Customer Reviews

The Drowning City (Necromancer Chronicles, Bk 1)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Isyllt Iskaldur, the necromancer with the unpronounceable first name, takes the center stage in the Byzantine political spy novel called 'The Drowning City.' Well at least until page 23, when the girl Zhirin is tossed at the readers as a viewpoint character for no good reason. She isn't the last tangent. Both of Isyllt's bodyguards have despair filled back stories, but only Xinai (the female with roots in the city) spends tens of pages as a perspective characters.

This book isn't a 'quick' read; it's confusing. You've got to keep straight who's doing what, who's working for who, and what faction(s) everyone is a part of, be it Symir, Assari, Selfali, Sivahra or simply a sub-faction in the Assari Empire. The important names revolve around the letter 'S' and are hard to keep distinct. By mid-book this isn't much of a problem, but for the first fifty pages you may have to read passages again. Expect spy politics.

Continuing the naming annoyances, the author makes up words for common terms such as 'mekelit' for mother, and renames common animals and objects exotic sounding words. No glossary exists in the book. Characters talk these new phrases like every page. But it isn't as bad as the flaws indicate. This novel did have a plot, though the non-main characters do make stupid choices to advance it.

Overall, I liked Isyllt Iskaldur, but she didn't have enough page count. Only half the book was about her. For a first novel this wasn't bad, but it's not deserving the huge blurb hype on the cover. I admit to buying it because an author I respect wrote 'If you only read one novel this year, read this one.' That piece of advice isn't something you should take to heart. It's an intriguing first novel, with gem-based magic and vengeful ghosts in a foreign and exotic land. The author leaves much room for getting better in later sequels. An OK book to try, yet not one I'd go running into if you have a large stack of books waiting to be read.

[This review is based on an Advanced Reading Copy]

Get used to those words as you'll see them repeatedly in every chapter. Granted I can be rather picky about grammar but these reoccuring phrases really lowered the credibility of the author/book. Next time please hire a better editor or at the very least pick up a Thesaurus and proof read it yourself! Now on to the book itself. Isyllt Iskaldur is a necromancer and spy ordered to stir up a revolution in the city of Symir. A city in the expanding Assari Empire which is eyeing the northern kingdom of Selafai. She travels with her bodyguard (Adam - an uncreative name considering the rest of the characters) and Xinai (a local tribeswoman/mercenary returning home for the first time in many years). As they investigate the city they meet a few interesting characters and discover that there is already a turbulent revolution brewing that just needs a spark to ignite. This situation forces characters to join sides which in turn splinters the main story between Isyllt and Xinai. Without giving too much more away here are my thoughts on the book;

Pros

+ A few interesting characters, namely Isyllt and Asheris although I felt they could have been a bit more fleshed out than they were. Hopefully that will happen in later books.

+ Great cover art and intruiging back teaser.

+ Book had a map, although I would have liked to see more detail.

Cons

- Blend of Asian and Middle Eastern culture (obviously inspired by the author's time spent abroad) tends to fall flat without description amongst the story.

- Several missed opportunities for action sequences. For example in the beginning there's a passage where Isyllt (a stranger to the city) encounters a nakh (similar to a siren) but Xinai describes what the creature is thereby sparing Isyllt from any harm.

- Author uses numerous made up names/greetings without any sort of glossary leaving it up to the reader to devise exactly what is being said. Words such as Mira (Mother), Meliket (Milady) and Roshani (Greetings) are just a few examples.

- Terribly annoying use of the same phrases throughout the book. In particular lips curl, mouth twisted and gooseflesh. Here's an example;


Isyllt's mouth twisted. "No," she said after a moment. "Let's find an extravagantly expensive hotel tonight. I feel like spending the Crown's money. We can work tomorrow." One night of vacation, at least, she could give herself.

He grinned and looked to his partner. "Do you know someplace decadent?"

Xinai's lips curled as she turned away from the luggage.


- Half of the book isn't about the main character Isyllt. Xinai begins to occupy the other half of the story after certain circumstances which detract interest from Isyllt's character.

- The world's history is very sparse and not well described. The same can be said for all the warring factions that reside within and around Symir.

- For someone who's trying to incite a civil war Isyllt basically did very little espionage or spying. She was more akin to foreign royalty with no formal combat training caught in the middle of the turmoil. Adam (her bodyguard) was similar in the fact that he really didn't do much, at least as far as bodyguarding goes.

