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A review by tanninsandtales
Down Station by Simon Morden
3.0
London is burning. Six Underground maintenance workers are faced with a choice: cross the door to another world or surrender to the flames. This is how they arrive at Down, a world not very dissimilar to ours except for the fact that in it magic thrives and mysteries abound.
Interestingly enough, none of the six new inhabitants of Down are white British. It was very refreshing to see an actual depiction of London demographics in literature. The story is told from the points of view of Mary, a veteran of the care system and Dalip, an overprotected engineering student from a Sikh family. Very relevant real world issues such as identity, national identity and classism are addressed in this science fantasy novel.
There is some really good world-building in [b: Down Station|26251608|Down Station|Simon Morden|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1442044211s/26251608.jpg|46248060] as well as an intelligent magic system. Actually, at times these two elements seem to be two sides of the same coin. Mary, Dalip and Stanislav are fleshed-out and likeable characters. It is a pity that the same cannot be said of their companions and of the other denizens of Down.
At first, I was a bit reluctant to recommend this book for one single reason: I felt that this was a story that needed a lot more pages to be told. Fortunately, there is a sequel to this book. [b:The White City|30760003|The White City|Simon Morden|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1467027915s/30760003.jpg|51311066] is to be published later on this year. I just wished I had started this installment knowing it was not a stand-alone.
(Many thanks to NetGalley and Gollancz for the review copy).
Interestingly enough, none of the six new inhabitants of Down are white British. It was very refreshing to see an actual depiction of London demographics in literature. The story is told from the points of view of Mary, a veteran of the care system and Dalip, an overprotected engineering student from a Sikh family. Very relevant real world issues such as identity, national identity and classism are addressed in this science fantasy novel.
There is some really good world-building in [b: Down Station|26251608|Down Station|Simon Morden|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1442044211s/26251608.jpg|46248060] as well as an intelligent magic system. Actually, at times these two elements seem to be two sides of the same coin. Mary, Dalip and Stanislav are fleshed-out and likeable characters. It is a pity that the same cannot be said of their companions and of the other denizens of Down.
At first, I was a bit reluctant to recommend this book for one single reason: I felt that this was a story that needed a lot more pages to be told. Fortunately, there is a sequel to this book. [b:The White City|30760003|The White City|Simon Morden|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1467027915s/30760003.jpg|51311066] is to be published later on this year. I just wished I had started this installment knowing it was not a stand-alone.
(Many thanks to NetGalley and Gollancz for the review copy).