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City of a Hundred Rows #1
City of Dreams & Nightmare
THEY CALL IT "THE CITY OF A HUNDRED ROWS". City of Dreams & Nightmare is the first in a series of novels set in one of the most extraordinary fantasy settings since Gormenghast - the ancient vertical city of Thaiburley. From its towering palatial heights to the dregs who dwell in The City Below, this is a vast, multi-tiered metropolis, and demons are said to dwell in the Upper Heights...Having witnessed a murder in a part of the city he should never have been in, street thief Tom has to run for his life. Down through the vast city he is pursued by sky-borne assassins, sinister Kite Guards, and agents of a darker force intent on destabilising the whole city. Accused of the crime, he must use all of his knowledge of this ancient city to flee a certain death; his only ally is Kat, a renegade like him, but she has secrets of her own...File Fantasy [ Towering City | Ancient Secrets | Murder Most Foul | Kite Guard! ]
432 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 4, 2010
19 people are currently reading
1186 people want to read
About the author
Ian Whates
122 books81 followersIan Whates lives in a comfortable home down a quiet cul-de-sac in an idyllic Cambridgeshire village, which he shares with his partner Helen and their pets – Honey the golden cocker spaniel, Calvin the tailless black cat and Inky the goldfish (sadly, Binky died a few years ago).
Ian’s earliest memories of science fiction are fragmented. He remembers loving Dr Who from an early age and other TV shows such as Lost in Space and Star Trek, but a defining moment came when he heard a radio adaptation of John Wyndham’s The Chrysalids. From that moment on he was hooked and became a frequent haunter of the local library, voraciously devouring the contents of their SF section.
This early love of science fiction manifested most tellingly during his school days, when he produced an SF murder mystery as homework after being set the essay title “The Language of Shakespeare”, much to the bemusement of his English teacher.
Ian’s first published stories appeared in the late 1980s in small press magazines such as Dream and New Moon Quarterly, after which he took a break from writing in order to research his chosen fields of science fiction and fantasy. In other words, he read copious amounts of both. Clearly the research was extensive, because he published nothing further for some seventeen years. In the early 2000s he made the decision to pursue writing seriously, joining the Northampton SF Writers Group in 2004 after being introduced to its chairman, Ian Watson.
In 2006 he started submitting stories again, and has subsequently been surprised at how many otherwise eminently sensible people have chosen to publish him. A couple have even appeared in the science journal Nature, and one, “The Gift of Joy”, even found its way onto the five-strong shortlist for best short story in the British Science Fiction Association Awards. And it didn’t come last! Ironically, the award was actually won by Ken MacLeod’s “Lighting Out”, a piece Ian had commissioned, edited and published in the NewCon Press anthology disLOCATIONS (2007).
In 2006 Ian launched independent publisher NewCon Press, quite by accident (buy him a pint sometime and he’ll tell you about it). Through NewCon he has been privileged to publish original stories from some of the biggest names in genre fiction, as well as provide debuts to some genuinely talented newcomers. The books, their covers and contents have racked up an impressive array of credits – four BSFA Awards, one BSF Award to date, inclusion in ‘Year’s Best’ anthologies and recommendations and honourable mentions from the likes of Gardner Dozios and Locus magazine.
In addition to his publishing and writing, Ian is currently a director of both the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA) and the British Science Fiction Association (BSFA), editing Matrix, the online news and media reviews magazine, for the latter.
His first two completed novels are both due to appear in early 2010: City of Dreams and Nightmare via Harper Collins’ imprint Angry Robot, and The Noise Within from Rebellion imprint Solaris, with sequels to follow. When not pinching himself to make sure this is all really happening, Ian is currently beavering away at the sequels… honest!
Ian’s earliest memories of science fiction are fragmented. He remembers loving Dr Who from an early age and other TV shows such as Lost in Space and Star Trek, but a defining moment came when he heard a radio adaptation of John Wyndham’s The Chrysalids. From that moment on he was hooked and became a frequent haunter of the local library, voraciously devouring the contents of their SF section.
This early love of science fiction manifested most tellingly during his school days, when he produced an SF murder mystery as homework after being set the essay title “The Language of Shakespeare”, much to the bemusement of his English teacher.
Ian’s first published stories appeared in the late 1980s in small press magazines such as Dream and New Moon Quarterly, after which he took a break from writing in order to research his chosen fields of science fiction and fantasy. In other words, he read copious amounts of both. Clearly the research was extensive, because he published nothing further for some seventeen years. In the early 2000s he made the decision to pursue writing seriously, joining the Northampton SF Writers Group in 2004 after being introduced to its chairman, Ian Watson.
In 2006 he started submitting stories again, and has subsequently been surprised at how many otherwise eminently sensible people have chosen to publish him. A couple have even appeared in the science journal Nature, and one, “The Gift of Joy”, even found its way onto the five-strong shortlist for best short story in the British Science Fiction Association Awards. And it didn’t come last! Ironically, the award was actually won by Ken MacLeod’s “Lighting Out”, a piece Ian had commissioned, edited and published in the NewCon Press anthology disLOCATIONS (2007).
In 2006 Ian launched independent publisher NewCon Press, quite by accident (buy him a pint sometime and he’ll tell you about it). Through NewCon he has been privileged to publish original stories from some of the biggest names in genre fiction, as well as provide debuts to some genuinely talented newcomers. The books, their covers and contents have racked up an impressive array of credits – four BSFA Awards, one BSF Award to date, inclusion in ‘Year’s Best’ anthologies and recommendations and honourable mentions from the likes of Gardner Dozios and Locus magazine.
In addition to his publishing and writing, Ian is currently a director of both the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA) and the British Science Fiction Association (BSFA), editing Matrix, the online news and media reviews magazine, for the latter.
His first two completed novels are both due to appear in early 2010: City of Dreams and Nightmare via Harper Collins’ imprint Angry Robot, and The Noise Within from Rebellion imprint Solaris, with sequels to follow. When not pinching himself to make sure this is all really happening, Ian is currently beavering away at the sequels… honest!
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March 30, 2012
Culture is a conversation. So intertextuality is an important part of literature, because literature is one of the vehicles of that conversation. What we think of books and stories is influenced by what we’ve previously read. Similarly, authors are influenced by what they read, and the books that sell give rise to trends in the types of fiction (and even non-fiction) that make it to the shelves. Sometimes I find myself reading a book and comparing it, no matter how hard I try, to another book, even if the similarities are few and far between. The connection, once established, is very difficult to sever.
