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Free City
The first Dalkey edition of Eric Darton's novel Free City.
- GenresFiction
176 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 15, 2014
The packaging of this little hardcover book is rather nice...purple cloth cover with an inlet picture of a medieval townscape. So, of course, I purchased it. I'm a sucker for good covers.
As you live, you find yourself among a community of fellows-or so you believe.
This is a first novel, one combining magic and proto-realism. Past and present. The real and the unreal. It's a bit of a mindbender, that's for sure. Politics and the subversion of the creative mind come to the forefront, in a roly-poly fashion.
This is the natural course of things, that we rein in our energies, defer to the agencies of others and, for the sake of the common good, hew to a common course.
I liked the journal style of narration and the take on modern humanity. It's the type of book meant for a programmer sitting in a cubicle in a vast fortress of an office.
Book Season = Winter (incantations)
As you live, you find yourself among a community of fellows-or so you believe.
This is a first novel, one combining magic and proto-realism. Past and present. The real and the unreal. It's a bit of a mindbender, that's for sure. Politics and the subversion of the creative mind come to the forefront, in a roly-poly fashion.
This is the natural course of things, that we rein in our energies, defer to the agencies of others and, for the sake of the common good, hew to a common course.
I liked the journal style of narration and the take on modern humanity. It's the type of book meant for a programmer sitting in a cubicle in a vast fortress of an office.
Book Season = Winter (incantations)
September 25, 2020
Currently re-reading the book. So glad it has been re-issued by Dalkey.
Stylistically and conceptually it is marvel. But when I first read it in the late 1990s it seemed like a fable in the tradition of Calvino. The re-reading unveils behind the see-through curtain of intriguing language and playful plot something very different: shocking anticipation of the current moment, executed daftly.
Stylistically and conceptually it is marvel. But when I first read it in the late 1990s it seemed like a fable in the tradition of Calvino. The re-reading unveils behind the see-through curtain of intriguing language and playful plot something very different: shocking anticipation of the current moment, executed daftly.
September 25, 2020
A political historical fantasy of the first order. A marvel, too strange to believe, too amazing to put down.
I read this slim historical fiction first in the 1990s, on recommendation by a literati I met in a New York café and a second time in 2017 and a third time now. Behind the playful language, imaginative storylines and memorable central characters Lambrecht, Adela, Roberto and Friedrich lurks a warning tale about human hubris, the state of science and politics at the cusp of modernity and the question of what being free really means.
One of the brightest minds of the 17th century, a German doctor and scientist interested in bettering mankind, finds he has become the tool of a charming, ruthless Italian merchant set to become an absolute ruler of this Free City on the baltic sea. Can the doctor, his mistress - a mysterious woman versed in ancient healing crafts acquired in the East - and a sentient duck stop the usurper?
(Two more volumes - a prequel and a sequel - have been promised - telling some of the origin stories of these compelling characters.)
I read this slim historical fiction first in the 1990s, on recommendation by a literati I met in a New York café and a second time in 2017 and a third time now. Behind the playful language, imaginative storylines and memorable central characters Lambrecht, Adela, Roberto and Friedrich lurks a warning tale about human hubris, the state of science and politics at the cusp of modernity and the question of what being free really means.
One of the brightest minds of the 17th century, a German doctor and scientist interested in bettering mankind, finds he has become the tool of a charming, ruthless Italian merchant set to become an absolute ruler of this Free City on the baltic sea. Can the doctor, his mistress - a mysterious woman versed in ancient healing crafts acquired in the East - and a sentient duck stop the usurper?
(Two more volumes - a prequel and a sequel - have been promised - telling some of the origin stories of these compelling characters.)
June 29, 2023
An absolute marvel- an overlooked classic. In epistolary form
over 175 pages, and through the adventures of a disillusioned
academic, a possessed woman, a wisened waterfowl, and an
irritable Italian merchant, profound illuminations of civilization
and freedom emerge. Hilarious, prescient, and uplifting.
over 175 pages, and through the adventures of a disillusioned
academic, a possessed woman, a wisened waterfowl, and an
irritable Italian merchant, profound illuminations of civilization
and freedom emerge. Hilarious, prescient, and uplifting.
November 20, 2022
Renaissance steampunk, I guess? Written in the style of a book translated into the florid English of about 200 years ago, it's the story of an inventor who realizes, too late, that his main sponsor and friend is in fact an odious, power-hungry, budding dictator. Brief and very entertaining.
February 23, 2021
Re-read this one, this time all the way through. The language takes some getting used to and is a little much at times, but I liked it better the second time around. It feels like an intriguing experiment, it was fun while it lasted, but it was no great masterpiece. It's more of an eccentric oddity that you are charmed to have found by chance and enjoy discovering what it's about as you read it.
Old Review:
Found this one by chance at Bookmans. Started to read it and was intrigued, but lost interest eventually. It was hard to follow, and a lot of that had to do with the weirdness of the plot.
If you’re going to write a book with talking ducks, geriatric sex, astral visions and Enlightenment politics, you probably shouldn’t do it in journal form. I could not picture this world, because I wasn’t given enough information to go on from the first person diary entries.
It’s frustrating because I was impressed with the style and creativity that went into this. The cover is very nice and it has that mysterious charm that catches your eye and intrigues you. But when you actually try to read it, the experience doesn’t live up to the hype. (Which I built for it on my own, admittedly.)
Old Review:
Found this one by chance at Bookmans. Started to read it and was intrigued, but lost interest eventually. It was hard to follow, and a lot of that had to do with the weirdness of the plot.
If you’re going to write a book with talking ducks, geriatric sex, astral visions and Enlightenment politics, you probably shouldn’t do it in journal form. I could not picture this world, because I wasn’t given enough information to go on from the first person diary entries.
It’s frustrating because I was impressed with the style and creativity that went into this. The cover is very nice and it has that mysterious charm that catches your eye and intrigues you. But when you actually try to read it, the experience doesn’t live up to the hype. (Which I built for it on my own, admittedly.)
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews