City of Dreams and Nightmare by Ian Whates
I'm not entirely sure why I picked this book up. I can't remember if it was because I liked the concept of the setting or what, but I am glad that I did.
The story centers around Tom, a thieving gang's member (or "street-nick" in the book's parlance) after he makes an attempt at stealing something from the upper reaches of Thaiburley but instead witnesses a murder and so goes on the run from agents of Senior Arkademic Magnus (both legitimate and less so). Magnus would like to frame Tom for the murder. Tom, being of a considerably lower social class than Magnus, fears that the frame job might stick easily. While on the run and trying to get back to his home territory, Tom is guided by Kat, who gets embroiled in a few unrelated messes. The mess that takes up most of the book is that someone is changing the allegiances and actions of the street-nicks, which has more direct consequences for both Kat and Tom and farther reaching consequences for everyone else.
Plot wise, this book had a lot of promise. There is a murder in the first few pages after all. But the plot kept getting distracted, like a kitten with way too many wiggling strings to choose from. First there's the murder with its attached frame job. Then someone's doing mind control on the street-nicks in Tom's layer of the city. Then there's more conspiracy that is tangentially related to the murder but focused on other more political things. Any one of these could have been great, if the plot cared to focus on them individually. It should have possible to weave all of those disparate elements into a more cohesive lead in the the next book without resorting to a deus ex machina character. A little focus on the political situation before Magus commits murder would have gone a long way towards alleviating the deus ex machina feel that the Prime Master had to him. The Prime Master character was like the inverse seagull manager, he would swoop in, things would be better for the good guys and then he would swoop out. I would have appreciated some inkling as to why he had suspicions surrounding certain characters and his general motives, something that could have easily been solved with a little more background to the political events.
Also for the sake of the trees that died to print this book, do not end it in the middle of a duel. I'm not the world's biggest fan of cliffhanger endings in general, but a duel should not start in one book and end in the next. I don't care if there's a preview chapter or not, it's still facepalm worthy. In addition, if you've been really following certain characters, let us read their reactions to life changing offers. I do not want to read about those in a secondhand account.
Despite all that, the setting itself is actually well thought out. I really appreciated the careful melding of magic and technology. The explanation of how the Kite Guards' kitecloaks work seemed to be very indicative of how the two world mechanics were used throughout the novel. It lets the reader believe that there might be perfectly plausible science based system to make it work... it's just that magic helps it work a little better than science would dictate and it does it unobtrusively for the most part. Also, newly asserting magical abilities in people is a literal migraine for the character in question. I do like it when magic has drawbacks to keep it from becoming the "go to" tool to make things work. I felt that it was an excellent meshing of high fantasy elements with a side of the steampunk, two things I wouldn't normally expect to go together but they do like a salted caramel.
The way that the monsters were described was neat. I felt that there was a lot of potential for extremely horrific creatures to come about with the fusion of technology and magic that makes up the world mechanics.
The main reason I kept reading was because of the characters though. With one exception, all the characters were amazingly well fleshed out. I thoroughly understood the motives of Magnus and Dewar, his henchman. Dewar was especially well done, a bad guy who was willing to protect his own interests. Tylus the Kite Guard was an extremely sympathetic character from the very beginning despite being in opposition to Kat and Tom. Speaking of the main characters, I loved the interaction between Kat and Tom and thought it cute. It was a lovely contrast between someone who feels fairly secure in their place in the world and someone who seemed a little less so or who was in the middle of redefining his place in the world. I thoroughly enjoyed that they were not socially isolated from other people. Kat has connections through the undercity. Tom thinks and worries about his fellow gang members even when he isn't anywhere near them. All in all the characters and their little side stories were some of the best parts of the book, even if it didn't seem to have much bearing on the plot lines at times.
I'm willing to give the next book of the City of the Hundred Rows series a shot. I find the characters that much fun. Maybe the tangled skein that the plot resembles will even out.
The story centers around Tom, a thieving gang's member (or "street-nick" in the book's parlance) after he makes an attempt at stealing something from the upper reaches of Thaiburley but instead witnesses a murder and so goes on the run from agents of Senior Arkademic Magnus (both legitimate and less so). Magnus would like to frame Tom for the murder. Tom, being of a considerably lower social class than Magnus, fears that the frame job might stick easily. While on the run and trying to get back to his home territory, Tom is guided by Kat, who gets embroiled in a few unrelated messes. The mess that takes up most of the book is that someone is changing the allegiances and actions of the street-nicks, which has more direct consequences for both Kat and Tom and farther reaching consequences for everyone else.
Plot wise, this book had a lot of promise. There is a murder in the first few pages after all. But the plot kept getting distracted, like a kitten with way too many wiggling strings to choose from. First there's the murder with its attached frame job. Then someone's doing mind control on the street-nicks in Tom's layer of the city. Then there's more conspiracy that is tangentially related to the murder but focused on other more political things. Any one of these could have been great, if the plot cared to focus on them individually. It should have possible to weave all of those disparate elements into a more cohesive lead in the the next book without resorting to a deus ex machina character. A little focus on the political situation before Magus commits murder would have gone a long way towards alleviating the deus ex machina feel that the Prime Master had to him. The Prime Master character was like the inverse seagull manager, he would swoop in, things would be better for the good guys and then he would swoop out. I would have appreciated some inkling as to why he had suspicions surrounding certain characters and his general motives, something that could have easily been solved with a little more background to the political events.
Also for the sake of the trees that died to print this book, do not end it in the middle of a duel. I'm not the world's biggest fan of cliffhanger endings in general, but a duel should not start in one book and end in the next. I don't care if there's a preview chapter or not, it's still facepalm worthy. In addition, if you've been really following certain characters, let us read their reactions to life changing offers. I do not want to read about those in a secondhand account.
Despite all that, the setting itself is actually well thought out. I really appreciated the careful melding of magic and technology. The explanation of how the Kite Guards' kitecloaks work seemed to be very indicative of how the two world mechanics were used throughout the novel. It lets the reader believe that there might be perfectly plausible science based system to make it work... it's just that magic helps it work a little better than science would dictate and it does it unobtrusively for the most part. Also, newly asserting magical abilities in people is a literal migraine for the character in question. I do like it when magic has drawbacks to keep it from becoming the "go to" tool to make things work. I felt that it was an excellent meshing of high fantasy elements with a side of the steampunk, two things I wouldn't normally expect to go together but they do like a salted caramel.
The way that the monsters were described was neat. I felt that there was a lot of potential for extremely horrific creatures to come about with the fusion of technology and magic that makes up the world mechanics.
The main reason I kept reading was because of the characters though. With one exception, all the characters were amazingly well fleshed out. I thoroughly understood the motives of Magnus and Dewar, his henchman. Dewar was especially well done, a bad guy who was willing to protect his own interests. Tylus the Kite Guard was an extremely sympathetic character from the very beginning despite being in opposition to Kat and Tom. Speaking of the main characters, I loved the interaction between Kat and Tom and thought it cute. It was a lovely contrast between someone who feels fairly secure in their place in the world and someone who seemed a little less so or who was in the middle of redefining his place in the world. I thoroughly enjoyed that they were not socially isolated from other people. Kat has connections through the undercity. Tom thinks and worries about his fellow gang members even when he isn't anywhere near them. All in all the characters and their little side stories were some of the best parts of the book, even if it didn't seem to have much bearing on the plot lines at times.
I'm willing to give the next book of the City of the Hundred Rows series a shot. I find the characters that much fun. Maybe the tangled skein that the plot resembles will even out.