With the capital city occupied, half a million refugees are on the march, looking for safety on the frontier, accompanied by Lady Flint's soldiers. But escaping war is never easy, and soon the battle may find them, whether they are prepared or not. By: Brian McClellan. A thousand years have passed since a dragon has been seen in the world. Science and technology have replaced magic, which has dwindled until it has become little more than an element of myth and legend.
There are those who still have dragon blood flowing through their veins, distant descendants of the mighty creatures of old. These rare humans have the power to cast magic, the power to heal, and the power to craft alchemical weapons capable of starting wars By: Lindsay Buroker. In Manhattan, a young grad student gets off the train and realizes he doesn't remember who he is, where he's from, or even his own name. But he can sense the beating heart of the city, see its history, and feel its power.
In the Bronx, a Lenape gallery director discovers strange graffiti scattered throughout the city, so beautiful and powerful it's as if the paint is literally calling to her. In Brooklyn, a politician and mother finds she can hear the songs of her city, pulsing to the beat of her Louboutin heels. By: N. Whisked from her home in Cairo, she was thrust into the dazzling royal court of Daevabad - and quickly discovered she would need all her grifter instincts to survive there.
Now, with Daevabad entrenched in the dark aftermath of a devastating battle, Nahri must forge a new path for herself. By: S. Fletcher Connolly hasn't got a lot to lose. Since he and half the galaxy signed on to the rat race of the technological relics trade, Fletch has come to terms with the idea that he will join the ranks of unlucky explorers that perish light years from home without a dime to his name.
But bankruptcy is a great motivator. With friends and family counting on him to strike it rich, Fletch embarks on an unwilling quest for alien treasure.
By: Felix R. To protect his ward Ciri, Geralt of Rivia sends her to train with the sorceress Yennefer. But all is not well within the Wizard's Guild in the second novel of the Witcher, Andrzej Sapkowski's groundbreaking epic fantasy series that inspired the hit Netflix show and the blockbuster video games.
Geralt is a Witcher: Guardian of the innocent, protector of those in need, a defender in dark times against some of the most frightening creatures of myth and legend. His task now is to protect Ciri. A child of prophecy, she will have the power to change the world for good or for ill. By: Andrzej Sapkowski. Cal Carver is having a bad day. Imprisoned and forced to share a cell with a cannibalistic serial killer, Cal thinks things can't possibly get any worse. He is wrong.
It's not until two-thirds of the human race is wiped out and Cal is abducted by aliens that his day really starts to go downhill. Whisked across the galaxy, Cal is thrown into a team of some of the sector's most notorious villains and scumbags. By: Barry J. If Indiana Jones lived in the X-Files era, he might bear at least a passing resemblance to Nolan Moore - a rogue archaeologist hosting a documentary series derisively dismissed by the "real" experts, but beloved by conspiracy theorists.
Nolan sets out to retrace the steps of an explorer from who claimed to have discovered a mysterious cavern high up in the ancient rock of the Grand Canyon. And, for once, he may have actually found what he seeks. Then the trip takes a nasty turn, and the cave begins turning against them in mysterious ways. By: Michael Rutger. James Stark is back from Hell, trailing more trouble in his wake.
To return to LA, he had to make a deal with the evil power brokers, Wormwood - an arrangement that came with a catch. By: Richard Kadrey. For centuries, the five greatest kingdoms of North and South Tembria, twin continents on the world of Garn, have coexisted in peace. But the balance of power is destroyed when four of the kingdoms violate an ancient covenant and betray the fifth: Ithrace, the Kingdom of Flames, ruled by Steveren Langene, known as "the Firemane" for his brilliant red hair.
As war engulfs the world, Ithrace is destroyed, and the Greater Realms of Tembria are thrust into a dangerous struggle for supremacy. By: Raymond E. Humanity has raised exploiting the solar system to an art form. Bella Lind and the crew of her nuclear-powered ship, the Rockhopper, push ice. They mine comets. And they're good at it.
