The Etched City by KJ Bishop (Book Club)

[dwndrgn]

The Etched City by K.J. Bishop

While you may or may not have started or finished this book as of yet, I'm posting this thread so that it is here when you need it

 

[warlock]

I read this earlier on this year. Here's the first question for people - is it a fantasy book at all? It seems to be set in a far-future Australia after a failed revolution, the opening is more like a western, but it soon becomes a Gothic story once they enter the city. I've seen it shelved in the horror, fantasy, and SF sections of different bookshops.

Not that a bit of genre-bending is a bad thing. It's an excellent book, very moody and evocative, and I hope she continues to write more

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I'd say that it belongs in the fantasy section at least as much as Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner, which many people do consider to be a fantasy, even if I'm not one of them.

But aren't there at least a few vaguely fantastical elements in The Etched City if only in some of the drug-induced visions and maybe in some of the stories the characters relate? Or maybe not. My memory is not what it used to be.

I really should go out and buy myself a copy of this book (I checked it out of the library before) in order to refresh my memory for this discussion. Been meaning to do that for awhile, actually.

And yes, more books from this author would be a treat.

 

[polymorphikos]

I enjoyed this book a great deal. Aside from the obviously-wonderful settings, I also liked the various discourses on redemption, destiny and higher powers, and especially the tripartite conclusion. That, and Arabian Westerns are just cool.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Of course it's fantasy.


Elves and castles and swords are just one form of fantasy, and frankly I'm delighted to read books that eschew all these tropes, and are still as fantastic as all get out.

Having said that, the opening parts of The Etched City are not specifically fantastic although they are very cool pulpy adventure - that chase through the desert is so cool!

It's only when Raule and Gwynn reach Ashamoil that the wierdness begins. It is very weird indeed.

I loved this book's mix of kickass action, abstruse theological discussions, evocation of beauty both natural and artistic and gritty, urban sorididness. It's a rich, layered book that gave me more pleasure than most multi-volume epics have in recent times.

It's an astonishingly accomplished debut, and I hope Bishop writes many more and helps free fantasy from the domesticated park of clippings from Dock Tolkien's gardens (no disrespect intended to Tokien there).

Here's my take on the theme of this novel: transformation.

 

[polymorphikos]

Correct - you win the million dollars.

Although speaking of the action scenes, I found them cool, yet less so than I had been given reason to believe. Which reminds me - I must nominate Veniss Underground for next month's sf.

And, to agree with Knivesout, it is indeed fantasy. Crocodile gods, cities that never were, transmutations and back-street divinations, and the fact that my knowledge of Australian geography cannot place this as a far-future tale, all point to it.