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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
It wasn't bad. I just felt lost, like I was reading book 2 in a series. Wish there had been a glossary. Was too lazy for the many words to look up.
Holy wow.
That's all I have right now. I hit a couple snags over the course of reading this book. Times where I just wasn't sure there was enough gas to finish out the story... hooo boy I was wrong. And thankfully so. More later.
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There are some books that you could almost just read for the setting itself. This is one of those books. The Zoo City and the surrounding areas are so beautifully constructed, its almost a shame the book isn't twice as long just so we can wander around a bit more.
Just enough twists and turns in the plot to keep it interesting, without getting super-convoluted. Lots of cool back story and mythology to enrich the story, but it never felt like it was getting in the way.
That's all I have right now. I hit a couple snags over the course of reading this book. Times where I just wasn't sure there was enough gas to finish out the story... hooo boy I was wrong. And thankfully so. More later.
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There are some books that you could almost just read for the setting itself. This is one of those books. The Zoo City and the surrounding areas are so beautifully constructed, its almost a shame the book isn't twice as long just so we can wander around a bit more.
Just enough twists and turns in the plot to keep it interesting, without getting super-convoluted. Lots of cool back story and mythology to enrich the story, but it never felt like it was getting in the way.
I liked a number of things about this book. I enjoyed the writing style and the concept and I certainly liked all the animal characters. There just wasn't enough of a pay of either character or plot wise for me to really love it.
Zoo City is an urban fantasy book set in Johannesburg, South Africa. In Beurkes world, anyone guilty of a serious crime automatically acquires an animal. When the animal dies, so does the person and it is physically painful to be separated from the animal. Along with the animal comes a unique ability. Zinzi December becomes animaled when she is responsible for the death of her brother. She has a sloth that will always identify her as someone undesirable to polite society. Zinzi also has the ability to locate lost things. Usually she takes jobs to find mundane objects such as lost car keys and wedding rings that fall down the drain. Zinzi doesn't usually agree to find missing people, her gift does not work that way. When she is offered a job to find a missing pop star, Zinzi can't refuse the money, but will she able to find the girl in time? It was interesting to read a book set in South Africa. I wish I was more familiar with Johannesburg because I think I would have appreciated the little details more. Zinzi is not an easy character to like, but I found her growing on me by the end of the book. The world where your sins are there for the world to see is interesting, and I found the implications of this more interesting than the mystery. The culmination of the mystery seemed rushed to me, and some parts of the end were not clear to me, but I may have just missed something the first time through. I would recommend fans of urban fantasy to give this book a try.
I can't really rate this novel as half way in I could myself skipping paragraphs, then whole pages. Just to be clear, it's not a bad book, however it features themes and tropes I'm simply not interested in.
I kinda also want a sloth now. But maybe not by doing the thing.
I really enjoyed reading Zoo City. The main character, Zinzi December, and the setting of Johannesburg, South Africa, are different from any other paranormal type of mystery I've read, and the story was seriously darker than most in that genre. It leans toward dark fantasy despite the almost realistic world (the only paranormal aspect being animal spirits being visibly attached to certain people who've committed grave crimes/sins, and those same people developing some sort of magical strength or power with the appearance of their animal. The animals reminded me a bit of the 'daemons' in Pullman's His Dark Materials series. Really wonderful writing and story telling. It looks like this author has additional books in other genres. I'll be checking them out.
I think this is 4.5-star book, because there were some things I did not love, but in general this is such an amazing book it deserves a high rating. I picked this up only because I saw the cover and was fascinated by it (so well done! and it fits the story perfectly!).
Zinzi, a former journalist, lives in Zoo City, in Johannesburg, with her Sloth, and has the ability to find lost items and write successful phishing letters. All these play a significant role in the story, though it is mostly about the lost items. Or in this case, a person. Half of a popular pop band goes missing and Zinzi is hired to find her. Throw in people reluctant to help, some magic, a few chases, more than questionable events and you have this book. It's such an incredible mix of magical realism, a bit of sci-fi, and crime, and all the components work well. There's also some South African realism, which ads another layer. The most fascinating concept in this book are people with animals though (not pets), how they are seen and treated, and all the little back stories that come with explaining people with animals - funny enough, it's never explained who decided on such a thing to happen. It doesn't matter though.