He seeks to overthrow the old order and become a truly absolute - yet benevolent - dictator. His rival, the humble Yang Wen-li of the Free Planets Alliance, wishes to preserve democracy even if he must sacrifice his political ideals to defeat the empire.
By: Yoshiki Tanaka , and others. A storm. Rain-lashed city streets. A flash of lightning. A scruffy lad sees a girl leap desperately from a horse-drawn carriage in a vain attempt to escape her captors.
Can the lad stand by and let her be caught again? Of course not, because he's Seventeen-year-old Dodger may be a street urchin, but he gleans a living from London's sewers, and he knows a jewel when he sees one.
He's not about to let anything happen to the unknown girl - not even if her fate impacts the most powerful people in England. By: Terry Pratchett. From the best-selling author of the Sandman Slim series, a lush, dark, stand-alone fantasy built off the insurgent tradition of China Mieville and M. John Harrison - a subversive tale that immerses us in a world where the extremes of bleakness and beauty exist together in dangerous harmony in a city on the edge of civility and chaos.
The Great War is over. But this newfound hedonism - drugs and sex and endless parties - distracts from strange realities of everyday life: Intelligent automata taking jobs.
Genetically engineered creatures that serve as pets and beasts of war. A theater where gruesome murders happen twice a day. Unlike others who live strictly for fun, Largo is an addict with ambitions.
His life seems set. For how long it took for that ending to finally arrive, I felt so unsatisfied with the way that things wrapped up. Pity, really, but I'm still in the Kadrey fan camp and will await the next book. Feb 22, Ric rated it really liked it Shelves: reading-challenge. Sure I liked the characters enough, Largo was an interesting main character and Remy was pretty great too, but the book was more about their life of sex and drugs than anything else for a while.
Not that I thought that was a bad thing, I was just expecting more things to happen in terms of an actual story with some sort of stakes. But as things started to ramp up it got really interesting and the ending was great. I enjoyed this one very much. In terms of the characters, I think I liked Largo and Remy both the best because of their love for each other.
It was oddly sweet and innocent, despite the fact that they were taking hard drugs and having sex for a lot of the time they were together. I loved the contrast between those two things but how it definitely worked within the world of the story. And what a world that was. Jan 10, T. Frohock rated it it was amazing. Here is a steampunkish world with mechanical Maras taking over human jobs, and a city in transition from a war-time economy to a peace-time economy.
The Great War has left mutilated soldiers, known as Iron Dandies for the masks they wear to cover their mangled faces, living on the fringes of society. Largo is a courier, valued for his knowledge of the city, but that exceptional ability sometimes draws the wrong attention to his existence, not that Largo notices. An addict and a wastrel, Largo is in love with the beautiful actress, Remy, and at times, the early chapters have a Cabaret feeling about the hedonism the two experience in their daily lives.
Instead, he finds himself drawn into political intrigues, and the beautiful life he envisioned for himself and Remy takes one tragic turn after another. Largo is no longer able to drift through life, carried by his whims. He makes dangerous decisions and follows through, and in doing so, he loses his innocence and grows emotionally. Kadrey brings his world to life and makes it his own. This is the kind of story that I love to read—dark and twisted and hopeful in the end.
Highly recommended, though your mileage may vary based on your expectations. Aug 12, Loring Wirbel rated it really liked it. Richard Kadrey, author of the Sandman Slim series, has written what is called a standalone novel though its climax has "sequel" written all over it. It is also intended to be in the style of China Mieville, though its tale of decadence between two great wars seems more a hybrid of and Cabaret , with hints of Bladerunner, Mad Max, and various Kurt Weill plays added to the mix.
The plot displays a few hiccups, but is glorious raunchy fun for the most part. Some readers think the first pag Richard Kadrey, author of the Sandman Slim series, has written what is called a standalone novel though its climax has "sequel" written all over it.
