Trial of Flowers [Paperback]

Jay Lake (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 7, 2006

The City Imperishable's secret master and heir to the long-vacant throne has vanished from a locked room, as politics have turned deadly in a bid to revive the city's long-vanished empire. The city's dwarfs, stunted from spending their childhoods in confining boxes, are restive. Bijaz the Dwarf, leader of the Sewn faction among the dwarfs, fights their persecution. Jason the Factor, friend and apprentice to the missing master, works to maintain stability in the absence of a guiding hand. Imago of Lockwood struggles to revive the office of Lord Mayor in a bid to turn the City Imperishable away from the path of destruction. These three must contend with one another as they race to resolve the threats to the city.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The ancient and decadent City Imperishable teeters on the verge of obliteration in this inventive fantasy from the prolific Lake (Rocket Science), if not from the armies marching toward its gates, then from the dark, bloodthirsty gods reawakening within its walls. Three haunted and imperfect men must stand against the destruction of everything they know: Jason the Factor, a businessman and sometime civil servant who's in love with pain; Imago of Lockwood, a feckless lawyer who puts himself forward as a candidate for the centuries-dead position of Lord Mayor; and Bijaz the Dwarf, an embittered and self-hating half-man whose lips have been sewn shut. As random supernatural assaults are perpetrated on innocent citizens, these three must uncover the City Imperishable's blackest secrets, not knowing whether or not their actions will save what they hold dear. Filled with violence and some seriously perverse sex, this grand guignol of a book should appeal to fans of such authors of urban fantasies as China Miéville and Jeff VanderMeer. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Campbell Award winner Lake's second novel (after Rocket Science 2005) is a contemporary fantasy that launches a planned series featuring a byzantine metropolis called the City Imperishable. When the city's de facto and largely unknown leader vanishes from a locked room, his apprentice, Jason the Factor, struggles to maintain civilian order in the face of terrifying hauntings from the noumenal world and the threat of advancing enemy soldiers beyond the city's walls. As if these challenges weren't enough, Bijaz the Dwarf, an estranged business partner of Jason's deceased father, is planning an uprising to end the persecution of the eccentric Sewn faction of dwarves, and Imago of Lockwood wants to return leadership to the now-defunct office of lord mayor. While vying among themselves for ultimate control, Jason, Bijaz, and Imago discover that they share a common dream of returning the City Imperishable to its former glory. Lake's masterfully atmospheric prose, littered with odd and endearing minutiae, sustains unforgettable characters, making this essential reading in the increasingly popular subgenre of urban fantasy. Carl Hays
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: Night Shade Books (November 7, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1597800562
• ISBN-13: 978-1597800563
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #799,059 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jay Lake lives in Portland, Oregon, where he works on numerous writing and editing projects. His 2010 books are _Pinion_ from Tor Books, _The Baby Killers_ from PS Publishing, and _The Sky That Wraps_ from Subterranean Press. His short fiction appears regularly in literary and genre markets worldwide. Jay is a winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and a multiple nominee for the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards. Jay can be reached through his Web site at jlake.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dark Urban Fantasy, February 21, 2007

By 

Brett J. Callahan (Lake Oswego, OR United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Trial of Flowers (Paperback)

Jay Lake's "The Trial of Flowers" is a decadent, dark urban fantasy in the mold of M. John Harrison's "Viriconium" or, as the book's jacket mentions, "Perdido Street Station" and "The Etched City".

The City Imperishable is a sprawling, ancient metropolis where power rests in the hands of the rich and the city's dwarves are treated like second class citizens. It immediately brings to mind an industrializing London layered with Rome at its darkest and most decayed. The Cthuluesque old gods are awakening and terrorizing the city by offing its citizens in dark and bloody ways during the night. The heir to the long vacant throne disappears early in the book, and a combined army of barbarian tribes is on the march with the intention of pulling the city down brick by brick so that its long dead but still feared empire will never rise again.

Into this swirling and bloody backdrop are cast the three main characters: Jason, servant and friend of the missing heir; Bijaz the Dwarf, leader of the city's sewn dwarves, whose lips are gruesomely sealed; and Imago, a down in his luck lawyer of sorts with an ingenious plan to reinstate the office of the mayor by staging "the trial of flowers", a rite so ancient that no one knows what it is.

These three uneasy allies are ultimately tasked with saving the city, journeying through the drug dens, torture pits, and ancient temples beneath the city and into the dark, magic filled nights on a quest to stop the resurrection of terrible gods who derive their power from bloodshed and suffering.

Lake's decadent world is ripe with decay, corruption, violence and sex. A world well worth visiting.

If you like this book check out "Black Orchids from Aum"

4.0 out of 5 stars Night in the City Imperishable, July 1, 2007

By 

The Ginger Man - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Trial of Flowers (Paperback)

Dark urban fantasy just below the outstanding quality of Meiville and Vandemeer. Lake creates strong characters and extremely visual scenes. As in other successful works in this genre, the city itself becomes a critical character in the plot's unfolding. Lake comes close at times to crossing the imaginary dividing line I have in my reader's mind separating dark from morally repellant but manages to walk the tightrope well.

Set some time aside because the prose can be dense but the plot remains compelling and fast-moving. If you like the genre, you will like Trial of Flowers.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dark tales of the City Imperishable, April 25, 2007

By 

T. Hooper (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Trial of Flowers (Paperback)

Trial of Flowers is a compelling, literary fantasy in the 'new weird' school, and readers of China Miéville and similar fare will feel right at home in this excellent novel. Told from the perspective of two ambitious men and a rather twisted dwarf, the City Imperishable itself becomes the fourth character in the story. The complexity of the setting and a unique historical backstory captured my interest from the first page and creative plot twists kept me interested. Lake has created unforgettable, complex characters through which we truly experience his world, without resorting to the cliches so common to the fantasy genre. An original fusion of the familiar and the fantastic, the City is truly a breeding ground for new forms of conspiracy, perversion and darkness that serve to escalate this tale above the mundane. Trial of Flowers is a denser and more complex work than the authors first novel but the transition is effortless. Highly recommended.