needed some tightening up. I'll reserve judgement for now, and check out the sequel to see if he improves - because I do feel that all of the problems with this first novel are totally fixable.
Just a great concept. Was missing the brutality after Abercrombie's trilogy. Love the pixie dust addicts and the dirt and grit of the main character x
Mini-Review:
3.5 Stars
If I had to describe the book with two words, it would be atmospheric & colorful. The author did a great job of creating a grim setting and many different shades of ill fortune, drugs & violence. The small moments of kindness, joy and caring stand out in sharp contrast.
This was a story where I enjoyed the journey more than the end. I felt the ending was a too short and not well fleshed out for all that happened before it. I like Warden and wish he wasn't so broken. It doesn't seem as though the world and experiences have broken him as much as he has shattered himself into conflicting shards that will no longer fit together.
3.5 Stars
If I had to describe the book with two words, it would be atmospheric & colorful. The author did a great job of creating a grim setting and many different shades of ill fortune, drugs & violence. The small moments of kindness, joy and caring stand out in sharp contrast.
This was a story where I enjoyed the journey more than the end. I felt the ending was a too short and not well fleshed out for all that happened before it. I like Warden and wish he wasn't so broken. It doesn't seem as though the world and experiences have broken him as much as he has shattered himself into conflicting shards that will no longer fit together.
Daniel Polansky has created an intriguing world of Low Town - a slum in the winter time filled with despicable characters, citizens living in poverty and filth, drug trafficking and magic. Children are showing up dead - abused and sacrificed and the Warden, a former secret ops agent now leading a life of crime, can't just stand by and wait for the next victim. So in a bid for his very life, he makes a deal with his former boss to find the culprit.
I really enjoyed this book. The characters were well written and interesting, the setting appropriately dismal with just enough goodness and innocence to make you root for the citizens who live there. I did figure out who the killer was early on, but I didn't figure out the motivation until the very end, which kept me turning pages long past when I should have stopped reading to get a good night's sleep. A great book for anyone who enjoys a mystery with a little fantasy mixed in. The perfect blend - not overwhelmed with magic and strange names, but enough magic to keep it fresh.
I received this book free from the Goodreads giveaway program.
I really enjoyed this book. The characters were well written and interesting, the setting appropriately dismal with just enough goodness and innocence to make you root for the citizens who live there. I did figure out who the killer was early on, but I didn't figure out the motivation until the very end, which kept me turning pages long past when I should have stopped reading to get a good night's sleep. A great book for anyone who enjoys a mystery with a little fantasy mixed in. The perfect blend - not overwhelmed with magic and strange names, but enough magic to keep it fresh.
I received this book free from the Goodreads giveaway program.
I have not read Mark Lawrence yet, but he's on my list, and when a well-respected author gushes about a book, I take interest. He praised this one on reddit and so I threw it on my list. Imagine how pleased I was to find the original UK hardcover for $2 on Amazon (which rose steeply to $20 as soon as my copy was purchased, lucky me).
This is reminiscent of The Dresden Files in the sense that it's noir urban fantasy (I can't help but laugh at the back copy which includes the term "noirest noir" which is both ridiculous and probably inaccurate). No, it's not modern-day style urban fantasy, but it definitely takes place in a big city and while swords may be the preferred weapon, there are office buildings and gunpowder so it's hardly medieval fantasy either. There is magic, but our protagonist (as much as a drug kingpin can be a protagonist) is not a wizard. I'm not sure who that is on the cover.
This is definitely a detective novel, so there's another similarity to Dresden, and everybody's pretty snarky too. This book is a bit "darker" though, what with all the curse words and throat slitting going on, but not so dark that it warrants much of a warning except to the most sensitive of readers. As detective novels go, it's good, definitely holds its own, but Polansky is no Jeffery Deaver.
I will say that I was sucked in within the first couple of chapters and the story kept up a good pace, and managed to make that drug kingpin fairly sympathetic even when he's murdering people who don't deserve it. As a fantasy novel, well, it's a bit light on the fantasy aspects, but there are magicians and monsters to deal with so it definitely counts, though the language in both the narration and the dialog are so extremely modern (including slang that has only been used in the past few years) that it doesn't feel particularly historical in nature. I fear that modern language may result in the book becoming dated very fast as some of these phrases fall out of common usage, but then this is not exactly the kind of classic novel that is likely to be getting read 30 years from now either.
All in all, I enjoyed it and look forward to reading the next one when I get my hands on it. Definitely worth the read, despite its small flaws.
This is reminiscent of The Dresden Files in the sense that it's noir urban fantasy (I can't help but laugh at the back copy which includes the term "noirest noir" which is both ridiculous and probably inaccurate). No, it's not modern-day style urban fantasy, but it definitely takes place in a big city and while swords may be the preferred weapon, there are office buildings and gunpowder so it's hardly medieval fantasy either. There is magic, but our protagonist (as much as a drug kingpin can be a protagonist) is not a wizard. I'm not sure who that is on the cover.
