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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I often don't like this kind of urban fantasy with a gimmick (she has a spirit sloth! What would Kristen Bell do?), but this really worked for me.
Unconventional?
I don't know how to describe it. The author can write words good, which is all I ever really ask for, and the magic system was nice - a bit like Boy finds dragon meets Witches get an animal to serve as their familiar after selling souls...
But it's also a bit difficult to follow the plot, and the murder-mystery that's set up in the beginning became more of a missing persons case for 90% of the book before becoming a murder mystery again, so at that point I checked out a little bit.
Otherwise, it was solid. The main character was a refreshing change to all the other American Urban Fantasy heroines out there floating around solving crime and falling in love with the hot dude who's super powerful and super good-looking. It's possibly the most urban Urban fantasy I've ever read, so plot issues aside, it got extra points for that.
I don't know how to describe it. The author can write words good, which is all I ever really ask for, and the magic system was nice - a bit like Boy finds dragon meets Witches get an animal to serve as their familiar after selling souls...
But it's also a bit difficult to follow the plot, and the murder-mystery that's set up in the beginning became more of a missing persons case for 90% of the book before becoming a murder mystery again, so at that point I checked out a little bit.
Otherwise, it was solid. The main character was a refreshing change to all the other American Urban Fantasy heroines out there floating around solving crime and falling in love with the hot dude who's super powerful and super good-looking. It's possibly the most urban Urban fantasy I've ever read, so plot issues aside, it got extra points for that.
3.5/5
Zinzi does magic as a result of her animal. When one commits a violent crime, they get an animal familiar that is with them all the time. It gives people magic powers. She can find lost things and after making a paltry living doing this, one of her clients dies and she takes on a missing persons case. But ooooohhhhh boy, there's magic, human sacrifice, etc. that are all in play here. I don't normally read fantasy, but I enjoy the other works of Lauren Beukes, so I decided to give this a chance, and surprisingly, I enjoyed it quite a lot.
Zinzi does magic as a result of her animal. When one commits a violent crime, they get an animal familiar that is with them all the time. It gives people magic powers. She can find lost things and after making a paltry living doing this, one of her clients dies and she takes on a missing persons case. But ooooohhhhh boy, there's magic, human sacrifice, etc. that are all in play here. I don't normally read fantasy, but I enjoy the other works of Lauren Beukes, so I decided to give this a chance, and surprisingly, I enjoyed it quite a lot.
ZOO CITY has been a funny one for me to review, while I really enjoyed the book and fully believe it deserved to win the Arthur C. Clarke and World Fantasy Awards, it fell just short of totally wowing me. The reason, I think, was down to the ending.
Firstly, like all good compliment sandwiches, let me start by laying down the good stuff! One of the real highlights of Zoo City was the setting – a kind of alternate universe Johannesburg where magic exists and a person’s guilt is made manifest in the form of an animal familiar. It was so refreshing to read an urban fantasy set in Africa and Beukes absolutely brings it to life with her wonderfully descriptive and often colourful language.
The character of Zinzi December is excellent – a former journalist and recovering drug addict and gained a sloth. She is something of an anti-hero who makes her living not only through finding “lost things” (her mashavi – a magic power that apparently comes with the acquisition of an animal) but also by orchestrating online 419 scams. She’s often funny, clearly very damaged, and just generally very interesting. Her past is slowly revealed throughout the narrative, but to be honest I remained slightly confused …maybe I missed something? In any case, it was refreshing to read from the point of view of a character so obviously flawed but who doesn’t try to make herself out to be a victim.
The plot of the novel centres around Zinzi’s hunt for missing teenager Songweza – one half of an up-and-coming brother and sister pop duo iJusi. For the first two-thirds of the book I thought the plot interesting and was developing at a nice pace; however, in the last third of the book the narrative turned a corner and began throwing a lot of stuff at the reader. It was almost too much to take in.
I would have also liked more detail on Zinzi’s relationship with sloth. Clearly there must be some really complex feelings at play between them and I think it’s a shame that Beukes didn’t explore that further.
For a more complete review, visit my review blog
Firstly, like all good compliment sandwiches, let me start by laying down the good stuff! One of the real highlights of Zoo City was the setting – a kind of alternate universe Johannesburg where magic exists and a person’s guilt is made manifest in the form of an animal familiar. It was so refreshing to read an urban fantasy set in Africa and Beukes absolutely brings it to life with her wonderfully descriptive and often colourful language.
The character of Zinzi December is excellent – a former journalist and recovering drug addict
Spoiler
who killed her brotherSpoiler
on exactly how she had killed her brother – in her recollections it seems as though he was caught in the crossfire when someone was trying to shoot her (possibly her dealer?), but she’s sent to prison for his murder and manages to gain the slothThe plot of the novel centres around Zinzi’s hunt for missing teenager Songweza – one half of an up-and-coming brother and sister pop duo iJusi. For the first two-thirds of the book I thought the plot interesting and was developing at a nice pace; however, in the last third of the book the narrative turned a corner and began throwing a lot of stuff at the reader. It was almost too much to take in.
