The Drowning City - Amanda Downum
The Drowning City:
The Necromancer Chronicles, book one.
Blurb: Symir: the drowning city. Home to exiles and expatriates, pirates and smugglers. And violent revolutionaries who will stop at nothing to overthrow the corrupt Imperial government.
For Isyllt Iskaldur, necromancer and spy, the brewing revolution is a chance to prove herself to her crown. All she has to do is find and finance the revolutionaries, and help topple the palaces of Symir. But she is torn between her new friends and her duties, and the longer she stays in this monsoon-drenched city, the more intrigue she uncovers. As the waters rise and the dams crack, even the dead are plotting.
'A compelling fantasy in a richly imagined setting.' - Jacqueline Carey
'If you read only one first novel this year, read this one.' - Elizabeth Bear
Review: Okay, I went back and read the first one. It doesn't start as quickly as the second book, but it keeps getting better and better and faster and faster as you go through the book. This story has its own version of the Labyrinthine City, but one built in water like Venice and much newer than Erisín, Isyllt's home. Isyllt comes to the Sivahri city of Symir accompanied by Adam, her co-conspirator/bodyguard, sent by Kiril to look after her. Adam asked Xinai, his partner and girlfriend, who is originally from Symir, if she could stand to come back. I'm not clear whether Kiril sent her and Adam asked her if she could stand it or if Adam asked her - if Adam asked her, then there's some big forces of coincidence at work, since Xinai happens to get dragged straight into the revolutionary groups through family connections.
Isyllt, being cold enough that idealistic revolutionaries find her sad, is not actually torn between her new friends and duties, but does find the charming Imperial sorcerer Asheris very attractive. Just about everybody in Symir is plotting something as the book goes on, and there are any number of rebel factions, two of whom figure prominently in the action, and several factions in the conquering Assari/Imperial politics, and then there's the Khas, the governing body of Sivahri clan leaders who have sworn allegiance to Assar.
Linguistically, Sivahri names are made up of Mandarin, other Chinese, and Vietnamese sort of words, with some Japanese and East Asian patterns thrown in. I think some people might find it a strange mix, but it is kind of cool too, in a funky remix sort of way. I also respect the author for naming her main Sivahri characters Zhirin and Xinlai - some of my fellow countrymen don't even know how to pronounce zh (which annoys me greatly). For the record, in Mandarin, 'x' is a very thin sort of 'sh' sound, somewhere between 'sh' and 's'. I have no idea how Downum pronounces it in Sivahri, but I went with 'Sheenlai,' rhymes with 'tie.'
The book starts off slow, with Isyllt arriving off a ship and finding lodging and transport, but things start speeding up and growing more complex, and the plot snowballs. (There are in fact enough complexities that the motive behind one character's murder is never entirely made clear - is the killer motivated by dislike, greed, or Dai Tranh-ist sympathies? However, the complexity is, in general, refreshing.) By the end of the book I couldn't put it down.
This is a very enjoyable first novel, with plenty of intrigue and magic, as well as action. (Some books of intrigue skimp a little on this, but not The Drowning City.) I'm glad I started with the second book to draw me in, but giving the first one a try proved very rewarding. Now if only the third book would come out soon . . .
The Necromancer Chronicles, book one.
Blurb: Symir: the drowning city. Home to exiles and expatriates, pirates and smugglers. And violent revolutionaries who will stop at nothing to overthrow the corrupt Imperial government.
For Isyllt Iskaldur, necromancer and spy, the brewing revolution is a chance to prove herself to her crown. All she has to do is find and finance the revolutionaries, and help topple the palaces of Symir. But she is torn between her new friends and her duties, and the longer she stays in this monsoon-drenched city, the more intrigue she uncovers. As the waters rise and the dams crack, even the dead are plotting.
'A compelling fantasy in a richly imagined setting.' - Jacqueline Carey
'If you read only one first novel this year, read this one.' - Elizabeth Bear
Review: Okay, I went back and read the first one. It doesn't start as quickly as the second book, but it keeps getting better and better and faster and faster as you go through the book. This story has its own version of the Labyrinthine City, but one built in water like Venice and much newer than Erisín, Isyllt's home. Isyllt comes to the Sivahri city of Symir accompanied by Adam, her co-conspirator/bodyguard, sent by Kiril to look after her. Adam asked Xinai, his partner and girlfriend, who is originally from Symir, if she could stand to come back. I'm not clear whether Kiril sent her and Adam asked her if she could stand it or if Adam asked her - if Adam asked her, then there's some big forces of coincidence at work, since Xinai happens to get dragged straight into the revolutionary groups through family connections.
Isyllt, being cold enough that idealistic revolutionaries find her sad, is not actually torn between her new friends and duties, but does find the charming Imperial sorcerer Asheris very attractive. Just about everybody in Symir is plotting something as the book goes on, and there are any number of rebel factions, two of whom figure prominently in the action, and several factions in the conquering Assari/Imperial politics, and then there's the Khas, the governing body of Sivahri clan leaders who have sworn allegiance to Assar.
Linguistically, Sivahri names are made up of Mandarin, other Chinese, and Vietnamese sort of words, with some Japanese and East Asian patterns thrown in. I think some people might find it a strange mix, but it is kind of cool too, in a funky remix sort of way. I also respect the author for naming her main Sivahri characters Zhirin and Xinlai - some of my fellow countrymen don't even know how to pronounce zh (which annoys me greatly). For the record, in Mandarin, 'x' is a very thin sort of 'sh' sound, somewhere between 'sh' and 's'. I have no idea how Downum pronounces it in Sivahri, but I went with 'Sheenlai,' rhymes with 'tie.'
The book starts off slow, with Isyllt arriving off a ship and finding lodging and transport, but things start speeding up and growing more complex, and the plot snowballs. (There are in fact enough complexities that the motive behind one character's murder is never entirely made clear - is the killer motivated by dislike, greed, or Dai Tranh-ist sympathies? However, the complexity is, in general, refreshing.) By the end of the book I couldn't put it down.
This is a very enjoyable first novel, with plenty of intrigue and magic, as well as action. (Some books of intrigue skimp a little on this, but not The Drowning City.) I'm glad I started with the second book to draw me in, but giving the first one a try proved very rewarding. Now if only the third book would come out soon . . .