City of Dreams & Nightmare has this overt atmosphere of fantasy to it. There’s magic and spells and demons … but there’s technology that might or might not be arcane, like the kite cape and sunglobes. Ian Whates mixes his magic with a sort of pre-Industrial urban metropolis in a style heavily reminiscient of China Miéville and Perdido Street Station . There’s a subtle but persistent steampunk vibe running throughout this book. It even includes two characters, the dogmaker and the more sinister Maker, who manipulate flesh and machine in a manner that reminds me of Miéville’s Remade. Unfortunately, this comparison does Whates no favours. While Whates is a competent writer with good ideas, City of Dreams & Nightmares never quite crystallizes into the story it wants to be.
It doesn’t help that my ebook edition doesn’t have the section breaks clearly marked. All it does is not indent the first paragraph of the new section—a distinction that is not easy on the eyes. Furthermore, the two major protagonists both have names that begin with T—Tylus and Tom! This is hardly a huge problem, and the formatting issue is far from Whates’ fault. But it’s a small annoyance that made reading the book slightly more difficult.
As far as the story goes, Whates sets up a great plot with some very cool characters. Tylus and Tom are both all right. Tylus is a newly-minted Kite Guard, a member of an elite squad of police that can unfurl capes and swoop through the multi-tiered city of Thaiburley. Although his parents are pleased with his vocation, Tylus feels unprepared and undeserving of his status. When he witnesses a murder and fails to apprehend the culprit, Tylus jumps at the chance to be assigned to the case, even though it means going down the City Below, Thaiburley’s lowest, meanest row.
What Tylus doesn’t know is that the supposed culprit, a street-nick (thief) named Tom, has been set up by a scheming arkademic. Nothing more than a dupe, Tom was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He returns to the City Below but winds up far from the home territory of his gang. With the help of a young woman named Kat, who fought in the Pits as a child, Tom makes it home only to discover the streets engulfed in chaos created by the Maker.
So even as Tom is framed for murder and Tylus tries to track him down, we have two additional plots: Tom trying to make it home, and the Maker’s sinister plans for the street nicks in the City Below. Whates wastes no time setting these plots in motion and keeping them going … and therein lies the problem. For Whates has created an intriguing setting and interesting plots, but he plays them too close to his chest, allowing neither reader nor characters to become invested in the stakes or the outcomes.
So we get scenes where two characters will discuss Tom and his abilities in a way that clearly telegraphs they know more than he does (or we do). These characters are, if not precisely manipulating events behind the scenes, playing a larger game that we don’t get to see. But it’s all done in the vaguest of language, and that’s what makes it so intolerable. It’s a problem that plagues books with the farm-boy-style hero who has to answer the Call: inevitably you end up with characters who know more about the hero’s potential than he or she does, and if you aren’t careful, the end up talking in clichés.
I could overlook those scenes as merely clumsy. Unfortunately, even though there is plenty of conflict and excellent action sequences in City of Dreams & Nightmare, the resolution leaves me with the feeling that Tom was never in any real danger at all. Even as other characters go off to face the very real possibility of death (or at least some fun dismemberment), Tom gets whisked away at the eleventh hour so that another character can explain how he can save the day with his powers, and how this has all been part of a larger plan all along. Imagine Lord of the Rings if Gandalf showed up at Mount Doom and said, “Don’t worry, Frodo; I got this,” before nonchalantly tossing the One Ring into its fires. Imagine if Luke made it to the flagship only to find Yoda already engaged in a duel with Darth Vader. In City of Dreams & Nightmare, Tom doesn’t save the day; the wise people who work the angles behind the scenes save the day. And with that one decision, a story that could have been excellent instead becomes mundane and boring.
I have to admit that the setting is pretty cool. I liked the explanation Whates provides for why Tom has these abilities; if this were straight-up science fiction, Tom would essentially be a kind of inadvertent hacker. As it is, I will read the next book in this series because (a) I already bought it and (b) it could definitely still improve. I’m not going to write this series off, because Whates clearly has the imagination and the skill to write good books. With City of Dreams & Nightmare though, some of the important details got muddled along the way. The result is a book that’s promising but, in the end, somewhat let me down.
City of Dreams & Nightmare has this overt atmosphere of fantasy to it. There’s magic and spells and demons … but there’s technology that might or might not be arcane, like the kite cape and sunglobes. Ian Whates mixes his magic with a sort of pre-Industrial urban metropolis in a style heavily reminiscient of China Miéville and Perdido Street Station . There’s a subtle but persistent steampunk vibe running throughout this book. It even includes two characters, the dogmaker and the more sinister Maker, who manipulate flesh and machine in a manner that reminds me of Miéville’s Remade. Unfortunately, this comparison does Whates no favours. While Whates is a competent writer with good ideas, City of Dreams & Nightmares never quite crystallizes into the story it wants to be.
It doesn’t help that my ebook edition doesn’t have the section breaks clearly marked. All it does is not indent the first paragraph of the new section—a distinction that is not easy on the eyes. Furthermore, the two major protagonists both have names that begin with T—Tylus and Tom! This is hardly a huge problem, and the formatting issue is far from Whates’ fault. But it’s a small annoyance that made reading the book slightly more difficult.
As far as the story goes, Whates sets up a great plot with some very cool characters. Tylus and Tom are both all right. Tylus is a newly-minted Kite Guard, a member of an elite squad of police that can unfurl capes and swoop through the multi-tiered city of Thaiburley. Although his parents are pleased with his vocation, Tylus feels unprepared and undeserving of his status. When he witnesses a murder and fails to apprehend the culprit, Tylus jumps at the chance to be assigned to the case, even though it means going down the City Below, Thaiburley’s lowest, meanest row.
What Tylus doesn’t know is that the supposed culprit, a street-nick (thief) named Tom, has been set up by a scheming arkademic. Nothing more than a dupe, Tom was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He returns to the City Below but winds up far from the home territory of his gang. With the help of a young woman named Kat, who fought in the Pits as a child, Tom makes it home only to discover the streets engulfed in chaos created by the Maker.
So even as Tom is framed for murder and Tylus tries to track him down, we have two additional plots: Tom trying to make it home, and the Maker’s sinister plans for the street nicks in the City Below. Whates wastes no time setting these plots in motion and keeping them going … and therein lies the problem. For Whates has created an intriguing setting and interesting plots, but he plays them too close to his chest, allowing neither reader nor characters to become invested in the stakes or the outcomes.
So we get scenes where two characters will discuss Tom and his abilities in a way that clearly telegraphs they know more than he does (or we do). These characters are, if not precisely manipulating events behind the scenes, playing a larger game that we don’t get to see. But it’s all done in the vaguest of language, and that’s what makes it so intolerable. It’s a problem that plagues books with the farm-boy-style hero who has to answer the Call: inevitably you end up with characters who know more about the hero’s potential than he or she does, and if you aren’t careful, the end up talking in clichés.
