Rjurik Davidson

I'm in the middle of reading 'Unwrapped Sky,' Davidson's novel set in his fictional city of Caeli-Amur. I noticed that Tor Books is providing free access to this short story, as a 'teaser,' so thought I'd check it out (since I'm loving the novel.)
Here (even more than in the book), Caeli-Amur puts me in mind of Tanith Lee's Paradis - a complex, teeming metropolis full of beauty and evil, poverty and wealth, human foibles and inexplicable hauntings.
In this story, the city is merely the lush show more and atmospheric backdrop to a very human story. The narrator is a mid-level bureaucrat caught in a mid-life crisis, suffering discontent with his comfortable life and family, feeling the urge to throw away everything that he's achieved on his proper track, and regretting the loss of the carefree life he had as a theater student in his university days.
A finely-crafted character study. Davidson seems to excel at creating characters where the reader has to closely consider whether they are deserving of condemnation, empathy - or both. show less

meh, didn't really quite go anywhere fast enough, played too many politics en route, and disappointed when it arrived. Inventive though.

A complex world. The book opens with a minator procession into the grand city, and a philosopher-assassin paying off her debts to a ruling house. Fortunately we're spared vast amounts of philosophical wrangling by the assassins. Sadly we have to put up with a bit from one of the other main characters, a rebel by the name of max, who's attempting to master show more some magical abilities. Finally we also follow some of the House career politicians. The lives of some only interact right at the very end, and the Minators don't feature all, despite being prominent on the cover.

I think the author had a plan regarding how the world came to be, through migration of the 'gods' but whilst it was clear in his head, it never quite got transmitted clearly into the words actions and motivations of the characters, and as such the reader is never quite clear how or why anything is happening. The author probably also needed to draw themselves map, because the geography of the city and especially the tunnels was very confused.

Like a lot of the New Weird, there are some very interesting concepts and world-building but not enough is ever quite done with them before rushing off onto the next clever thought, and when that's combined with too many characters, not enough depth or interaction, and a lack of drive from the plot, the book as a whole suffers. Which is a shame because the politics of rebellion are currently topical and should have formed the basis for a gripping read. show less

I had been excitedly awaiting the release of this book since the moment I finished Unwrapped Sky. I had never before, in a lifetime of proud book-nerd-ery, become so completely enraptured by any author's creation -- I literally counted down the days until I would be able to return to Caeli-Amur -- to find out what would become of Max and Kata -- to root for the seditionists as they fought to find their way in a world that held so many threats and uncertainties, internal and external, that show more they had never before had to face.

The Stars Askew, though, delivers so much more than what I had been impatiently awaiting. The intricately-designed world in which Unwrapped Sky unfolds is broadened far beyond the borders of Caeli-Amur; characters both familiar and new continually reveal unexpected depths; and instead of the neat, concise answers that readers of Unwrapped Sky might have thought we wanted, we are ultimately left with that same sprawling, beautiful, chaotic uncertainty that kept us thinking and dreaming of Caeli-Amur as we waited for The Stars Askew to bring us home. show less

It's always an unexpected pleasure to discover a new author this good.

Davidson starts this tale with a shocking scene, and keeps the energy going all the way through to the end. As I said in my review of the author's short story, 'Nighttime in Caeli-Amur,' Davidson excels at creating characters who roundly deserve to be condemned for their actions - but still capture the reader's empathy, if not sympathy.

Their home, Caeli-Amur, feels like a real place. It's vivid, teeming with dreams, show more ambition, love and tragedy - and the bitter, grotesque things that all of those can twist lives into.

This is a story of a city on the brink...of a fall, or of revolution. Corrupt officials war with seditionist saboteurs. Here we meet Kata, former street orphan, trained philosopher-assassin (ninja) - a woman who's learned to always have an eye for the main chance. But will her self-interest be her downfall? We also have Maximilian, an idealist and revolutionary whose dreams of studying the dangerous arts of thaumaturgy may not be compatible with the violent revolution some of his compatriots aim for. Then there's Boris, former tramworker, on his way up the bureaucratic ladder to success... but will he be willing to trample over the bodies of his old friends on his way up?

And more... much, much more. This is a complex work exploring multiple layers of power and motivations. I'd say: China Mieville meets Tanith Lee - injected with a full syringe of originality. Recommended for fans of steampunk who are tired of the cliches. Davidson's an author I'll be following from here on out.

Advance review copy provided by NetGalley. Thanks to Netgalley and Tor Books. As always, my opinion is my own. show less