This was a good depiction of a world in which the fantastical becomes real. I liked the interactions between the characters, especially Gwynn and the Rev. ( )

This is definitely a weird book, in the New Weird sense.

A story about a gunslinger rebel officer of a defeated army, and a doctor acquaintance and fellow soldier of his.

Wanted people, they decided to head for another country, and this involves a camel chase, of all things, with some sneakiness.

Their new destination and home is a place financed by the slave trades, with competing gang lords vying for control. This is where our protagonist finds work, being really good at killing people.

As well as your usual sordid gangland slayings, he becomes involved with a supernatural woman, and the revenant of a man his employer has wronged comes looking for them.

A good, well-written book, although it sags a bit in the middle, so could have been a bit shorter.

Almost a supernatural urban western, if considering the technology level and activity.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2008/06... ( )

This proved that everyting that makes a story epic, personal, unique, and impossible to put down can be packed into 330 pages. I feel like I just finished reading a 2100 page trilogy. And this was her first novel. I eagerly await more from Bishop! ( )

There's a strange dream-like quality to Bishop's debut novel which is alternately fascinating and frustrating. In places, the book is simply incredible - Bishop has created a wonderful world, and populated it with a number of conflicted, troubled characters, each with their own stories to tell and secrets to hide. Indeed, it's when these characters are given room to express themselves that The Etched City is at its strongest: Bishop's prose is often remarkable for a debut novelist and complements the stories=within-stories that fill the book amazingly well. And the characters themselves are intriguing, both the central character Gwynn - pianist, murderer, and reluctant romantic - and the supporting cast of Raule, Beth, Marriot, the Rev and the rest.

And yet at the same time it's impossible for me to say that this is a great book - in truth, I'm not even sure it's a good book. It's certainly a book that will frustrate many readers. The first sixty or so pages (part one of three, in theory, though part two is by far the longest section of the book) are quite unlike the rest of the novel in tone and setting, and no doubt many people will wish the story had continued in that vein. Raule, despite being billed as a co-protagonist in the blurb and indeed assuming this role in part one, soon becomes overshadowed by her companion Gwynn, which is a double shame: both because her character had the potential to be studied much more in its own right and because doing so would perhaps have complemented and added to Gwynn's story (as at times I suspect it was intended to do so).

And for all the wonderful prose and images, there's a sense that Bishop isn't quite sure where she wants the story to go; the book jumps between philosophical musings and violent action in a slightly uneven way, and many of the book's mysteries remained unsolved at the story's end. That may well be intentional, of course, but it's also frustrating (and the fact that might also be intentional doesn't help). Quite simply, it's clear that Bishop has a point to make, but it's not clear what that point actually is.

There's no denying, on the strength of this performance, that Bishop is an extremely talented author, and I look forward to reading her future works with interest. But despite enjoying The Etched City a great deal, I cannot recommend it without reservations, and I'm in no hurry to read it again myself.

I have to say I'm disappointed in this. Many people said it reminded them of Perdido Street Station, and I can see some of that and some of City of Saints and Madmen, but overall those promises fail to deliver. I like the world Mrs. Bishop creates but the plot was lacking. The first 100 pages is all out action ala wild west style then the entire tone changes to a more laid back, atmospheric, surreal mystery.

Unfortunately the story didn't really seem to go anywhere from there and the two main characters had little interaction. The epilogue is a little wishy-washy with its "this could have been what happened but no one's really sure" dialog. I'd probably read another novel from Bishop if it wasn't too long because I think there's a lot of potential here ( )