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A City Dreaming by Daniel Polansky
Jul. 28th, 2016 10:50 pmThe Blurb On The Back:
Enter a world of Wall Street wolves, slumming scenesters, desperate artists, drug-induced divinities, pocket steampunk universes, and demonic coffee shops.
M is a drifter with a sharp tongue, few scruples, and limited magical ability, who would prefer drinking artisanal beer to involving himself in the politics of the city.
Alas, in the infinite nexus of the universe which is New York, trouble is a hard thing to avoid, and now a rivalry between the city’s two queens threatens to make the Big Apple go the way of Atlantis.
To stop it, M will have to call in every favour, waste every charm, and blow every spell he’s ever acquired – he might even have to get out of bed before noon.
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
In a crowded and sometimes jaded urban fantasy market, Daniel Polansky has produced a real and unusual gem. Ignore what the blurb on the back says – there’s no single unifying story, it’s more a collection of interconnected short stories with each chapter forming an episode in M’s life and although the heart of the city storyline is the most prominent recurring strand (as is the battle between Celise and Abeline, which pitches wealth and money against hipster, hippy chic), it doesn’t come to the fore until the final quarter of the book. Having heard positive things about Polansky’s other books I was not disappointed with this because of the sheer scale of Polansky’s imagination. His New York is home to pocket universes, impossible subway journeys, demonic houses, drugs that can put a god in your brain and a fish that can give you the benefit of all the wisdom in the world. Every chapter is a delight (my favourites involve M and his friends being transported to an alternate universe where they’re forced to play heroes and a truly evil house that eats anyone who mistakenly enters it) and even though the supporting cast of the bullish, violent Boy, naïve wannabe apprentice Flemel, romantic loser Andre and dashing adventurer Stockdale are thinly drawn what Polansky does put on the page stays in your mind (especially Stockdale, who I thought was a great inversion of the British Empire hero). If I have a criticism I have to say that the drug taking was used too frequently to bash the message of how bored these magic users can become with their longer lifespans but Polansky does it with dark humour and puts a creative spin on it. All in all, I think urban fantasy fans should definitely check this out and I’ll be ordering Polansky’s back catalogue.
A CITY DREAMING will be released in the United Kingdom on 6th October 2016. Thanks to Amazon Vine for the ARC of this book.
M is a drifter with a sharp tongue, few scruples, and limited magical ability, who would prefer drinking artisanal beer to involving himself in the politics of the city.
Alas, in the infinite nexus of the universe which is New York, trouble is a hard thing to avoid, and now a rivalry between the city’s two queens threatens to make the Big Apple go the way of Atlantis.
To stop it, M will have to call in every favour, waste every charm, and blow every spell he’s ever acquired – he might even have to get out of bed before noon.
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
In a crowded and sometimes jaded urban fantasy market, Daniel Polansky has produced a real and unusual gem. Ignore what the blurb on the back says – there’s no single unifying story, it’s more a collection of interconnected short stories with each chapter forming an episode in M’s life and although the heart of the city storyline is the most prominent recurring strand (as is the battle between Celise and Abeline, which pitches wealth and money against hipster, hippy chic), it doesn’t come to the fore until the final quarter of the book. Having heard positive things about Polansky’s other books I was not disappointed with this because of the sheer scale of Polansky’s imagination. His New York is home to pocket universes, impossible subway journeys, demonic houses, drugs that can put a god in your brain and a fish that can give you the benefit of all the wisdom in the world. Every chapter is a delight (my favourites involve M and his friends being transported to an alternate universe where they’re forced to play heroes and a truly evil house that eats anyone who mistakenly enters it) and even though the supporting cast of the bullish, violent Boy, naïve wannabe apprentice Flemel, romantic loser Andre and dashing adventurer Stockdale are thinly drawn what Polansky does put on the page stays in your mind (especially Stockdale, who I thought was a great inversion of the British Empire hero). If I have a criticism I have to say that the drug taking was used too frequently to bash the message of how bored these magic users can become with their longer lifespans but Polansky does it with dark humour and puts a creative spin on it. All in all, I think urban fantasy fans should definitely check this out and I’ll be ordering Polansky’s back catalogue.
A CITY DREAMING will be released in the United Kingdom on 6th October 2016. Thanks to Amazon Vine for the ARC of this book.