I feared when things wrapped up at the end of part 1 that the final 70 or so pages of the book would be pointless wandering around and maybe tying some loose ends, but oh man. The ending takes it to a whole another level, adding gears and getting even brutal and macabre, but perfectly revealing secrets and explaining things.
All in all, this is such a delightful book to read, Beukes has a way with words, and the concepts and premises in this book work beyond well. I would not mind reading a lot more in this universe. Definitely recommend.
Zinzi, a former journalist, lives in Zoo City, in Johannesburg, with her Sloth, and has the ability to find lost items and write successful phishing letters. All these play a significant role in the story, though it is mostly about the lost items. Or in this case, a person. Half of a popular pop band goes missing and Zinzi is hired to find her. Throw in people reluctant to help, some magic, a few chases, more than questionable events and you have this book. It's such an incredible mix of magical realism, a bit of sci-fi, and crime, and all the components work well. There's also some South African realism, which ads another layer. The most fascinating concept in this book are people with animals though (not pets), how they are seen and treated, and all the little back stories that come with explaining people with animals - funny enough, it's never explained who decided on such a thing to happen. It doesn't matter though.
I feared when things wrapped up at the end of part 1 that the final 70 or so pages of the book would be pointless wandering around and maybe tying some loose ends, but oh man. The ending takes it to a whole another level, adding gears and getting even brutal and macabre, but perfectly revealing secrets and explaining things.
All in all, this is such a delightful book to read, Beukes has a way with words, and the concepts and premises in this book work beyond well. I would not mind reading a lot more in this universe. Definitely recommend.
This book was impressively imaginative, entertaining, and pretty intense at points. The characters were believable and sympathetic; the plot was twisty and interesting; the ending was strong. I ended up liking the conceit of the world a lot, and I can definitely see why it would win the Arthur C Clarke award.
I do think it would have benefited, though, if I had known more about it ahead of time. Since I got a copy through the Humble Bundle and read it because of the cool cover and Girl With Mysterious Sloth protagonist, it wasn't until halfway through that I was sure it was set in South Africa and it was further than that before I felt like I really understood the shape and scope of the plot.
Basically it's a noir-y detective story in a gritty, colorful alternate Johannesburg where people who bear great guilt or have committed crimes are burdened with an animal daemon as in Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials books. The mystery itself takes (in my opinion) too long to come into focus, and ends up relying far too much on plot details that were introduced as though unimportant but turn out to be The Most Important. It's also difficult to tell which parts are seemingly just cool flavor that presumably makes sense to the author if not to anyone else and which parts are actually relevant, even by the end of the book.
Maybe worth a re-read now that I know the general progression of the story, especially if the movie version (also written by the author, supposedly!) does actually get made.
I do think it would have benefited, though, if I had known more about it ahead of time. Since I got a copy through the Humble Bundle and read it because of the cool cover and Girl With Mysterious Sloth protagonist, it wasn't until halfway through that I was sure it was set in South Africa and it was further than that before I felt like I really understood the shape and scope of the plot.
Basically it's a noir-y detective story in a gritty, colorful alternate Johannesburg where people who bear great guilt or have committed crimes are burdened with an animal daemon as in Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials books. The mystery itself takes (in my opinion) too long to come into focus, and ends up relying far too much on plot details that were introduced as though unimportant but turn out to be The Most Important. It's also difficult to tell which parts are seemingly just cool flavor that presumably makes sense to the author if not to anyone else and which parts are actually relevant, even by the end of the book.
Maybe worth a re-read now that I know the general progression of the story, especially if the movie version (also written by the author, supposedly!) does actually get made.
Very interesting premise, but something about the style was off putting.