I could overlook those scenes as merely clumsy. Unfortunately, even though there is plenty of conflict and excellent action sequences in City of Dreams & Nightmare, the resolution leaves me with the feeling that Tom was never in any real danger at all. Even as other characters go off to face the very real possibility of death (or at least some fun dismemberment), Tom gets whisked away at the eleventh hour so that another character can explain how he can save the day with his powers, and how this has all been part of a larger plan all along. Imagine Lord of the Rings if Gandalf showed up at Mount Doom and said, “Don’t worry, Frodo; I got this,” before nonchalantly tossing the One Ring into its fires. Imagine if Luke made it to the flagship only to find Yoda already engaged in a duel with Darth Vader. In City of Dreams & Nightmare, Tom doesn’t save the day; the wise people who work the angles behind the scenes save the day. And with that one decision, a story that could have been excellent instead becomes mundane and boring.
I have to admit that the setting is pretty cool. I liked the explanation Whates provides for why Tom has these abilities; if this were straight-up science fiction, Tom would essentially be a kind of inadvertent hacker. As it is, I will read the next book in this series because (a) I already bought it and (b) it could definitely still improve. I’m not going to write this series off, because Whates clearly has the imagination and the skill to write good books. With City of Dreams & Nightmare though, some of the important details got muddled along the way. The result is a book that’s promising but, in the end, somewhat let me down.
August 5, 2010
This was an excellent book, it seemed like a unique blend of magic and technology, urban fantasy and more traditional fantasy, and the more I think about this book, the more I like it.
It is the first book of a series set in the city Thaiburley, which is a vast city built into a mountain and made up of one hundred rows. Tom, our young hero, is a street-nick in the lowest part of the city, accidently witnesses a murder that keeps him on the run in the lower City, with the aid of Kat, a renegade street-nick with secrets of her own. However, there is something lurking in Thaiburley that is also stalking Tom...
What I liked most about this book was the city itself as you explore it through various characters eyes; it comes to life and almost has a character of its own. The mechanics of the city and how everything fits together is also well thought out and I really liked the idea of the Kite Guard, a set of guards who use air currents to manoeuvre up and down the rows and through the city. The emerging picture of Thaiburley in all its complexity is a very good piece of imagination and I can’t wait to read more.
In regards of the protagonists in this story, namely Tom and Kat, they seem to be standard fantasy fare, with Tom being the young boy coming into his powers. However, although he may not have been the most exciting person, but he was a solid character in which to explore the surroundings and have the story centred on. The story in that regard was also quite slow moving, with quite a few different perspectives, until the last quarter of the book and then having everything revealed all at once. However, this didn’t detract from my enjoyment as I think this book seemed to be setting up the environment and giving you glimpses of the enemy behind the scenes.
I very much enjoyed this book, it is definitely a good beginning, and the city of Thaiburley and its denizens have got me eagerly anticipating the next book in this series.
It is the first book of a series set in the city Thaiburley, which is a vast city built into a mountain and made up of one hundred rows. Tom, our young hero, is a street-nick in the lowest part of the city, accidently witnesses a murder that keeps him on the run in the lower City, with the aid of Kat, a renegade street-nick with secrets of her own. However, there is something lurking in Thaiburley that is also stalking Tom...
What I liked most about this book was the city itself as you explore it through various characters eyes; it comes to life and almost has a character of its own. The mechanics of the city and how everything fits together is also well thought out and I really liked the idea of the Kite Guard, a set of guards who use air currents to manoeuvre up and down the rows and through the city. The emerging picture of Thaiburley in all its complexity is a very good piece of imagination and I can’t wait to read more.
In regards of the protagonists in this story, namely Tom and Kat, they seem to be standard fantasy fare, with Tom being the young boy coming into his powers. However, although he may not have been the most exciting person, but he was a solid character in which to explore the surroundings and have the story centred on. The story in that regard was also quite slow moving, with quite a few different perspectives, until the last quarter of the book and then having everything revealed all at once. However, this didn’t detract from my enjoyment as I think this book seemed to be setting up the environment and giving you glimpses of the enemy behind the scenes.
I very much enjoyed this book, it is definitely a good beginning, and the city of Thaiburley and its denizens have got me eagerly anticipating the next book in this series.
September 25, 2012
City of Dreams & Nightmare is a bit patchy, but overall I had fun reading it. It reminded me of half a dozen other stories -- Stephen Hunt, with a touch of Miéville and all those fantasy stories where an unremarkable street-girl/street-boy becomes oh so terribly important. There were a lot of ideas, and I was fascinated, but around three-quarters of the way through it wears thin: suddenly we find out that everything has been orchestrated by someone, that the danger was never really that bad.
The overall effect is that things seem to be over almost as soon as they really began to move toward a climax, and then the last few chapters feel awkward. Obviously they're setting up the rest of the series, and some of it is really effective -- the scene in the Pits at the end, for example -- but some of it just feels rushed.
I'm interested enough to read the other books at some point, though not to buy them if they're not in the library.
The overall effect is that things seem to be over almost as soon as they really began to move toward a climax, and then the last few chapters feel awkward. Obviously they're setting up the rest of the series, and some of it is really effective -- the scene in the Pits at the end, for example -- but some of it just feels rushed.
I'm interested enough to read the other books at some point, though not to buy them if they're not in the library.
February 9, 2012
Only having read a short story by this author before, although several anthologies that he had edited, I was looking forward to reading a full novel by him. I wasn't really sure what to expect, least of which was I thought this was going to be SF but instead turned out to be some kind of urban fantasy thriller.
The narrative started simply, the action kicked in right away and the story gradually grew in complexity as more characters were introduced, more layers of intrigue revealed.
In some ways, I couldn't help but draw parallels between this and Perdido Street Station, being another fantasy story set entirely within a single sprawling city with many dark and sinister corners hidden away. Physically though, this city is very different. A city of one hundred rows (or levels to be precise) and a similarly stratified society with the lower classes living near the bottom, the aristocrats living nearer the top. At the very bottom is the under city, a sprawling slum dominated by various gangs of "street-nicks" and awash with corruption. This is where most of the action takes place, at least in this volume. There is definitely a lot more about the real nature of the city that has been only hinted at here but we expect to learn more about in later volumes.
What let this story down for me slightly were a number of things that I just didn't find particular convincing. Knowledge just seemed to percolate far to quickly, the time period over which the under city degenerated too short. At the end, everything was just wrapped up a little too neatly, all the loose ends neatly tied up. The rogues were all too easily out maneuvered in the end that I couldn't help feeling that this was aimed at a young adult audience more than an adult.
Still, this was a good read, easy to get into and entertaining to the end. Ian has an easy and engaging writing style who doesn't get lost in needless exposition and over long descriptions. A good book but I'm just not quite sure I'm in the target audience.
The narrative started simply, the action kicked in right away and the story gradually grew in complexity as more characters were introduced, more layers of intrigue revealed.
