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I am determined to read at least fifty books this year. I love books, there's no reason for me to be doing as little reading as I do. And so: first book of the new year! I had a bit of free merchandise credit to spend at Borders after Christmas, and this was the only thing that leapt off the seriously picked-over shelves. Turns out it was an excellent choice.
The Drowning City is part high-fantasy action adventure, part spy thriller- Isyllt Iskaldur is a Selafai spy and necromancer sent to the city of Symir to help foment a revolution among the native Sivahran people so the occupying Empire won't turn its sights to her homeland.
This book hits so many of my story kinks- necromancy, assassins, fantastical cities, sensible elemental magic systems, spiritual possession. It has the added bonus of being populated primarily by Asian and Middle Eastern equivalent cultures, which was unexpected and awesome. It also passes the Bechdel test with flying colors- all of the viewpoint characters are women, none of them are defined by their romantic relationships (affected by them, yes, but not defined by them, and all three of them are effectively single by the end of the story), Sivahran society is quietly matriarchal, and most of the moving and shaking of the plot is done by women.
And man, what a plot. Intrigue! Spies! Terrorists and revolutionaries! Corrupt government officials! Isyllt's story is just a small part of the whole, bloody, revolutionary mess, and I do love a tale of revolution. Once the story gets going, there are a few madcap reveals of awesomeness (although you see the thing with Asheris, the Lord Inquisitor, coming a mile away, but it's fine because Asheris is fantastic. I have a thing for pyromancers, what can I say.).
There's pretty much nothing I didn't enjoy about this book, apart from the occasional stylistic sentence fragment and the overuse of the word "gooseflesh." But I'm the sort of freak who thinks too hard about tiny flaws in writing, so. *coughs, hides rants on the first half of The Name of the Wind under the rug* I'm looking forward to the sequel, as I thoroughly enjoyed Isyllt and her adventures- though I do hope some of the characters from The Drowning City show up in The Bone Palace when it comes out.
The Drowning City is part high-fantasy action adventure, part spy thriller- Isyllt Iskaldur is a Selafai spy and necromancer sent to the city of Symir to help foment a revolution among the native Sivahran people so the occupying Empire won't turn its sights to her homeland.
This book hits so many of my story kinks- necromancy, assassins, fantastical cities, sensible elemental magic systems, spiritual possession. It has the added bonus of being populated primarily by Asian and Middle Eastern equivalent cultures, which was unexpected and awesome. It also passes the Bechdel test with flying colors- all of the viewpoint characters are women, none of them are defined by their romantic relationships (affected by them, yes, but not defined by them, and all three of them are effectively single by the end of the story), Sivahran society is quietly matriarchal, and most of the moving and shaking of the plot is done by women.
And man, what a plot. Intrigue! Spies! Terrorists and revolutionaries! Corrupt government officials! Isyllt's story is just a small part of the whole, bloody, revolutionary mess, and I do love a tale of revolution. Once the story gets going, there are a few madcap reveals of awesomeness (although you see the thing with Asheris, the Lord Inquisitor, coming a mile away, but it's fine because Asheris is fantastic. I have a thing for pyromancers, what can I say.).
There's pretty much nothing I didn't enjoy about this book, apart from the occasional stylistic sentence fragment and the overuse of the word "gooseflesh." But I'm the sort of freak who thinks too hard about tiny flaws in writing, so. *coughs, hides rants on the first half of The Name of the Wind under the rug* I'm looking forward to the sequel, as I thoroughly enjoyed Isyllt and her adventures- though I do hope some of the characters from The Drowning City show up in The Bone Palace when it comes out.
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