- Paperback: 336 pages
- Publisher: Tor (18 Feb 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0330427105
- ISBN-13: 978-0330427104
- Product Dimensions: 17.2 x 11 x 3.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 304,902 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"
Product Description
Brimming with imagination and surreal imagery, an outstanding first fantasy novel
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format: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.
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
Format: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.
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
Format: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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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Interesting
This book is really interesting. Very strange but I find myself still thinking about some of the imagery a month after reading it. Read more
Published 3 months ago by T. Ace
Unexpected excellence
I picked this up second hand not having heard of it or the author and have been delighted at the read. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Mike Robinson
plotless, but still good
the etched city is a book almost entirely without plot and there is no connecting thread, character's motivations are often unconvincing. Read more
Published on 15 Sep 2008 by mje
Those creative writing exercises really paid off
This whole novel feels a bit like an extended exercise in creative writing. There is no real plot-line running consistently through the whole novel and what we have is various... Read more
Published on 20 May 2007 by DJS
On a par with China Mieville!
Fleeing from the Copper Country, a healer and killer arrive at Ashamoil, a tropical city of fighting gangs, death, art and frightening miracles. Read more
Published on 24 May 2006 by H. J. Wafi
Dark Fantasy? Bizzare Fantasy Morelike!
Well, 'Etched City'. Telling the tale of two good friends, Raule, a doctor/healer, and Gwynn, a bounty hunter/criminal, as they escape from their homeland of Copper Country, and... Read more
Published on 3 Mar 2004 by "generalblob"
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