In some ways, I couldn't help but draw parallels between this and Perdido Street Station, being another fantasy story set entirely within a single sprawling city with many dark and sinister corners hidden away. Physically though, this city is very different. A city of one hundred rows (or levels to be precise) and a similarly stratified society with the lower classes living near the bottom, the aristocrats living nearer the top. At the very bottom is the under city, a sprawling slum dominated by various gangs of "street-nicks" and awash with corruption. This is where most of the action takes place, at least in this volume. There is definitely a lot more about the real nature of the city that has been only hinted at here but we expect to learn more about in later volumes.
What let this story down for me slightly were a number of things that I just didn't find particular convincing. Knowledge just seemed to percolate far to quickly, the time period over which the under city degenerated too short. At the end, everything was just wrapped up a little too neatly, all the loose ends neatly tied up. The rogues were all too easily out maneuvered in the end that I couldn't help feeling that this was aimed at a young adult audience more than an adult.
Still, this was a good read, easy to get into and entertaining to the end. Ian has an easy and engaging writing style who doesn't get lost in needless exposition and over long descriptions. A good book but I'm just not quite sure I'm in the target audience.
July 23, 2014
Very entertaining adventure set in the immense City of Thaiburley and featuring all that's expected from such and more, including aliens, strange weapons and devices, magical powers, blade fights, intrigue, assassins, various villains with diverse agendas, corrupt police....
Like The Bookman (another Angry Robot debut that I enjoyed a lot and with which this one resembles in approach while quite different in theme) threw everything steampunk in, City of Dreams and Nightmares throws everything "enclosed world" in and it worked beautifully
While the main threads of the novel are solved so it can be read as a standalone, the announced sequel City of Hope and Despair will continue the tale of Thaiburley and its denizens
A very solid A and a fun, page turning sff adventure that will enchant all fans of such
Like The Bookman (another Angry Robot debut that I enjoyed a lot and with which this one resembles in approach while quite different in theme) threw everything steampunk in, City of Dreams and Nightmares throws everything "enclosed world" in and it worked beautifully
While the main threads of the novel are solved so it can be read as a standalone, the announced sequel City of Hope and Despair will continue the tale of Thaiburley and its denizens
A very solid A and a fun, page turning sff adventure that will enchant all fans of such
January 20, 2011
This story is the first of a new series called A City of One Hundred Rows. Thaiburley is an immense city filled with strange creatures, rival gangs of thieves, and a class structure that has the elites living in the higher reaches of the city. Tom, a lowly street-nick witnesses a murder while snooping about in the upper levels. Tylus is a new member of the Kite Guard, an airborne police force. And Kat is mysterious young woman who gets thrown together with Tom as he eludes various pursuers.
I read this through to the end but it was slow going in places. Had a hard time buying the Kite Guard aerobatics. And the characters could have been more fleshed out. Kat was the most interesting one. I also wonder at the wisdom of having so many characters names beginning with T (Tom, Tylus, Ty-Gen, and Thomas -- all different characters). For the most part the suspense just wasn't there.
I read this through to the end but it was slow going in places. Had a hard time buying the Kite Guard aerobatics. And the characters could have been more fleshed out. Kat was the most interesting one. I also wonder at the wisdom of having so many characters names beginning with T (Tom, Tylus, Ty-Gen, and Thomas -- all different characters). For the most part the suspense just wasn't there.
March 5, 2011
...City of Dreams & Nightmare is mostly a quick, fun read. It is not particularly a challenging read and in terms of worldbuilding, I feel Whates leaves a lot of aspects of the city and the world surrounding it a bit underdeveloped. He doesn't quite fulfil the potential his creation offers. That being said, there will be more books in this series and obviously there has to be something left to explore. Tom and Kat's flight through the City Below, trying to keep a step ahead of the nameless players that would see them killed is a thrilling experience. One that has convinced me to see if Whates can put a bit more meat on the bones of his story in the next volume.
Full Random Comments review
Full Random Comments review
June 29, 2021
TW:
It was decent enough, but I expected a bit more. The mystery was good, but a bit repetetive at times.
What really bothered me was the age of the characters. How old are they?
Tom is constantly referred to as "boy" or "kid", and is described at small. I get the impression he's somewhere from 12 to 14, but I also think he's supposed to be older. Sometimes he thinks like an almost adult, but then acts like a younger teen again.
I don't remember getting an age for either him, or Kat, Lyle or Jezmina, so that makes it really hard for me to pin it down. Now, there's the problem with that? Several, actually.
1) He loves Jezmina. Or is that just a child's crush, yet to develop into more? How old is Jezmina? Way older, which would make it a bit weird? Or about his age, which would make it even weirder, but for Jezmina.
2) Jezmina has a somewhat leading role in the gang. So, are the gangs lead by teens? There's no way that would work. They wouldn't be able to pull it off all the time, and no way every adult would be bullied into following their rules. The entire City Below dominated by kids and teens? Very unrealistic. So, is Jezmina a young adult at the very least? Or is she younger like Tom?
3) Jezmina is implied to be in a sexual relationship with Lyle, the leader of Tom's gang. She's also trying to flirt with and seduce every male she comes across. So either all of them are potential pedophiles, or yet again Tom is attracted to an older, adult woman (and someone should tell him there is very little chance that will work out).
All that bothered me a lot, simply because it was never clearly stated, but could've been so easily resolved.
Or is Tom's age intentionally never mentioned, to make him a self-insert character? That is just lazy.
Also, there are two weird sexual things.
It was decent enough, but I expected a bit more. The mystery was good, but a bit repetetive at times.
What really bothered me was the age of the characters. How old are they?
Tom is constantly referred to as "boy" or "kid", and is described at small. I get the impression he's somewhere from 12 to 14, but I also think he's supposed to be older. Sometimes he thinks like an almost adult, but then acts like a younger teen again.
I don't remember getting an age for either him, or Kat, Lyle or Jezmina, so that makes it really hard for me to pin it down. Now, there's the problem with that? Several, actually.
1) He loves Jezmina. Or is that just a child's crush, yet to develop into more? How old is Jezmina? Way older, which would make it a bit weird? Or about his age, which would make it even weirder, but for Jezmina.
2) Jezmina has a somewhat leading role in the gang. So, are the gangs lead by teens? There's no way that would work. They wouldn't be able to pull it off all the time, and no way every adult would be bullied into following their rules. The entire City Below dominated by kids and teens? Very unrealistic. So, is Jezmina a young adult at the very least? Or is she younger like Tom?
3) Jezmina is implied to be in a sexual relationship with Lyle, the leader of Tom's gang. She's also trying to flirt with and seduce every male she comes across. So either all of them are potential pedophiles, or yet again Tom is attracted to an older, adult woman (and someone should tell him there is very little chance that will work out).
