Wicked City: A Zephyr Hollis Novel [Hardcover]

Alaya Johnson (Author)

Book Description

Release date: April 10, 2012 | Series: Zephyr Hollis (Book 2)

“Fans of Stephanie Meyer and Charlaine Harris will be engaged by Johnson’s light, tongue-in-cheek approach.”—Publishers Weekly

 

In Wicked City, the page-turning follow up to Moonshine, it’s summer in the city and most vampires are drunk on the blood-based intoxicant Faust. The mayor has tied his political fortunes to legalizing the brew, but Zephyr Hollis has dedicated herself to the cause of Faust prohibition--at least when she isn’t knocking back sidecars in speakeasies.

But the game changes when dozens of vampires end up in the city morgue after drinking Faust. Are they succumbing to natural causes, or have they been deliberately poisoned? When an anonymous tip convinces the police of her guilt, Zephyr has to save her reputation, her freedom and possibly her life. Someone is after her blood--and this time it isn’t a vampire.

 

In a New York City populated by flappers and vampires, debutantes and djinn, it's best to watch your back. You never know what's lurking in the shadows.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for Moonshine:

“A sassy, dedicated heroine...a lot of fun.” —LOCUS

 

“Deftly combines historical and fantasy fiction for a fresh and inspired take on vampires...Johnson writes with great verve and wit, and readers will hope for many sequels.” —RT Book Reviews

'“A page-turning delight, with bicycles and enchanted blades, drug wars and settlement evening  schools, romance and heartbreak.” —Sarah Smith, author of THE VANISHED CHILD

About the Author

Alaya Johnson is a recent Columbia graduate, and denizen of New York City.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; First Edition edition (April 10, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312565488
• ISBN-13: 978-0312565480
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,626,872 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Alaya (pronounced ah-lie-ah) lives, writes, cooks and (perhaps most importantly) eats in New York City. Her literary loves are all forms of speculative fiction, historical fiction, and the occasional highbrow novel. Her culinary loves are all kinds of ethnic food, particularly South Indian, which she feels must be close to ambrosia. She graduated from Columbia University in 2004 with a BA in East Asian Languages and Cultures, and has lived and traveled extensively in Japan.

(And you can email me, too: alaya [a t] alayadawnjohnson [d o t] com)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great, fun read July 4, 2012

By daykaty

Format:Hardcover

Yes! Great book. Read read read, right now. Johnson's writing style is rich and fun and you won't be able to put this down.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Even more fun than the first! April 12, 2012

By branewurms

Format:Hardcover

This is a review of an ARC received for free from the author in a giveaway.

I liked this one even more than the first! This series is just so compulsively readable and fun.

I appreciate that while romance is an important part of the story, Zephyr's feelings for Amir don't eclipse everything else - her other relationships and her principles and the things she's fighting for are all important to her and to the plot as well. (Although I can't help wishing to see a little bit more of Amir. I mean, he's hot. Er, no pun intended.) I'm also impressed by the fact that even though this series so far has a lot less actual physical violence than the average paranormal mystery, it still feels driven and fast-paced, and the stakes always seem high. I'm a big fan of the "things blow up" school of fun, and I'm impressed when something manages to capture that same particular sense of fun without actually blowing all that much stuff up. (Metaphorically speaking.)

Really looking forward to the [EPIC SPOILERS] promised to come in the next installment, too!

4.0 out of 5 stars like Cheez-it Duoz for a bewildering array of plot favors with gnoshable characters that satisfy deep cravings for salty love January 23, 2013

By kblincoln

Format:Hardcover

It really doesn't matter what I say below because really, you should just read this series because of the unique New York of Vampire/Minority/Immigrant politics in the roaring 20's complete with feisty female reporters, djinni, mystery, speakeasies, non-European main characters and mafia.

And also because the heroine, Zephyr Hollis is one of the most human main characters I've come across in a long time. Human (despite her strange and disturbing immunity to vampires) because she's conflicted. She does hypocritical things like lobby for prohibition of vampire Faust (liquor) while drinking at speakeasies. Although she grew up as a fight-trained killer of demons, she's gotten soft and now she gets surprised by bad guys conking her over the head. Her favorite choice of problem-solving is avoidance, and while her heart longs for the djinni Amir, she isn't afraid to speak on those feelings even when she's unsure.

But as much as I like Zephyr and Amir, and their lovely "I'm going to save him/her for his/her own good without letting on why I'm acting this way" romance, the book is just a bit uneven. This was my problem with the first book in the series, too.

There's so much plot crammed into this story, its coming out of Zephyr's ears. There's the Amir-saving, the dodging of the policemen investigating her for underage vampire harboring (from book one), helping Elspeth with the anti-Faust campaign, investigating an anti-Vampire lobbyist named Madison, figuring out why vampires are dying, figuring out why her dad has gone crazy, etc. etc.

It gets confusing.

Also there's some tiny, nit-picky editing issues I was disappointed to see in a professionally published (I also read Indies an am more forgiving there) book. Really, just nitpicky, but they kicked me right out of reader-mode. (For example on pg 53 "Amir had offered to get me a new bicycle, but I had decaying for the same reason I refused to ask for a pair of dancing shoes." decaying?)

But really, as I said before, you should read the series anyway because its so *fun*. And I'm definitely going to read book three (there better be a book three) just because of the set up for Zephyr's importance in the grand scheme of vampire-world at the end of this book.

This Book's Snack Rating: Smoked Cheddar/Monterey Jack Cheez-it Duoz for a bewildering array of plot favors with gnoshable characters that satisfy that deep-seated craving for salty love