The Cityborn is out! Reviews, interviews, and more…
The Cityborn, my eighth novel for DAW Books (though only the fourth under my own name) officially released on July 4. All of the United States celebrated with fireworks, which was nice.
It’s been getting some nice attention! It made Inverse Entertainment’s list of “7 Essential Science Fiction Books for July 2017” and Barnes & Noble’s list of “The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Books of July 2017.”
Yesterday, the essay I wrote for John Scalzi’s popular blog Whatever went live. John has generously provided a guest spot called “The Big Idea” for many years for authors to promote their new books. The last time I claimed one was for Terra Insegura, but this week I got to do one for The Cityborn. You can read it here. (Although if you subscribe to my newsletter, you saw a version of it last issue.)
Quite a few reviews popping up:
“Willett brings J.G. Ballard’s High-Rise into the distant space age in this dystopian tale of class, power and freedom that will entertain devotees and non-genre fans alike. The worldbuilding in this book is impressive, creating an atmosphere that is both fascinating and oppressive, and characters who are magnificently complex…the ending provides a fascinating study about loyalty and power that grounds this book in our own time as much as the titular city of Willett’s imagination.”
“Willett (the Helix War series) wraps his capable new adult science fiction adventure around the fate of a mysterious many-tiered city and its inhabitants…Willett’s spunky protagonists and colorful world will entertain SF adventure fans.”
“ A novel that doesn’t promise an entire trilogy? Be still our hearts. Edward Willett’s The Cityborn does fill that niche, but it’s a decent read, too…if you’re thirsting for a sci-fi read and don’t want to get tangled up in having to remember plenty of details for more than a single book, The Cityborn should appeal to you.”
“I’ve finally read a dystopian that I’ve enjoyed…I’d definitely recommend The Cityborn , especially for fans of sci-fi looking to branch into dystopian, and for readers like me who are tired of the typical dystopians out there.”
“Dystopian stories are my all time favorite and I couldn’t wait to get into The Cityborn …once things start going, you will be flipping the pages as fast as Alania and Danyl are moving to keep ahead of the Provost. There is a lot happening in this story and it does a great job of building the world we find ourselves in…Overall this is a great dystopian story. It’s my first book from Edward Willett and I hope to read more of his books.”
“This was some crazy shjt. Not that anything is new under the post-apoc/SciFi sun, but the way it was constructed and interleaved with the characters makes it inescapably poignant.”
I expect more reviews in the near future.
Finally, I’ve done some online interviews: for NovelKnight, and for Unbound Worlds. More of those to come, too!