All that bothered me a lot, simply because it was never clearly stated, but could've been so easily resolved.
Or is Tom's age intentionally never mentioned, to make him a self-insert character? That is just lazy.
Also, there are two weird sexual things.
April 16, 2023
This is Ian Whates' first novel, which I have come to rather late, already knowing his work from subsequent publications. He is a consummate storyteller, and this book does not disappoint. A real page-turner from start to finish, the characterisations, world-building, and plotline are impressive, and sweep you along at a cracking pace. This is in some senses classic fantasy fare, but with some masterful pieces of innovation along the way which elevate it well above the norm. I shall certainly be reading the other two books in the series!
February 19, 2014
Giving up at page 106 (so a quarter of the way through) because bored. I'm not attached to any of the characters: Tom the street brat is rootless and relatively generic; Tylus the kite guard is suffering from rich white boy ennui (oh, but, did he really want to have one of the most privileged and respected positions in the city?) and could do with a smack in the face; Magnus the villain is terribly cliche, and while I did think for a little bit that I might like his risen-from-nothing assassin underling, that was before said underling decided that in addition to information, his prostitute contact would also freely provide him with sex. (Ugh, fuck off.) When I put the book down, we have just met Kat, the only girl in the city apparently, but she's not got a lot of fascinating about her, and certainly not enough to keep me in it.
I hoped, from the title, that the concept of dreaming would weigh more on the story. That there would be uncertainty about whether you were awake or asleep. But it seems to just be a metaphor. (Maybe I didn't give it long enough to develop. There are certainly ~Mysteries~ around the city; maybe one of them plugs into that concept, given more time.)
But the real kicker, for me, was a prose style that just didn't engage me with the characters. For me, the best example and worst offending paragraph is one where Tom has just been offered a helping hand by a non-human creature:
Nothing book-throwingly wrong about this, but my to-read list is too long to spend time finishing it when I'm so very uninterested.
I hoped, from the title, that the concept of dreaming would weigh more on the story. That there would be uncertainty about whether you were awake or asleep. But it seems to just be a metaphor. (Maybe I didn't give it long enough to develop. There are certainly ~Mysteries~ around the city; maybe one of them plugs into that concept, given more time.)
But the real kicker, for me, was a prose style that just didn't engage me with the characters. For me, the best example and worst offending paragraph is one where Tom has just been offered a helping hand by a non-human creature:
Tom stared at the hand, uncertain. Some instinct was telling him to trust this strange, talking flathead, yet he couldn't think of a logical reason why he should. After the briefest hesitation, he gripped the proffered hand...Well, if that isn't the most boring moment of story-turning indecision I've ever read, it's because the others were so boring I've wiped them from my memory. Some instinct is a lazy, aggravating motivator, and this could have been so much more interestingly delivered. Tom's been raised to be wary and fearful of these creatures. But this one has been calm and friendly and far more open and honest than anyone, human or otherwise, Tom has ever met. But no one does anything for free down in the depths of the city. But this might be his only chance to survive the forces that are after him.
Nothing book-throwingly wrong about this, but my to-read list is too long to spend time finishing it when I'm so very uninterested.
August 18, 2011
Pros: slow paced, intricate plot, disparate stories draw together into tight conclusion, mystery, enough action to retain interest, nifty characters and history, well told
Cons: hard to picture (purposely sparse details)
Tom, a street-nick from the City Below has illegally climbed to the heights of the City of a Hundred Rows, Thaiburley. There, he witnesses a murder and evades the capture of Kite Guard Tylus.
Tasked with finding the boy, Tylus heads to the lowest level, where trouble is brewing among the street-nicks. Meanwhile, Tom, trying to return to his home turf, is hunted by numerous things.
The city is intricately designed, from each Row having a separate purpose (one for merchants, one for bakers, etc.), to the limited technology employed by the inhabitants and the alien 'flatheads' (aka: Jeradine) and the caste systems (councillors, Arkademics, swarbs, merchants, street-nicks) and the posturing among the Kite and regular Guards.
Despite the complexity of the city and its players there's no real info dumping. Characters comment on and think about their world in wholly natural ways.
The story unfolds slowly with a mix of action and exploration - as Tylus goes to the City Below for the first time and as Tom travels down the levels and through territory he's never been to before on his own level.
The characters are interesting and complex, drawing you along during those rare quiet moments. And when things with the street-nicks begin to get interesting, all the plot lines tie up well - with a few left open for the sequel.
My only complaint - and I use the word loosely - is that, because you only get descriptions via the characters, it's hard to get an overall picture of Thaiburley. It's huge and carved out of a mountain and I suspect the author left parts of it to the reader's imagination in order to emphasize its strangeness and size.
Cons: hard to picture (purposely sparse details)
Tom, a street-nick from the City Below has illegally climbed to the heights of the City of a Hundred Rows, Thaiburley. There, he witnesses a murder and evades the capture of Kite Guard Tylus.
Tasked with finding the boy, Tylus heads to the lowest level, where trouble is brewing among the street-nicks. Meanwhile, Tom, trying to return to his home turf, is hunted by numerous things.
The city is intricately designed, from each Row having a separate purpose (one for merchants, one for bakers, etc.), to the limited technology employed by the inhabitants and the alien 'flatheads' (aka: Jeradine) and the caste systems (councillors, Arkademics, swarbs, merchants, street-nicks) and the posturing among the Kite and regular Guards.
Despite the complexity of the city and its players there's no real info dumping. Characters comment on and think about their world in wholly natural ways.
The story unfolds slowly with a mix of action and exploration - as Tylus goes to the City Below for the first time and as Tom travels down the levels and through territory he's never been to before on his own level.
The characters are interesting and complex, drawing you along during those rare quiet moments. And when things with the street-nicks begin to get interesting, all the plot lines tie up well - with a few left open for the sequel.
My only complaint - and I use the word loosely - is that, because you only get descriptions via the characters, it's hard to get an overall picture of Thaiburley. It's huge and carved out of a mountain and I suspect the author left parts of it to the reader's imagination in order to emphasize its strangeness and size.
April 27, 2010
Whates crammed a lot of information, characters and sub plots into a story about a boy who witnesses a murder. Albeit, this is no ordinary boy and ultimately, the story isn't only about a murder. But you need patience to see that underlying story. At times I felt like there was too much going on and not enough character development. When answers were given they weren't fulfilling enough, as if only half-answers were provided. But with that said, the world he created is a masterpiece. I'm still trying to get my head around the enormity of the city of Thaiburley. Its design is like nothing I've imagined before and I have a feeling there is still a lot left to discover about its origins and citizens--one reason I am eager for the sequel!
