Scan barcode
pilebythebed's review against another edition
4.0
String City stakes a claim for one of the strangest hard boiled detective stories to grace the genre. It is set in String City, a place where all of the multiverses held together by cosmic string come together. It is a place where mythological creatures rub shoulders with fictional creations and a smattering of the real world. As the gumshoe narrator succinctly outs it:
String City is where the cosmic string gets knitted so tight that all the dimensions kind of fold together. All the worlds that there are – and plenty that there aren’t – get wrapped in a homicidal lover’s embrace. Impossibilities happen, moored to reality by the knots in the string. Like the tour guide says: in String City nothing makes sense, but everything hangs together.
When the book opens the narrator, a hard boiled detective type in String City is being besieged by clients unhappy with his service when he is commissioned by the Titan Hyperion to find out who raided his gambling house, the Tartarus Club. This is the first of a series of highly improbable but decidedly enjoyable escapades and cases that all tie in to what appears to be an impending armageddon. Along the way, the gumshoe will encounter among other things cyclopses, golems, giant spiders, Jason of the argonauts, sentient robots, scarab beetle accountants and will pick up a girl Friday called Zephyr with secrets and problems of her own.
String City is balls to the wall insanity, a mash of quantum physics, classic mythology and noir detective fiction. Digging deep into noir fiction tropes (including plenty of bourbon, a femme fatale and tragic backstory) Graham Edwards manages to play the weirdness straight and improbably this keeps the venture afloat. It is so crazy that it should not work. But it does.
String City is where the cosmic string gets knitted so tight that all the dimensions kind of fold together. All the worlds that there are – and plenty that there aren’t – get wrapped in a homicidal lover’s embrace. Impossibilities happen, moored to reality by the knots in the string. Like the tour guide says: in String City nothing makes sense, but everything hangs together.
When the book opens the narrator, a hard boiled detective type in String City is being besieged by clients unhappy with his service when he is commissioned by the Titan Hyperion to find out who raided his gambling house, the Tartarus Club. This is the first of a series of highly improbable but decidedly enjoyable escapades and cases that all tie in to what appears to be an impending armageddon. Along the way, the gumshoe will encounter among other things cyclopses, golems, giant spiders, Jason of the argonauts, sentient robots, scarab beetle accountants and will pick up a girl Friday called Zephyr with secrets and problems of her own.
String City is balls to the wall insanity, a mash of quantum physics, classic mythology and noir detective fiction. Digging deep into noir fiction tropes (including plenty of bourbon, a femme fatale and tragic backstory) Graham Edwards manages to play the weirdness straight and improbably this keeps the venture afloat. It is so crazy that it should not work. But it does.
quantumcrayons's review against another edition
4.0
"String City" is a book that draws on multiple sources - mythology (focused heavily on Greek, though with other folks strung along as well), quantum physics (the "strings" in question are parallels to those of string theory) and classic detective novels (a la Raymond Chandler). If you have an interest in those 3 things, as I do, this is a book for you. A surreal journey through a surreal city, a little meandering at times, but a solid novel.
It strays intro trope and cliché now and again, potentially intentionally, but subverts them quirkily enough to be thoroughly enjoyable. The mish-mash of themes could have cause the book to fall apart but thankfully it is woven into an engaging tale.
If you actively dislike either mythology, surrealism or gumshoes - perhaps not one for you. Otherwise, worth giving it a go - you'll know early on if you want to see it through to the end.
It strays intro trope and cliché now and again, potentially intentionally, but subverts them quirkily enough to be thoroughly enjoyable. The mish-mash of themes could have cause the book to fall apart but thankfully it is woven into an engaging tale.
If you actively dislike either mythology, surrealism or gumshoes - perhaps not one for you. Otherwise, worth giving it a go - you'll know early on if you want to see it through to the end.
wisecraic's review against another edition
DNF after 6 chapters. The tone of the main character is already grating and I have many more PI stories I could read where that isn't the case. The writing is also pretty choppy and just isn't for me.
celestialwillow's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
I read this in lunchtimes over MONTHS, which is unlike me. I was determined to finish it and find out if anything would make sense in the end. It didn’t, and I should’ve DNFd it weeks ago.
Just not enough to love about the characters especially the detective and his attitude to women. Even spider women. Nope.