- Use of pistols breaks the fantasy setting. I realize historically the gun powder could be there, I just don't like to see it when magic clearly exists. Afterall this is a fantasy setting.

- Using a quote from Rage Against the Machine in your first fantasy novel. Don't get me wrong, I love Rage Against the Machine and what they did in the music industry speaks volumes. However, I would never use it as a quote in my first fantasy novel.


This isn't a bad first novel but it could have used a lot more polish. I'm not saying turn it into a 900 page borefest but flesh out the characters and story a bit more. And please for the love of your good readers, change up your vocabulary more often. Here's to hoping for improvements on the next novel. Something, at this point I'm not eagerly awaiting.

I'll be honest, I wasn't sure The Drowning City would work for me. The cover is awesome and the back-cover blurb is intriguing, but for some reason, I just got the feeling it was a story aimed more toward a female readership.

Before I even got to the map, though, I was impressed by Amanda Downum's choice of opening quotes. The first quote is from Emily Dickinson, which would have been impressive even by itself, but then just below that is a line from one of my all-time favorite bands, Rage Against the Machine. I said to myself, "Oh, Hells yeah!!" Any author who has the cojones to quote Rage Against the Machine has my complete attention and utmost respect.

Moving on to the novel itself, The Drowning City tells the story of Isyllt Iskaldur, a necromancer and spy. Isyllt's mission is to help overthrow the Imperial government in the tropical island city of Symir. Symir is based on Southeast Asian culture around the time that they were starting to use primitive firearms. Downum's choice of setting took me out of my comfort zone. I tend to prefer medieval, ancient, and sometimes Victorian settings in fantasy novels, and so Downum had a challenge in winning me over (despite her excellent taste in music). She succeeded, however, and I enjoyed The Drowning City very much.

The Drowning City is filled with dark and scary places, and characters that are often not quite what they seem. Ghosts, spirits, and demons are very real and a constant threat. Magic is more prevalent than what I usually care for in a story, but in this haunting tale it fits very well.

I'm a big fan of the Dark & Gritty Fantasy but The Drowning City isn't quite that. I think I'd call it Dark & Haunting. Amanda Downum may just be a force to be reckoned with, and this is only her first novel. I'm anxious for the next installment: The Bone Palace.

As another reviewer wrote, the book is good for a first novel, but is lacking in polish. I think in the future we can expect great things from this writer, as the book shows a high degree of originality, imaginative situations, realistic character behavior, and a well-constructed plot.

However, writing is first and foremost about the use of language. Here, too, the author shows promise - the prose is colorful and often has a wry humor. What practically ruined the book for me, however, is that the author had a tendency to write in sentence fragments rather than full sentences. When used in dialogue, this mimics natural speech, and so it works. When used sparingly, short interjections can add emphasis. Frankly, though, in this case the fragments were so prevalent that, time and again, they knocked me right out of my fascination with the story.

If you look at the product description, you see: "Symir -- the Drowning City. Home to exiles and expatriates, pirates and smugglers. And violent revolutionaries who will stop at nothing to overthrow the corrupt Imperial government." That's great for a blurb, but now imagine large sections of the book written in the same style. Perhaps I've just been too brainwashed by my English teachers, but after a point I found this unreadable. It may be a mere stylistic difference; others seem to have enjoyed the work highly, and have no problems with the phrasing.

To me, this was a decent book with the potential to have been been a great book, if only an editor had put a foot down and been more strict about English usage. Not all readers will be as, ah, obsessive as I am on this point. I hope this book will do well, and the author will be encouraged to write more. I would love to read a new book from this author, provided the language is a bit more structured next time.

I picked this book on a whim for silly reasons that I won't even go into here. After stumbling a bit on the first chapter, I ended up tearing through the rest of the novel with great speed. It grew on me with surprising speed, almost subversively -- I didn't realize how much I was enjoying it until I set it down and realized that I couldn't stop thinking about it.

What really grabbed me:

-The three main characters are female, and that in itself is a breath of fresh air. Furthermore, they have distinct personalities that don't fall into the female character stereotypes of the genre. No macho-men-with-boobs, no super-chipper-girly-girls. These women are all professionals who, to differing extents, have conflicts between their emotional/nurturing sides and their professional duties. Each resolves these conflicts in a different way. As a female reader, this felt very genuine without feeling pedantic. I could different read parts of myself into each of the characters and while I didn't always agree with their choices, I could understand why they made them. Many of the supporting characters are women, too, some in roles that I didn't expect, but none of them felt ridiculous. It felt as though the citizens of this world viewed men and women on equal footing.