The journey Tom and Kat take through the belly of the city was a great way to experience the vastness of just this one level of Thaiburley. I also enjoyed the irony of the Kite Guard and Assassin teaming up in their search for Tom. There is a lot to love about City of Dreams & Nightmare. See? Even as I write this I'm realizing that despite my questions, I truly enjoyed this book. It is not a roller coaster of action type read. This is the sort of complex, world-building Fantasy readers dream of finding.
The journey Tom and Kat take through the belly of the city was a great way to experience the vastness of just this one level of Thaiburley. I also enjoyed the irony of the Kite Guard and Assassin teaming up in their search for Tom. There is a lot to love about City of Dreams & Nightmare. See? Even as I write this I'm realizing that despite my questions, I truly enjoyed this book. It is not a roller coaster of action type read. This is the sort of complex, world-building Fantasy readers dream of finding.
November 6, 2014
Thaiburley is the famous City of a Hundred Rows. (Which I still can't quite visualize, but basically, the entire city is an agglomeration of buildings, the whole thing a hundred stories (rows) tall; possibly a hollowed out mountain?) Not unexpectedly, the high levels are home to the rich & powerful, and the not-so-rich and not-so-powerful dwell down in the depths; the feel isn't quite steampunk (not much in the way of mechanisms) but is distinctly Dickensian.
Our tale begins with Tom, a street-nick from the bottom, who's been sent up topside to acquire nice things. Instead, he sees a murder and finds himself pursued back into the city's underbelly; along the way he'll acquire an assortment of allies and enemies including (but not limited to) the girl Kat (handy with a blade, that one) and a lizard man. In parallel, we follow the tales of a couple of his pursuers, the Kite Guard Tylus and the assassin Dewar; and gradually (or not so gradually) we begin to realize that there are hands in the shadows, larger forces in play, and political machinations aplenty.
Our tale begins with Tom, a street-nick from the bottom, who's been sent up topside to acquire nice things. Instead, he sees a murder and finds himself pursued back into the city's underbelly; along the way he'll acquire an assortment of allies and enemies including (but not limited to) the girl Kat (handy with a blade, that one) and a lizard man. In parallel, we follow the tales of a couple of his pursuers, the Kite Guard Tylus and the assassin Dewar; and gradually (or not so gradually) we begin to realize that there are hands in the shadows, larger forces in play, and political machinations aplenty.
February 13, 2020
I am listening to the 100 rows trilogy after my borrow box library app locked up and wouldn't play OR shut down and start again. [i forgot how to force quit it]
This seems very cliched - magic poor boy comes to the attention of evil rich wizard and he has an evil factotum who used to be an assassin for hire and is now his manservant - and I am finding it hard to have any sympathy for the rich privileged police dude who isn't sure he wants to be a policeman and who is the willing jape of the Margus - lot of world building is vague too - they have escalators?
I am getting stuck on how dumb the hero is…
Too many T names: Tom (hero), Thomas (murder victim), Tylus (kite guard), Thaiburley (city), Tygon (the fish man), and the goddess and her brother were also T names - I forget now.
And how does this city work?
If it is a tower with 100 levels of the same size, then each level would have a roof and a floor - so why would you build houses inside those?
And how did he climb up the outside? If there is no continuous link between each level?
And how does the light, air etc get towards the centre? It’d be dark. And they have sensors and ‘computer’ screens but it’s also medieval esque.
Or is it a tower of Babel painting like - where the lower levels spread out more and it rises to a spire? So how does that work, too?
No, it can’t be as Tom falls and is caught several levels below in a net.
It just seems needlessly complicated to build it this way - WITHOUT a reason - reach god, touch the sky, or whatever the reason is… it’s much cheaper and easier to build a city that spreads out on one level. [play sim city for a few hours and see how you go] - and that’s what it keeps reminding me of with it’s lift issues. Two lifts for one hundred floors? And they stop at every floor?
Coffee? And ale? Really? Inside here? How? And oxen. How does any of this wildlife survive? How do the people go out and catch wild ducks from the march if they live on the fiftieth floor? None of it makes any sense.
And the casual racism and sexism … ffs how hard is it to write a fantasy world that doesn’t exist and make it better than the one we live in?
Dewar notes Kat is a child and then forcibly kisses her - not cool, dude.
And what was the point of buying all the drinks for the abusive guy? You don’t want him as a contact - just kill him - you are supposed to be an assassin and its seems really dumb to sit around for hours in the pub with this guy who later shows up dead. Dumb.
And I really do NOT need the POV of a rapist. Thanks.
2 stars
Ugh - I bought the trology in audiobook…
This seems very cliched - magic poor boy comes to the attention of evil rich wizard and he has an evil factotum who used to be an assassin for hire and is now his manservant - and I am finding it hard to have any sympathy for the rich privileged police dude who isn't sure he wants to be a policeman and who is the willing jape of the Margus - lot of world building is vague too - they have escalators?
I am getting stuck on how dumb the hero is…
Too many T names: Tom (hero), Thomas (murder victim), Tylus (kite guard), Thaiburley (city), Tygon (the fish man), and the goddess and her brother were also T names - I forget now.
And how does this city work?
If it is a tower with 100 levels of the same size, then each level would have a roof and a floor - so why would you build houses inside those?
And how did he climb up the outside? If there is no continuous link between each level?
And how does the light, air etc get towards the centre? It’d be dark. And they have sensors and ‘computer’ screens but it’s also medieval esque.
Or is it a tower of Babel painting like - where the lower levels spread out more and it rises to a spire? So how does that work, too?
No, it can’t be as Tom falls and is caught several levels below in a net.
It just seems needlessly complicated to build it this way - WITHOUT a reason - reach god, touch the sky, or whatever the reason is… it’s much cheaper and easier to build a city that spreads out on one level. [play sim city for a few hours and see how you go] - and that’s what it keeps reminding me of with it’s lift issues. Two lifts for one hundred floors? And they stop at every floor?
Coffee? And ale? Really? Inside here? How? And oxen. How does any of this wildlife survive? How do the people go out and catch wild ducks from the march if they live on the fiftieth floor? None of it makes any sense.
And the casual racism and sexism … ffs how hard is it to write a fantasy world that doesn’t exist and make it better than the one we live in?
Dewar notes Kat is a child and then forcibly kisses her - not cool, dude.
And what was the point of buying all the drinks for the abusive guy? You don’t want him as a contact - just kill him - you are supposed to be an assassin and its seems really dumb to sit around for hours in the pub with this guy who later shows up dead. Dumb.
And I really do NOT need the POV of a rapist. Thanks.
2 stars
Ugh - I bought the trology in audiobook…
April 18, 2021
I picked this book up from my TBR-pile, looked at the cover and the back blurb, and thought to myself, 'yeah, I'm looking forward to another traditional fantasy, been a while since I read those'. That was my reasoning for picking up this book - and boy, was I wrong, because this fantasy isn't traditional in setting at all. I'm reminded of The Ingenious by Darius Hinks, which I read a few weeks ago; everything that book does, this book does better. The weirdness that I love so much is all over the place, and there's actually even plenty of stuff being done with it. The plot is tight and believeable every step of the way, and there's even room for a very decent romance plot. All in all, I had fun.
