Azoth is a guild rat, something akin to a homeless, street urchin. His life is marked by hopelessness and thievery. Like most of the others in the gui...moreAzoth is a guild rat, something akin to a homeless, street urchin. His life is marked by hopelessness and thievery. Like most of the others in the guild, Azoth lives under the foot of the Rat, guild leader, more of a bully than anything else.
But Azoth has dreams of a life different from the one he lives with his friends, Jarl and Doll-Girl. He wants to lead a life without fear, a life in which he isn’t beaten into submission by the Rat, a life in which he has more than a stale piece of bread to share with the mute Doll-Girl.
It is this dream of a life that makes him yearn to be an apprentice of Durzo Blint. But Blint is no ordinary man. He isn’t an ordinary assassin either. He is a wetboy, an assassin of the highest order. Being his apprentice would certainly mean a future for Azoth, a future he wouldn’t have a shot at being a part of the guild. But it would also means giving up whatever little he has, becoming a hardened criminal, burying his emotions and sentiments forever, but most of all changing his identity and becoming an entirely new person.
As Azoth struggles to become someone else entirely there are many truths, many a magical elements for him to discover but most of all he has to choose between forging a future for himself and forgoing his past.
An interesting start to a series that I’m sure holds more intrigue in the succeeding books. While not entirely full of unexpected twists, it is quite a nice read. The author could have made use of better vocabulary, read wetboy to mean a dangerous assassin, well… that doesn’t quite convey the tone the character is supposed to convey. On the contrary, every time you read the word it makes you giggle just a bit. Well, as a girl, I’m allowed to have that reaction.
Still, despite a couple of hiccups, a recommended read for all those fantasy and series lovers.(less)
In a world torn apart by war, where husbands, sons and fathers march off to the front-line in the service of the nation, sometimes to return wounded and...moreIn a world torn apart by war, where husbands, sons and fathers march off to the front-line in the service of the nation, sometimes to return wounded and sometimes never to return at all, what is a woman to do? That is the central question that David Gillham addresses in his book, City of Women.
Sigrid is just a regular hausfrau, a housewife, whose husband has been called to the front to fight a war that the German broadcasts claim, is almost won. Cooped up in an apartment, with a mother-in-law who constantly bickers and blames Sigrid for just about everything, the only solace Sigrid finds are in the hours spent as a typist at work or when she spends her time at the theatre, not really paying attention to the film being screened but instead having an extra-marital affair, and all the excitement in entails, in the back row of the theatre.
It is on one such day when Sigrid is by herself in the theatre, that a young girl suddenly seats herself beside Sigrid and begs her to say that the she has been with Sigrid in the theatre since the beginning of the show. And when men from the Gestapo walk into the hall, checking identification papers, Sigrid must make a choice… What is she to do?
It is this answer that plummets her into an alternate life that she’ll begin to live, by maintaining the façade of a good hausfrau but really rebelling against all that is ugly in the world. She will learn that none of the relationships are really the way they seem to be; for betrayals are found in the company of the best of friends and lovers while friendship and rescue comes from the most unexpected places. She is after all in a city of women, a place left with little to look forward if you aren’t fighting back.
There were a number of moments that I liked in the book. While it wasn’t wholly unpredictable, given its setting, the narrative is strong and makes the book a fast read. At times I didn’t like Sigrid or Erica, the young girl Sigrid takes to mothering, but given that I like the premise of the story and to see Holocaust from the POV of a German, it made for a 4 star read.
Recommended to those looking for some World War II or Holocaust fiction.(less)
What is left behind for those who survive a horrific disaster? Already they are victims of a terrible tragedy, irrespective of whether they were insid...moreWhat is left behind for those who survive a horrific disaster? Already they are victims of a terrible tragedy, irrespective of whether they were inside or outside the tower. Can they return to normalcy? Or will they have to resign themselves to the empty world that is left in the aftermath of the Falling Man?
I made it through this book but barely. The story set on September 11, the day of WTC attacks, and the days and years after, outlines the effects that the single day had on the lives of people who live with the burden of having survived that day.
A very promising premise but the story falls through like a dead weight. The characters are flat, the storyline fractured; in a span of two pages the author skips from one scene to another and then yet another one. At times I had to struggle to understand which characters the pronouns were referring to.
Keith is the survivor that day, having walked through the rubble and emerging from smoke and ash with a briefcase in his hand. Then follows a short fling with the woman to whom the briefcase belonged. Then there is Lianne, Keith's wife, who struggles to come to terms with the feelings that the day has instilled in her heart. Finally there is Justin, the couple's son, who scans the skies for more planes that may be coming in.
But none of these characters have any traits worth remembering. Their stories are disjointed. Perhaps that was the intention of the author; to convey chaos, confusion, dejection and despair, but such narrative never finds much favor with me and I couldn't wait to put down this book so that I could read something else, anything else.
I have read White Noise by Don DeLillo before, and I remember enjoying the post-modern take on things. But this book was a disappointment. A major disappointment.
Would I recommend it to anyone? No. There are definitely other books vying for your attention. Choose one of them instead.(less)
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