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I had been wanting to read more fantastical novels. And I am not referring to the classic definition meaning swords and/or sorcery. Good examples of what I had in mind are “Perdido Street Station” or “King Rat” by China Miéville. “The Etched City” fit the bill very nicely, even being very dark and gritty like Miéville’s books. Again I cheat and will use a synopsis from Amazon.Com written by Jeremy Pugh.
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Set first in the dustbowl wasteland of the Copper Country, Bishop introduces the battlefield sawbones Raule and her gunslinging companion Gwynn. The duo’s relationship of necessity is cemented as they flee the justice of “The Army of Heroes,” a force created to put down a rebellion in which they were active participants. Wanted and destitute, they make for the uncharted Telute Shelf to find new lives amid the sprawling metropolis of Ashamoil. Gwynn’s ruthless knack for violence sends him to the top of the town as an enforcer for the Horn Fan Cartel and its bustling slave trade. Raule, meanwhile, heads to the bottom where she tries to erase her brutal past through ministrations to the city’s forsaken. Between the opposite poles of Gwynn and Raule is a languid tale wandering through a sideshow menagerie of lovelorn mobsters, debased priests, brutal imperialists, sorcererous drug dealers, gangland warlords, and otherworldly artists that deftly examines the nature of violence, compassion, spirituality, redemption, and reality.
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At times the book is inconsistent. There are passages that seem to make little sense, or don’t go with the story. But even those section show a great story teller with brilliant and beautifully dark prose. It too took a while for the story to really get going. Actually that is after the opening section (the first two chapters). But once it stepped up, other then dodging a few misplaced (?) bits, the story was very good.
Though at times I wanted to just toss this book aside out of boredom, or rush ahead a few pages to get through uneven parts, I will still be looking forward to her next book. She has the potential to be as good as Miéville and the like.
7/10