Just not enough to love about the characters especially the detective and his attitude to women. Even spider women. Nope.
read_me_up_scotty's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
Interesting concept but the delivery just doesn’t work. Too many diversions and subplots that don’t add anything to the story. The ending has practically nothing to do with most of the book. Struggled to will myself to get to the end.
kjaro's review against another edition
3.0
3.5
Not gonna lie, I'm glad I finally managed to end this book. Not because it was bad, but because it was, indeed, a lot.
Which is to say: I enjoyed almost everything that went on. Even if it was incredibly overwhelming in the beginning, and a few times along the way.
But what can I say, I'm a sucker for weird and quirky character design, more or less emotional storylines and big mysteries that want to be unraveled. And there's more than enough of all those things in this book.
The only real downside for me would be the relation the story has with its female characters. All of them have to be saved at some point, all of them are reffered to as "Dame", "Honey" and "darling" by the strong Mister Detective-man. That's not how that works anymore.
Not gonna lie, I'm glad I finally managed to end this book. Not because it was bad, but because it was, indeed, a lot.
Which is to say: I enjoyed almost everything that went on. Even if it was incredibly overwhelming in the beginning, and a few times along the way.
But what can I say, I'm a sucker for weird and quirky character design, more or less emotional storylines and big mysteries that want to be unraveled. And there's more than enough of all those things in this book.
The only real downside for me would be the relation the story has with its female characters. All of them have to be saved at some point, all of them are reffered to as "Dame", "Honey" and "darling" by the strong Mister Detective-man. That's not how that works anymore.
liacooper's review
4.0
3.75 rounded up to 4*
I received an ARC copy of this book via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This novel was both exactly what I expected and also quite surprising. It follows the turbulent ups and downs of our protagonist, a stringwalker private detective working String City, as his city faces the apocalypse. From the first page the style evokes the spare narrative style of Hammett's Maltese Falcon or Cain's Double Indemnity. The worldbuilding is...well...weird but also seems totally normal because it's so fundamental to the universe that it exists within.
we've got Titans, we've got Thanes, we've got sentient sewer sludge, undead angels, kingfishers, spiders, sort of vampires, alternate realities, weather gods, and hungry ghosts. this world is jam packed full of just about every weird myth or folk type character you could wish for, all of it co-existing alongside one another.
Told in 7 parts, the structure of the novel is particularly interesting because the chapters are excessively short. This both works for and against the book. For the first 70-100 pgs i really struggled to get into it simply because of these short chapters. A chapter break is a signal to the reader that they can rest here, and theres a natural tendency to end my reading session at the end of the chapter. this becomes a problem when chapters are only 2-4 pgs. I found myself unconsciously setting the book down almost as soon as i started reading it. I also found that the plot really began to pick up in Part 2 with the addition of several side characters who helped buoy up the protagonist's narrative. Once i hit this part of the story, i flew through the last 300 or so pages.
unsettling and interesting, and i think the readers it clicks with in just the right way will enjoy it immensely. I think this book will shine for that specific cross section of noir fans who also love weird SFF/speculative fiction.
I received an ARC copy of this book via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This novel was both exactly what I expected and also quite surprising. It follows the turbulent ups and downs of our protagonist, a stringwalker private detective working String City, as his city faces the apocalypse. From the first page the style evokes the spare narrative style of Hammett's Maltese Falcon or Cain's Double Indemnity. The worldbuilding is...well...weird but also seems totally normal because it's so fundamental to the universe that it exists within.
we've got Titans, we've got Thanes, we've got sentient sewer sludge, undead angels, kingfishers, spiders, sort of vampires, alternate realities, weather gods, and hungry ghosts. this world is jam packed full of just about every weird myth or folk type character you could wish for, all of it co-existing alongside one another.
Told in 7 parts, the structure of the novel is particularly interesting because the chapters are excessively short. This both works for and against the book. For the first 70-100 pgs i really struggled to get into it simply because of these short chapters. A chapter break is a signal to the reader that they can rest here, and theres a natural tendency to end my reading session at the end of the chapter. this becomes a problem when chapters are only 2-4 pgs. I found myself unconsciously setting the book down almost as soon as i started reading it. I also found that the plot really began to pick up in Part 2 with the addition of several side characters who helped buoy up the protagonist's narrative. Once i hit this part of the story, i flew through the last 300 or so pages.
unsettling and interesting, and i think the readers it clicks with in just the right way will enjoy it immensely. I think this book will shine for that specific cross section of noir fans who also love weird SFF/speculative fiction.
quiraang's review
3.0
Certainly offbeat with some complex and unusual world building. The Chandleresque dialog is a little corny, but hey, I enjoyed it!
15rhughes's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75