This is definitely a detective novel, so there's another similarity to Dresden, and everybody's pretty snarky too. This book is a bit "darker" though, what with all the curse words and throat slitting going on, but not so dark that it warrants much of a warning except to the most sensitive of readers. As detective novels go, it's good, definitely holds its own, but Polansky is no Jeffery Deaver.
I will say that I was sucked in within the first couple of chapters and the story kept up a good pace, and managed to make that drug kingpin fairly sympathetic even when he's murdering people who don't deserve it. As a fantasy novel, well, it's a bit light on the fantasy aspects, but there are magicians and monsters to deal with so it definitely counts, though the language in both the narration and the dialog are so extremely modern (including slang that has only been used in the past few years) that it doesn't feel particularly historical in nature. I fear that modern language may result in the book becoming dated very fast as some of these phrases fall out of common usage, but then this is not exactly the kind of classic novel that is likely to be getting read 30 years from now either.
All in all, I enjoyed it and look forward to reading the next one when I get my hands on it. Definitely worth the read, despite its small flaws.
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide, Violence
It's pretty clear this debut fantasy novel is being positioned as a cool new thing. After all, what was the last time you saw a fantasy book with a 1990s stencil street art-style cover? It's definitely keen to carve out a niche in the genre by mashing up classic noir tropes with a more or less standard quasi-medieval low fantasy setting. Throw in some grim violence, contemporary profanity and slang (for example, at one point, a group of thugs is said to "roll deep"), and hey presto, this ain't your daddy's Tolkien! The author has alluded to his mashed up influences, from Hammett, to Tarantino, and yes, Tolkien. And to be fair, that combination actually is fairly representative of the kind of mix one is getting, with Tolkien being perhaps the weak link. What I haven't seen mentioned anywhere is the clear influence of Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar stories. Those gritty, most city-based sword and sorcery tales are easily the best comparison to this book.
The antihero of this story is a drug dealer named Warden, whose territory covers a portion of the slums of a large capitol city which feels a lot like London. He's got a colorful past: first as a survivor of a vicious plague, then as the protege of the city's most powerful and beloved wizard, then as an officer for five years of trench warfare against the hated Dren kingdom, then as a top-ranking member of the imperial secret police. He left his position of power behind due to an unspecified incident over a woman, and now he's 35ish and living above a tavern run by his old war comrade. The story kicks off when a child is found murdered, and Warden gets caught up in the investigation. Soon enough, he's uncovered ties to the darkest magic, another child is killed, and he's got to race the clock to find out who's behind it.
It's kind of a classic crime story, and it's not to hard to imagine Warden as a down-and-out ex-cop turned private eye, undertaking the same kind of investigation in a modern metropolis. Unfortunately, anyone who's familiar with classic noir tropes will have a pretty easy time identifying the villain of the story well before Warden does. And I have to confess, even while I understood the villain's motivations, I never really understood what their overall goal was. I'm going to need to go back and read the last 15-20 pages or so, and that's never a good sign. The book brims with atmosphere and brio, and there's plenty of snappy dialogue and clever detail -- but it's just a shade too simple. It's the kind of book I can imagine my 18-year-old self falling head over heels for, but for the adult me, it remained just a touch too basic to truly fall in love with. Still, I imagine there will be more installments in the Warden series, and I will definitely pick the next one up with interest.
The antihero of this story is a drug dealer named Warden, whose territory covers a portion of the slums of a large capitol city which feels a lot like London. He's got a colorful past: first as a survivor of a vicious plague, then as the protege of the city's most powerful and beloved wizard, then as an officer for five years of trench warfare against the hated Dren kingdom, then as a top-ranking member of the imperial secret police. He left his position of power behind due to an unspecified incident over a woman, and now he's 35ish and living above a tavern run by his old war comrade. The story kicks off when a child is found murdered, and Warden gets caught up in the investigation. Soon enough, he's uncovered ties to the darkest magic, another child is killed, and he's got to race the clock to find out who's behind it.
It's kind of a classic crime story, and it's not to hard to imagine Warden as a down-and-out ex-cop turned private eye, undertaking the same kind of investigation in a modern metropolis. Unfortunately, anyone who's familiar with classic noir tropes will have a pretty easy time identifying the villain of the story well before Warden does. And I have to confess, even while I understood the villain's motivations, I never really understood what their overall goal was. I'm going to need to go back and read the last 15-20 pages or so, and that's never a good sign. The book brims with atmosphere and brio, and there's plenty of snappy dialogue and clever detail -- but it's just a shade too simple. It's the kind of book I can imagine my 18-year-old self falling head over heels for, but for the adult me, it remained just a touch too basic to truly fall in love with. Still, I imagine there will be more installments in the Warden series, and I will definitely pick the next one up with interest.