Some readers think the first pages or so are slow-going, but this tale of a ruined Central European Baltic? The presence of human-produced chimera genetic misfits, and purpose-built robots in several vertical domains, suggests a time in the near or distant future, though the disarray seems more steampunk than Brave New World.
Everyone seems immersed in sex as a spectator sport, narcotics and opiates of every variety, and learning ways to serve or fight the very dysfunctional state. Our protagonist Largo wants to be a good citizen, rising from his humble roots as a courier for the secret police to learn how to experiment with chimera, but he rapidly learns the lose-lose nature of the state he serves. Unfortunately for those who love action, it is precisely when the book shifts into high gear that it loses a bit of its rational progression.
For example, Largo's trip by U-boat to the formerly larger city across the bay provides a good backdrop to show how the state manufactures false wars, but Largo's sudden and rash decision to make this trip does not seem justified by any solid information that the trip will help him in any way to save the woman he loves. If he had the slightest bit of solid information driving him to Higher Proszawa, perhaps this part of the story would not seem so contrived.
And though there are plenty of sad and random deaths in the book, the attempt by the rebels to storm the major armaments factory and genetic-engineering complex near the book's end seems a little too pat. Largo finds out he can kill at will when circumstances demand it, but would it be so easy to come face to face with the powerful people he wants to eliminate? Still, despite these minor gripes, this is the type of Weimar-Republic-in-Poland that any deviant could love.
I'll be searching for more of Kadrey's back catalog, and it wouldn't surprise me to see a sequel to The Grand Dark in the near future, if only our own rapidly-collapsing dystopia sticks around long enough for any more novels in the series to be published. Feb 16, Emily Lind rated it it was amazing. It's a very cool thing when one of your favorite authors goes outside of their normal style and then absolutely kills it.
That's what has happened with The Grand Dark. Sandman Slim was the first book of Kadrey's that I read and I've gone on to devour all his others novels. The Grand Dark is a different beast for him, but showcases all of his talents when it comes to world-building and creating characters that you root for and more importantly, care for. The Grand Dark works as a stand-alone no It's a very cool thing when one of your favorite authors goes outside of their normal style and then absolutely kills it.
The Grand Dark works as a stand-alone novel, but I certainly hope that Kadrey revisits it in the future. He's set up a fascinating world with tantalizing glimpses of its politics, history, and technology. I'd love to spend more time falling into the lushness of it in the future.
I tired I picked this up a few times trying to get through the pacing of this book. As everyone can see the cover is beautiful and the concept is interesting. It's just a very slowly paced book and because of that I just can't really get into it. I liked the articles and entries between the chapters giving history and I'm sure there are people who will love this story. I just couldn't get into it unfortunately. This was a good solid read, and I really enjoyed the story.
It started off a bit slow, building the characters and showing how grim the world is, but once that was finished the story picked up quick. I would be very interested in reading a sequel. Note: I usually love Kadrey's work but this story needed more work to be a finished piece. I felt like I was exposed to the hopscotch of cool ideas for a story. Fantastic dieselpunk read. Definitely Recommend.
Kadrey crafted a genre bender here, blending aspects of steampunk within a gritty urban fantasy environment. Our main protagonist, Logan, makes his living as a bicycle courier in the city of Lower Proszawa.
A long and nasty war recently concluded and Proszawa is reeling somewhat in peacetime. TGD definitely has a germanic, or perhaps Eastern European steampunk vibe, but Kadrey gives us a very eclectic mix of technology; we have all kinds of robots Maras and bioengineered life forms aplenty, al Kadrey crafted a genre bender here, blending aspects of steampunk within a gritty urban fantasy environment.
TGD definitely has a germanic, or perhaps Eastern European steampunk vibe, but Kadrey gives us a very eclectic mix of technology; we have all kinds of robots Maras and bioengineered life forms aplenty, along side a barely functional phone system and crude photography.