So why only the four stars? Two reasons. Number one, I feel the villains don't get nearly enough fleshing out to satisfy me. Most of the time, the reasoning is 'because I'm evil', and I'm really going to need more if I'm going to buy your plot. Whates seems to be afraid that we lose sight of who the good guy and the bad guy is, because there are constant, subtle reminders who we're supposed to root for. And near the end, that started to get under my skin. Which is reason number two, SPOILERS:
All in all, I had fun, and this is a fun book for in between. I might pick up the second installment, who knows.
So why only the four stars? Two reasons. Number one, I feel the villains don't get nearly enough fleshing out to satisfy me. Most of the time, the reasoning is 'because I'm evil', and I'm really going to need more if I'm going to buy your plot. Whates seems to be afraid that we lose sight of who the good guy and the bad guy is, because there are constant, subtle reminders who we're supposed to root for. And near the end, that started to get under my skin. Which is reason number two, SPOILERS:
All in all, I had fun, and this is a fun book for in between. I might pick up the second installment, who knows.
March 17, 2021
I reread this because I bought the sequel after reading this book the first time and then never got around to it and then I forgot what happens in the first book. I am now somewhat questioning why I liked this so much and if I can be bothered to find the time to read the sequel.
This book has a lot of very promising ideas - I really liked the parts about the Jeradine and some of the other background world building although some of the most tantalising aspects of the book are not explained satisfactorily. The main example of this is the city, Thaiburley, we never get a particularly good explanation of its structure and it took me quite some time to figure out the City Below was underground as this is never really said. Even the scene that is pictured on the cover is never elaborated on in any way - though I suspect it is a topic for later in the trilogy. There are also 'The Blade' who are introduced towards the end as a bit of a deus ex machina and while it is explained why everyone is terrified of them there is no explanation at all of what they actually ARE?!
The characters are where things start to get sticky - the main points of view are from Tom (a 'street nick' - in other words a member of a gang of teenagers), Kat (a survivor of 'the pit'), Tylus (a member of the kite guard - basically a police officer from a very privileged background) and Dewar (an assassin). Tom is a pretty generic main character and I would be pretty ok with him if he could hold off simping over first Jesmina and then Kat all the time. I would say a more serious problem is that Tom's decisions are never what saves the day - other people do that and maneuver him into the position his powers will be most effective in so he never gets any opportunity to show initiative. I quite liked Kat - or at least the idea of her as she was kind of bland to be honest but Tom simping over her when she constantly refers to him as 'kid' was not what I really wanted? Tylus is actually probably the best character and the only one to have an actual arc despite sounding rather spoiled when he starts. (He is also the only male character that isn't a simp so maybe that's why I like him?) Finally we have Dewar. I am not a fan - he is a thoroughly nasty character whose first resort is torture or some other form of violence. He also has some pretty sus interactions with women/teenaged girls that were nowhere near as bad as they could have been but still wasn't wonderful - although he does have the self awareness to be a little embarrassed.
The way that some of the characters viewed Jesmina and Kat was pretty yikes to he honest. Every scene that Jesmina was in was painful because she was ridiculously oversexualised - at one point a whole watch station is practically drooling over her - when she is at most in her mid-teens. There is a whole mine of uncomfortable things when it comes to Jesmina, which I shan't get into but Kat has a much better time overall. The exception being that Dewar - with 0 provocation or reason - decides to kiss her against her will on one occasion. Dewar is a massive creep and should go straight to horny jail!
January 11, 2026
I picked up this book because it compared itself to the Locke Lamora series and I was not disappointed. Although it lacked the element of Lamora that I appreciated the most (the strong as titanium bond between two friends), it fully delivered a fun romp through a similar fantasy world. I would have liked more world-building, but I thoroughly enjoyed the plot and I liked the cast of characters. The book ended with enough plot hooks that I'm looking forward to seeing how the greater plot develops from here as well as see what kinda development the main characters get in the next book.
September 3, 2024
Kind of a clumsy story but the writing and pacing are excellent. This could easily be a YA novel but he puts in one scene with sexual violence that kind of ruins those plans. The story is actually very good at times, with some unique twists. And the Urban Fantasy details are original. The actual characters are pretty standard and the ending is just too easy, so easy you wonder what the point of all of it was. If you need a unchallenging urban fantasy, then it could work.
February 25, 2019
I enjoyed it but there needs to be far more backstory. Things happen and are referenced that are never explained and it was a little frustrating not to have more depth to this could be fascinating world.
June 12, 2017
c2010. Damn. YA. Say no more. 'The smile slipped from the senior arkademic's face and all he could do was gape."
August 12, 2017
Light read but just get over some of the weirdness.
September 15, 2018
It was ok, pace a little slow, wrap up at the end was far too long, but generally held my interest throughout.
October 5, 2018
Very enjoyable book, great addition to the genre.
August 14, 2019
Excellent book to read at work.
Want to read
July 19, 2020elibrary
December 2, 2012
An extremely trying read - didn't like it one bit. So will keep this short.
City of Dreams and Nightmares is part-one of City of Hundred Rows trilogy and is touted to be a page-turning adventure set in a multi-tiered metropolis called Thaiburley where rats and the poor guys live at the bottom, while the rich magistrates and demons live at the top. It follows the fate of two street-kids as they discover they are cogs in the wheels, set in motion by a sinister ploy that threatens to consume the city itself.
So much for the premise, I remember having read this premise a long while ago and having got excited over it. I usually get my hunches right in terms of books. I went for it and dug into this one. But sadly, the plot never got going for me and I was always putting it away when another interesting book presented itself to me. So yesterday forced myself to hunker down and finish it off finally.
So the positives aspects, first as always. Ian Whates has an extremely fertile imagination - to have thought of a City of Hundred Rows and all the eccentric technology/ creatures / races that live within the City is a mind boggling feat – a city with each row dedicated different kinds of people with the upper rows as usual clogged with the administrators of the city who decide the rules and the fate. It’s hard to say if this book sits within the realm of Science Fiction or Fantasy since obviously the kind of technology that is there within Thaiburley is advanced and yet I was a little disappointed because all of it kind of felt under-utilized. Another thing I loved about the book was the weapons, tons of interesting new ones. Overall, the book definitely had its entertaining moments – filled as it was with aliens, magic, blade fights and assassins.
