The Drowning City (Necromancer Chronicles 1) [Paperback]

Lush, evocative. Amanda Downum creates a richly relaised, refreshingly Eastern world full of charms and spirits, espionage and ibtrigue and the wars of great power fought by proxy (Brent Weeks )

Downum effectively combines action, magic, police procedure and political intrigue in this complex and striking debut. (PUBLISHERS WEEKLY )

Like the worlds she imagines, the words of Amanda Downum are lyrical, persuasive, and evocative. If you read only one first novel this year, read this one. I promise it's good (Elizabeth Bear )

Intense, atmospheric fun (STRANGE HORIZONS )

A very enjoyable first novel (SFREVU )

The first instalment in a powerful adventure of political intrigue, espionage and assassins.

The Drowning City: home to exiles and expatriates, pirates and smugglers. And violent revolutionaries who will stop at nothing to overthrow the corrupt Imperial government. For Isyllt Iskaldur, necromancer and spy, the brewing revolution is a chance to prove herself to her crown. All she has to do is find and finance the revolutionaries, and help topple the palaces of Symir. But she is torn between her new friends and her duties, and the longer she stays in this monsoon-drenched city, the more intrigue she uncovers - even the dead are plotting. As the waters rise and the dams crack, Isyllt must choose between her mission and the city she came to save.

Amanda was born in Virginia and, after travelling widely, she was sucked into the gravity well of Texas and hasn't managed to escape. Yet. She has a BA in English Lit, and is now a bookstore minion while writing and beast-herding her many animals full time. She lives near Austin.