The robots were in part created for the war effort but versions of them are now displacing manual labor across the city. The story starts slowly, with Kadrey spending a fair amount of time with Logan and his girlfriend Remy, an actress at The Grand Dark, a somewhat seedy theater. Remy does not appear on stage, however, she animates a 'puppet'-- a life sized robot she controls.
Get it- puppet theater? In any case, much of the first part of the story involves Logan and Remy taking drugs, screwing, taking drugs, going to parties, etc. The young couple lives for one another and this sweet romance underpins the plot. Lower Proszawa is basically some sort of fascist state complete with a secret police. Many of the population believes the peace will be short lived as Proszawa seems to be gearing up for another war nobody wants and subversive posters and pamphlets may be found just about anywhere.
Lower Proszawa is also deeply divided by class and Logan himself grew up in a decidedly rough part of town. Also around this time, people are disappearing, but returning after a few days with different personalities. What is happening in the city? TGD becomes something of a mystery novel with what is going on slowly being revealed to Logan and his naivety slowly starts to unravel. When Remy disappears and the cops are hot on Logan for murder, things really start to pick up Overall, a rather slow burn where Kadrey develops a strange world without many info drops which I really liked where the main character Logan evolves with the novel as it unfolds.
Kadrey's prose is taut and lots of snarky dialogue animates the pages nicely. So, if you are in the mood for a grimdark urban fantasy coupled with a steampunk feel and wrapped around a mystery, TGD may be just your ticket.
I found the main characters rather shallow but it was fun to watch Logan evolve; lots of loose ends as Kadrey left a lot of room for sequels.
Find this review at Forever Lost in Literature! The Grand Dark is an unpredictable, enthralling read full of thing you won't see coming. After finishing the book, I noticed on Goodreads that there are quite a lot of mixed reviews for this and I find that rather disappointing.
There are definitely some areas for improvement in these pages, which I'll discuss later in my review, but there's so much more in the way of exciting ideas and engaging characters that made this extremely enjoyable for me. This is a book that will absolutely keep you on your toes. The world-building in The Grand Dark is strong and introduces a rather gritty location on the heels of a The Great War which has left the city rife with dirt, disease, and a slow recovery.
Based upon the names of various places within this book and the usage of 'Herr' and the like, it also has what seems to be a German influence on the world, though I'm not sure exactly what the inspiration for this was. This is a setting with advanced AI types of technology as well, such as delivery machines that deliver to businesses and that Largo fears will eradicate his own job, as well as 'Maras' that are human-like robotic beings that can act as assistants, cleaners, door openers, etc.
There's also the Grand Dark itself, a rather odd sort of theatre that uses puppets to act, but still manages to be extraordinarily gruesome, shocking, and violent.
I'm madly intrigued by the Grand Dark and would happily read a collection of stories just about it. A big part of the first half of this book follows Largo on many of his delivery runs and I loved these parts. This is the portion of the book where some of Kadrey's world-building really shines because we gt to explore different portions of the city Lower and Upper , including both the shady, the scary, the weird, and the extraordinarily rich.
These runs were just a lot of fun to me, both because we got to explore the city and also because of the interactions Largo has with his boss and those he has with people he runs into on his deliveries. Kadrey excels at writing sharp dialogue with subtle wit and sarcasm. I really liked Largo as a main character. He was very normal and grounded; he's not overly self-deprecating about himself, he has a steady girlfriend who he's madly in love with, and he has a not-great-but-not-horrible job where he's a pretty good worker minus some drug issues.
He doesn't undergo any extreme development in this book, but he does still experience a good amount of growth in smaller, more subtle ways that really made his character a compelling one. There are some other colorful characters in this book in addition to Largo, such as his boss, Herr Branca; his girlfriend, Remy; his friend Parvulesco and his boyfriend, Roland; and a few other coworkers and friends of friends that keep things interesting.
