dark fantasy

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Neither thumbs up nor thumbs down for Perdido Street Station by China Miéville. Dark fantasy.

I love a big book with lots of worldbuilding, and, well, that’s good, because Miéville never describes anything in one paragraph when he’s got ten pages to spare. Sometimes it’s brilliant; sometimes it comes off as sheer wankery. (He also goes out of his way to be gross, which I found comical after a while: this book contains the word “filth” 49 times and then there’s his hilarious passion for “glutinous”) The story itself–monsters!–doesn’t… >> Read more

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Thumbs up for A Dowry of Blood by S. T. Gibson. Dark fantasy.

When FairyLoot sent me a Dracula retelling that contained the word “romantic” in two of the blurbs, I was…concerned, because there’s a lot of stuff that passes as romance these days that I won’t touch with a ten-foot pole. But I ended up reading the whole thing in one sitting.… >> Read more

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Thumbs up for Snake Agent by Liz Williams. Dark fantasy.

In a future only slightly beyond our own, Detective Chen of Singapore Three has a transit pass to Hell. He’s just trying to solve a murder; he ends up in a bloody, creative, darkly funny speculative fiction mess, working with a demon (buddy-cop style), pursued by demon lords, and trying to save his wife (also a demon).… >> Read more