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mikewhiteman's review
4.0
This is a fantasy of a closed-off world, maintained by arcane rituals which are falling out of favour and the public consciousness. As the city decays, its people are turned in upon themselves, creating, destroying and recycling in an ever-reducing spiral. Some want to revive the true essence of the rituals and bring the sustaining magics back to the city, while others want to burn away the closed existence entirely.
This side of the book is excellent, the knowledge that there is literal nothingness beyond the desert surrounding the city affecting its inhabitants in fascinating ways. The implications for the art and philosophy which underpin their lives (at least the "educated" sections of their society) are huge and are seen throughout.
However, this is also (probably mostly) a story of Thomas Kemp, an irritating and unaware student and artist who drifts lower and lower as the story progresses, leaving a trail of dead friends and family in his wake and ultimately scraping towards some redemption he barely deserves.
Kemp is self-centred, believing himself to be passive and without agency; to his mind, his actions have no consequences on those around him, only theirs on him. As he sinks further, his sins grow greater, from rudeness and neglect to abuse and rape. The writing is aware of the type of person he is and the reactions of the other characters highlight it, but I felt like it still asked the reader to sympathise.
And, to a certain extent, I did. The writing is great and illustrates the pervasive nihilism inherent in the city's situation. If you can stomach a story focused on the worst "that guy" from an art or philosophy class, then there is a big, emotional story which gives plenty of Art and Philosophy to think on while building to its world-revealing conclusion.
This side of the book is excellent, the knowledge that there is literal nothingness beyond the desert surrounding the city affecting its inhabitants in fascinating ways. The implications for the art and philosophy which underpin their lives (at least the "educated" sections of their society) are huge and are seen throughout.
However, this is also (probably mostly) a story of Thomas Kemp, an irritating and unaware student and artist who drifts lower and lower as the story progresses, leaving a trail of dead friends and family in his wake and ultimately scraping towards some redemption he barely deserves.
Kemp is self-centred, believing himself to be passive and without agency; to his mind, his actions have no consequences on those around him, only theirs on him. As he sinks further, his sins grow greater, from rudeness and neglect to abuse and rape. The writing is aware of the type of person he is and the reactions of the other characters highlight it, but I felt like it still asked the reader to sympathise.
And, to a certain extent, I did. The writing is great and illustrates the pervasive nihilism inherent in the city's situation. If you can stomach a story focused on the worst "that guy" from an art or philosophy class, then there is a big, emotional story which gives plenty of Art and Philosophy to think on while building to its world-revealing conclusion.
gengelcox's review
3.0
Not since reading [a:Lewis Shiner|150432|Lewis Shiner|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1235134206p2/150432.jpg]’s first two novels have I come across an author who has changed style, content, and direction with such dexterity as Simon Ings has done between his first novel, [b:Hot Head|10506237|Hot Head (Head #1)|Damon Suede|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1307050057s/10506237.jpg|15412114], and this novel. [b:Hot Head|10506237|Hot Head (Head #1)|Damon Suede|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1307050057s/10506237.jpg|15412114] was a proto-cyberpunk novel as if written by a young [a:J.G. Ballard|7010931|J.G. Ballard|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1497551843p2/7010931.jpg] with a hip adventure plot, but proved ultimately disappointing because the sum of it didn’t add up to the excellent nature of the individual parts. City of the Iron Fish, however, is a [a:M. John Harrison|10765|M. John Harrison|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1277603037p2/10765.jpg] pastiche that deftly walks that same tightrope between fantasy and science fiction that only Harrison and [a:Gene Wolfe|23069|Gene Wolfe|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1207670073p2/23069.jpg] have been able to manage before. While the whole is still not as satisfying as the parts, City of the Iron Fish is an impressive achievement, made even more so by the knowledge that Ings is only starting his career. If people are wondering where the stars of the 90s in SF are, they need look no further than Simon Ings.
Thomas Kemp is the curious scion of a minor academic in one of the strangest cities to come along since Todos Santos or Gormenghast. The City reinvents itself every twenty years through an arcane ceremony involving the year-long creation of a sculpture of an iron fish, culminated by a processional feeding of the sculpture with bits and pieces of art, poems, and pamphlets created by the City’s inhabitants. What kind of city is this, with a huge bridge that spans a granite “river” upon which boats on wheels ply their trade, where gulls are metallic and must be fed by the populace, where nothing exists except for the city itself. What does it all mean? That’s Thomas’ question, and his attempts and failures at answering it make up the “plot” of the book.
The scenes and descriptions that are involved here rival some of [a:Gene Wolfe|23069|Gene Wolfe|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1207670073p2/23069.jpg]’s mysterious creations in The Book of the New Sun. Unfortunately, Ings isn’t able to draw everything together and provide an underpinning to the world that he’s created. While parts are most enjoyable, the plot doesn’t satisfy.
Ings’ first stories in Interzone carried a true promise of someone to watch, and he has yet to disappoint that prediction. I look forward to his next novel and the obvious leap in skill and content that it will have. Until then, City of the Iron Fish exists as a promise of even better things to come.
Thomas Kemp is the curious scion of a minor academic in one of the strangest cities to come along since Todos Santos or Gormenghast. The City reinvents itself every twenty years through an arcane ceremony involving the year-long creation of a sculpture of an iron fish, culminated by a processional feeding of the sculpture with bits and pieces of art, poems, and pamphlets created by the City’s inhabitants. What kind of city is this, with a huge bridge that spans a granite “river” upon which boats on wheels ply their trade, where gulls are metallic and must be fed by the populace, where nothing exists except for the city itself. What does it all mean? That’s Thomas’ question, and his attempts and failures at answering it make up the “plot” of the book.
The scenes and descriptions that are involved here rival some of [a:Gene Wolfe|23069|Gene Wolfe|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1207670073p2/23069.jpg]’s mysterious creations in The Book of the New Sun. Unfortunately, Ings isn’t able to draw everything together and provide an underpinning to the world that he’s created. While parts are most enjoyable, the plot doesn’t satisfy.
Ings’ first stories in Interzone carried a true promise of someone to watch, and he has yet to disappoint that prediction. I look forward to his next novel and the obvious leap in skill and content that it will have. Until then, City of the Iron Fish exists as a promise of even better things to come.
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