I thought that characters seemed to be one of Kadrey strong suits in this book, as I found myself really interested in each and enjoying how unique each person's personality was. Largo and Remy's relationship was one I really enjoyed as well, partially because I love when a book starts out with the protagonist already in a strong, loving relationship. They have a certain level of freedom with one another that refreshing, but at the end of the day they were unfailingly loyal to one another and wouldn't betray one another's trust.
The first issue that arose for me was mainly the inconsistent pacing, as the first half of the book had a really nice, slower pace that seemed to work well, but at some point in the latter half of the story it just sped up at an awkwardly rushed pace. Once one particularly semi-surprising event happened, everything just started snowballing after that in a fast-paced way that just felt like too much was going on too suddenly.
The Grand Dark has multiple plot threads that run throughout the entire book, all of which do eventually tie together in the end, but they just didn't always mesh that well throughout the story itself. There were also a few particular types of "reveals" that felt like they came out of nowhere, but they still fit so I just felt a little mixed on them.
My only other issue is with the technological components in this book, such as the maras and various details littered throughout about the tech in this society. I really liked how Kadrey crafted all of these things in the world, but I also feel like they weren't incorporated quite as well as they could have been.
I struggled to place exactly what sort of innovative period this story was set in and it didn't make sense to me why they had some things, but not others. It's the type of setting that's advanced in a lot of ways, but still fairly like our world in others as if caught between two time periods.
This also sort of overlaps with my confusion surrounding The Great War that seems to be the big backdrop for the events of this book. I needed more about the war and the people involved, including more information on what sort of world lay outside of Upper and Lower Prozsawa. Overall, I've given The Grand Dark four stars. I really debated if I should lower it since I did have some issues with this book, but in the end I still really enjoyed it and had a blast reading it, so four stars feels like a fair deal.
Jul 20, RG rated it liked it. This was very different to his Sandman series. Political sort of cold war type east german vibe. I loved the world building. The world Kadrey has created is original. However the plot was way too slow for me. I also found Largo to be too naive and couldn't really connect with him. Overall it was ok but wish it moved at a quicker pace.
Apr 16, Clayton Snyder rated it it was amazing. I was at times reminded of Low Town, and others of something like Dark City. A fantastic standalone, it deserves a place on the shelves of memorable modern fantasy.
The Great War has ended. In its wake Lower Proszawa has turned to decadence, hedonism, and drugs to squash the underlying feelings of despair. They turn their backs on those who were injured saving their lives in order to avoid eye contact or staring too long at the disfigurement maring their bodies. Each day is a struggle to survive as intelligent automata have taken over many jobs. Those that work or come into money typically spend it unwisely. Largo sta 3. Largo stands apart from the crowd with his ambitions to better himself and ultimately become more than a bike messenger.
Coming from the slums, Largo has seen the life that he wants to stay away from. He has worked hard to get where he is today. He has a beautiful girlfriend, drugs to help him through the day, a recent promotion at work, and an offer that could just change his life altogether and bring him closer to the elite class where he wants to be a member of. As Lower Proszawa gets stranger, Largo can feel the shift in those around him turning dark.
Will he be sucked into this darkness or can he prevail and make for himself the life he has always wanted? I find myself drawn to these genres more in film and television. I greatly enjoyed learning more about Lower Proszawa, Largo, and those he comes into contact with.
I can see why readers enjoy getting to travel to new places and worlds with fantasy and science fiction books! The premise surrounding The Great War and what has happened is fantastical, but also not too over the top to make it unrelatable.
There are always similar scenarios that stem from war and countries being left to clean up the mess. Certain groups of people are always affected more than others. JavaScript error encountered. Click here for troubleshooting information. Do everything you can do in Acrobat Reader, plus create, protect, convert and edit your PDFs with a 7-day free trial. Continue viewing PDFs after trial ends.
View, sign, comment on, and share PDFs for free. Please select your operating system and language to download Acrobat Reader. A version of Reader is not available for this configuration.
Pdf Download Optional offer:.
0コメント