-None of the characters are perfect; even the supporting characters are flawed. No Mary Sues/Gary Stus to be seen. I still found that most of the characters were charismatic in spite of their flaws. There were also subtle nuances to the characters that allowed for some fun interpretations. For example, based on what I read, I presumed that two of the characters were gay and had a past affair. Am I right? Probably not. But it's great that the author has left some blanks in the characters for the reader to fill in. (It's also telling that I cared enough about the characters to start theorizing.)

-The magic system was well fleshed out (no pun intended) and the mechanics followed a solid logic. The author obviously put a great amount of thought into it.

-Tense and violent moments were described very well. I was on the edge of my seat a few times, and at a few triumphant moments, I made a little cheering motion with my fist. Pretty rare that a book sucks me in that deeply.

-The length of the novel was perfect -- allowed for a fast pace without too much filler. By the end of the book, I felt that I understood all the intricacies of this world.


What I felt could be improved:

-I do agree with other reviewers here who said that the writing style could use a bit of tightening (perhaps a bit more involvement of the editor), though I didn't find this to be a huge distraction. The sentence fragments and some extraneous exposition clog up the flow in a few sections, and some sections had too many adverbs. Most of the writing was quite good, with solid description and word choices, and I think an extra coat of polish would have really made that shine.

-I also agree that a couple of small issues made the novel more confusing than it needed to be. 1) all the S-names for places. I did have to reread a few paragraphs, especially near the beginning of the novel. 2) The use of the native dialect in the dialogue. For example, the word "decad" threw me off because I kept reading it as "decade", and both are very different measurements of time.


Overall, I would recommend this novel: expect a bit of confusion near the beginning, but it will start to fall into place very quickly. The characters are strong and the setting is vivid. It's been a long time since I've been this excited about a book. I think the author has great promise and I am eager to read the next book in the series.

The Drowning City starts slow but builds quickly as the several story lines begun to collide. The prose was spotty in areas, occasionally I found myself turning back several pages wondering, "where did that come from?" However, i loved the descriptions of the City and its inhabitants. I also appreciated the racial diversity in this story. It added to the exotic setting. I'll buy the next book.

I bought this as a gift. The person who I gave it to is happy with the story. My only complaint is that the desciption on the purchase said "like new", the copy I received was rather warn.

only halfway through the book so far but its pretty good ,like storyline . Usually I can read a book this size in a day but have a progect I'm finishing .Also have the sequil so I'll be reading awhile

I have moved toward Dark fantasy recently and found this at a Borders (back when those existed) it was a fun read and includes some interesting characters and story elements. Love this book

Amanda Downum's "The Drowning City" is her first novel and thus the first featuring her heroine Isyllt Eskaldur, perhaps the fantasy genre's only forensic necromancer (and spy to boot). It's carefully crafted, and it takes time to build. You won't hurry through it, but it'll fascinate you if you let it.

The characters speak modern, semi-formal English, not high-fantasy English, although with some made-up words tossed in. They might confuse at first, but it shouldn't take long for you to grasp them. And the book's not without wit, both in the dialog and the descriptive passage. (Wit, but not humor. There's no comedy here.) Ms. Downum also has mastered the tricky art of a multiple POV structure. The sets change quickly, but logically. You probably won't want to skip ahead at any point to keep following the story of Isyllt, when we switch to a different pov.

It's got a simple concept: Isyltt is sent by an ex-lover to the city of Symir to foment revolution against the crown. Accompanied by a body guard and a mercenary, she pokes around among the various rebel factions (there are two principal factions, one sane the other crazy) and embarks on a scheme to fund the sane faction's rebellion. But things soon go rather wrong, and events spiral out of her control.

The characters who possess mage-like abilities have different abilities: Isyltt can exorcise ghosts and probe the dead to see what they've witnessed just before they've died, another character can absorb fire, a third can call the river into the fray. And the author unlayers their capabilities as the story develops, which means not only that there are few pauses for explanations, but also that there's no chance that on page 207 she can violate rules established on page 59--you'll learn the rules as you go along.

Isyltt herself is complex; she fascinates. And I was happy to learn that a second book in the series, "The Bone Palace," has already been published.