BookStalking

In the Sepulchral city of Trowth an aged, ill junkie by the name of Beckett and his trusty sidekicks, the callow Valentine and the blind yet clairaudient Skinner, attempt to solve a Mysterious Murder- which due to explosive Racial Tensions threaten to bring ruination to this Grand City. With influences from Mieville, VanderMeer, and Lovecraft, Chris Braak brings a fast paced story with all the eldritch steampunk trappings you could wish for.

However, the story is shallow. Elements are thrown in and then glossed over, and characters are frequently more of a cliche than a developed personality. The most disappointing example of this is the end of the revolt by the most despised of the minority species, the Sharpsies. Rather than providing any real resolution to their solution, which he seemed to be building towards, he simply made it go bye-bye- leaving this reader with the feeling that it was created for the sole purpose of showing how noble the characters were rather than as a theme he wished to explore.

To sum up, this is an entertaining book. A quick read, full of adventure, hallucinatory imagery, and some interesting asides that assist in fleshing out the world. But it is lacking in depth and occasionally comes off as a pastiche of the Lovcraftian Dectective Story. This can be a fine thing but I suspect that the author is capable of more than this. Because this is his first novel I’m willing to cut him some slack though and will still check out his next book with the fond hope that he will either develop his themes more deeply or will throw himself completely into the hallucinatory imagery at which he is pretty darn good at.

This was a guest post by AMARE, whom I hope will continue to contribute.