- Hardcover: 336 pages
- Publisher: Tor (16 Jan 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1405041609
- ISBN-13: 978-1405041607
- Product Dimensions: 23 x 15.2 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 255,347 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
"'Scenes among the most mystifying and astonishing I have found in a fantasy' Michael Moorcock, Guardian; 'Surpassing skill and vigour' Time Out; 'A brilliant first novel' Locus"
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
Fleeing the ghosts of their violent past, two former revolutionaries - the roguish, rakish Gwynn and the taciturn Raule - escape from the desert Copper Country to the tropical city of Ashamoil. As they salvage new lives from the rubble of the old, they discover past ghosts are future ghosts too.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
More people need to write fantasy like this lady!,
By
This review is from: The Etched City (Paperback)
"Have you seen a split cranium, growing flowers like a window box? I saw that, a mere hour ago."
The promise of this little quote atop the blurb was delivered within the pages of KJ Bishop's excellent novel. It's not a perfect book. I spent the first few chapters wondering where the plot was going - but I was so engrossed in the superbly-drawn world and characters that I didn't really care. When the plot did emerge, it did so with a dangerous smirk. It begins with Raule, in the desert. She bumps into an old associate, Gwynn, and together they flee the desert and their enemies to the city of Ashamoil. There things get weird. Gywnn is the main character there, though Raule's story continues to be told in the sidelines and intertwines with Gwynn's at times. A gunslinger currently employed as the henchman of a slave trader, Gwynn is surprised to find himself depicted in an etching. He becomes determined to track down the etching's artist and, with the aid of a delightfully trippy scene where he gets high, he finds her. While he becomes closer to the strange artist Beth, his 'career' runs into trouble. It is with Beth, though, that the weirdness happens. It's hard to describe. Think of warped, chimeran dreams brushing against reality, and you're close to the focus of this book. This is a book I heartily recommend to anyone who is sick of the Tolkien-esque clichés still bouncing around, and who wants to read something dark and weird and wonderful. KJ Bishop is an example of what fantasy writers are capable of when they're not afraid to do something new.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting concept, worth reading,
This review is from: The Etched City (Hardcover)
The Etched City is difficult to categorise. One first gets the impression of reading a heroic fantasy a la Robert E Howard after which one thinks Mad Max. Think swords, guns and a smattering of sorcery in a brutal, filthy city of corsets and carts.The book is about Gwynn and Raule, a killer and a doctor unfortunate enough to have been involved in a failed revolution. Now fugitives from the victors, they escape to the city of Ashamoil where they merge with society. Gwynn is a paradoxical thug at home both cutting throats and in the theatre, with an unusual amount of good luck. Raule is more like an excavated husk, a good phycisian without a soul. They both decant to opposite ends of the social scale and their acquaintance is uneasy, and often hostile. The central idea is really interesting, but I can't go into that without spoilers. The book starts a bit slow, and while it is well worth finishing there are some definite preachy bits I could have done without. It also delves into the Victorian Era level of technology and sensibilities which has become fashonable these days. At least there are no dirigibles! I bought this book because of comparisons with the excellent Perdido Street Station by China Mieville but to be honest there is really no comparison.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautifully written fantasy,
This review is from: The Etched City (Paperback)
I had no expectations coming into this book only that my daughter told me to read it and I'm so glad I did. It was beautifully written and haunting and nothing like the fantasy books I had read before. The story line is a simple one with the two main characters on a parallel journey and only meeting few times along the way, but the story lingers in my mind and the ending is one of those that makes ponder. Very surreal but very wonderful.
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