I would have also liked more detail on Zinzi’s relationship with sloth. Clearly there must be some really complex feelings at play between them and I think it’s a shame that Beukes didn’t explore that further.
For a more complete review, visit my review blog
I discovered this book while Googling "if you loved Pokemon growing up, try reading" and stumbling upon a Reddit thread that had a comment suggesting this book. I am so glad I saw that comment because I absolutely loved this book and it was exactly what I wanted, plus some. I won't get too much into the main plot of the book in my review, but I'll focus instead on the world and the society in it.
While it's not Pokemon at all, really, it does have a magical animal friend that becomes bonded to you if you commit a particular awful deed and feel the emotional effects of that choice in a profound way. Zinzi December feels such extreme guilt over why her brother was shot that she gains Sloth. She loses her entire prior life due to an addiction that led to incredible debt to people who had no issue using guns on innocent family members to "solve" it.
With that in mind, it is not just people who actually murder that can gain these animals, but public opinion really doesn't care about the details. All Animalled are treated the same and are at the bottom of the social and economic hierarchy. They live in areas of cities called "Zoos/Zoo City" and are largely left to fend for themselves.
Lauren Beukes did a wonderful job of exploring how we as a society would treat people who had such a visible sign of obvious guilt. She touches on various religious explanations for the Animals as well as scientific reasons without ever saying any one idea is the truth. Just as in real life, there are shades of grey that are purposely left unexplored because to explore it would mean accepting that very rarely is anything truly morally "right" or "wrong." Most things are both. Most people are both. She does a wonderful job of exploring what second chances really mean in the long run. This is the second book by her that I have read where I was sad to see it end because I wanted at least three hundred more pages.
5/5 stars, borrowed from the library, most likely will purchase a copy for my physical. i feel like i should apologize for being ramble-y in this review. i am tired, but wanted to review it now instead of saying "later" and then never doing it.
While it's not Pokemon at all, really, it does have a magical animal friend that becomes bonded to you if you commit a particular awful deed and feel the emotional effects of that choice in a profound way. Zinzi December feels such extreme guilt over why her brother was shot that she gains Sloth. She loses her entire prior life due to an addiction that led to incredible debt to people who had no issue using guns on innocent family members to "solve" it.
With that in mind, it is not just people who actually murder that can gain these animals, but public opinion really doesn't care about the details. All Animalled are treated the same and are at the bottom of the social and economic hierarchy. They live in areas of cities called "Zoos/Zoo City" and are largely left to fend for themselves.
Lauren Beukes did a wonderful job of exploring how we as a society would treat people who had such a visible sign of obvious guilt. She touches on various religious explanations for the Animals as well as scientific reasons without ever saying any one idea is the truth. Just as in real life, there are shades of grey that are purposely left unexplored because to explore it would mean accepting that very rarely is anything truly morally "right" or "wrong." Most things are both. Most people are both. She does a wonderful job of exploring what second chances really mean in the long run. This is the second book by her that I have read where I was sad to see it end because I wanted at least three hundred more pages.
5/5 stars, borrowed from the library, most likely will purchase a copy for my physical. i feel like i should apologize for being ramble-y in this review. i am tired, but wanted to review it now instead of saying "later" and then never doing it.
The title of this novel tells you exactly what the book is about - Zoo City. The shoddy missing-person-detective plot mentioned in the blurb comes across as a vehicle to showcase the unique world building and concept of being "animalled". The novel is more "a few days in the life of Zinzi and her sloth" than any type of detective novel. The connecting mystery is rather more interesting. Unfortunately, the most interesting bits with the "animal-familiars" is given short shift.
This is an interesting and entertaining noir novel with supernatural flavour, set in an alternative South Africa. While the writing is appealing, the novel didn't quite rise to its full potential.
This is an interesting and entertaining noir novel with supernatural flavour, set in an alternative South Africa. While the writing is appealing, the novel didn't quite rise to its full potential.
Interesting concept but I didn't connect with any of the characters. The Shining Girls for Lauren Beukes was a page tuner and exciting to read. Zoo City missed such thrills probably as urban fantasy has different premises. The story has a lot of gabs and doesn't make much sense in several parts. The problem is that Lauren didn't spend enough time explaining how her created world might have come into existence where murders are marked by their bond animals.
The world was great and the writing was brilliant. I really can't say enough about Beukes as a writer. She doesn't write much, but when she does, it's an absolute Home Run. Every character was nuanced and the type of person I'd find myself being very interested in knowing more about.
Such an enjoyable read--Zinzi December is a great protagonist, love that it's set somewhere other than New York or London, and there is an awesome twist on Phillip Pullman's daemon concept. Although most of the book is in first person narrative, a lot of background comes from chapters made up of emails, movie reviews, and magazine articles. The second half of the book though is really plot driven, which makes it fly by, but I just wanted more character and world development. I'd be super happy if this was the beginning of a series.