But all along the way, I somehow thought nothing really happens in the book. The plot never got me interested, pale shadows of characters who never elicited or evoked my interest, I was never really pushed to even once think "Oh what will happen to Poor Tylus trapped in the City Below" or likewise...Ian’s writing never really rises above the stolid workman-like prose and at times gets very boring. The pacing is languid despite having set up an incredible world here that can really be explored and can definitely be laid out better. I for one didn’t stop to think about the characters. None of them held my interest and yet I did force myself to plod through this book hoping for something extraordinary to happen. Sigh. It never did, the second half possible gets even worse with all the loose threads being tightened up and we realize that all of this was being orchestrated by one sinister personality. Anyways will stop here I think.
Giving this a two-star. Have White Noise by Ian Whates, perhaps he fares better when it comes to solid SciFi ?
City of Dreams and Nightmares is part-one of City of Hundred Rows trilogy and is touted to be a page-turning adventure set in a multi-tiered metropolis called Thaiburley where rats and the poor guys live at the bottom, while the rich magistrates and demons live at the top. It follows the fate of two street-kids as they discover they are cogs in the wheels, set in motion by a sinister ploy that threatens to consume the city itself.
So much for the premise, I remember having read this premise a long while ago and having got excited over it. I usually get my hunches right in terms of books. I went for it and dug into this one. But sadly, the plot never got going for me and I was always putting it away when another interesting book presented itself to me. So yesterday forced myself to hunker down and finish it off finally.
So the positives aspects, first as always. Ian Whates has an extremely fertile imagination - to have thought of a City of Hundred Rows and all the eccentric technology/ creatures / races that live within the City is a mind boggling feat – a city with each row dedicated different kinds of people with the upper rows as usual clogged with the administrators of the city who decide the rules and the fate. It’s hard to say if this book sits within the realm of Science Fiction or Fantasy since obviously the kind of technology that is there within Thaiburley is advanced and yet I was a little disappointed because all of it kind of felt under-utilized. Another thing I loved about the book was the weapons, tons of interesting new ones. Overall, the book definitely had its entertaining moments – filled as it was with aliens, magic, blade fights and assassins.
But all along the way, I somehow thought nothing really happens in the book. The plot never got me interested, pale shadows of characters who never elicited or evoked my interest, I was never really pushed to even once think "Oh what will happen to Poor Tylus trapped in the City Below" or likewise...Ian’s writing never really rises above the stolid workman-like prose and at times gets very boring. The pacing is languid despite having set up an incredible world here that can really be explored and can definitely be laid out better. I for one didn’t stop to think about the characters. None of them held my interest and yet I did force myself to plod through this book hoping for something extraordinary to happen. Sigh. It never did, the second half possible gets even worse with all the loose threads being tightened up and we realize that all of this was being orchestrated by one sinister personality. Anyways will stop here I think.
Giving this a two-star. Have White Noise by Ian Whates, perhaps he fares better when it comes to solid SciFi ?
December 7, 2015
The first part of the trilogy was a 3.5-starer for me - fairly entertaining but with shortcomings, some coming from my personal taste, others from what I perceived as objectively not good.
The book opens with a promise of a lot of action in a tantalizingly new-weirdish environment... and, almost immediately tones it down. The city, to me, was never truly described to its full potential and at times I had issues picturing the layout itself. Furthermore, this book, to me, was far from the gritty story I expected from the blurb - instead of the next Perdido Street Station, I was treated to a glimpse of a cool town before swiftly moving to a rather usual urban setting, albeit underground.
The book is not short on action in any sense. The story moves forward rather quickly, keeps you entertained and the author is careful to come up with a new issue pretty much on the line following the one where the previous problem has been resolved. It will definitely keep you entertained.
On the other hand, the book, all the way through, can't make up its mind about whom it was written for. What starts as a nice example of a young-adult story (with an angsty teenager of a city guard and a little street thief figuring out his feelings towards a member of his gang) uses a lot of adult themes (a sailor remembering his night with a local whore) but doesn't forget about being decent (with "breck" and its derivatives being the, uh, f-word of this universe) and so on. There is quite some confusion about the personal skills of the characters. For instance, the street thief, who seems barely capable of tying his own shoelaces, yet he seems to have a decent shot for the head of his gang.
The story, at times, balances on the edge of deus ex machina, or at least improbable outcomes (walls exploding with saviours behind them just as the weapons were kicked out of the heroes' hands by their bloodthirsty enemies, etc.). Additionally, the author seems to juggle too many balls at points, with the story spreading and spreading. At the end, most of the pieces are back in his hands, so to speak (except for the couple for the following books), but catching them was not what I'd call elegant.
All in all, I'd advise to approach City of Dreams & Nightmare with way less expectations that the blurb would hint on. If you manage, this can be a fairly enjoyable book with a lot of interesting and colourful ideas with a promise of more if you liked it.
The book opens with a promise of a lot of action in a tantalizingly new-weirdish environment... and, almost immediately tones it down. The city, to me, was never truly described to its full potential and at times I had issues picturing the layout itself. Furthermore, this book, to me, was far from the gritty story I expected from the blurb - instead of the next Perdido Street Station, I was treated to a glimpse of a cool town before swiftly moving to a rather usual urban setting, albeit underground.
The book is not short on action in any sense. The story moves forward rather quickly, keeps you entertained and the author is careful to come up with a new issue pretty much on the line following the one where the previous problem has been resolved. It will definitely keep you entertained.
On the other hand, the book, all the way through, can't make up its mind about whom it was written for. What starts as a nice example of a young-adult story (with an angsty teenager of a city guard and a little street thief figuring out his feelings towards a member of his gang) uses a lot of adult themes (a sailor remembering his night with a local whore) but doesn't forget about being decent (with "breck" and its derivatives being the, uh, f-word of this universe) and so on. There is quite some confusion about the personal skills of the characters. For instance, the street thief, who seems barely capable of tying his own shoelaces, yet he seems to have a decent shot for the head of his gang.
The story, at times, balances on the edge of deus ex machina, or at least improbable outcomes (walls exploding with saviours behind them just as the weapons were kicked out of the heroes' hands by their bloodthirsty enemies, etc.). Additionally, the author seems to juggle too many balls at points, with the story spreading and spreading. At the end, most of the pieces are back in his hands, so to speak (except for the couple for the following books), but catching them was not what I'd call elegant.
All in all, I'd advise to approach City of Dreams & Nightmare with way less expectations that the blurb would hint on. If you manage, this can be a fairly enjoyable book with a lot of interesting and colourful ideas with a promise of more if you liked it.
October 22, 2012
The story starts out with a youngster called Tom who is trespassing in forbidden territory. He is from the slums of his world, and is attempting to reach the heights – literally. He has progressed from the bottom tiers to nearly the top of what appears to be a hundred rows of living spaces, all carved out of and appended to one mountain. The city, Thaiburly, is situated on a major river, and has trade with other cities.
One gets the impression, though, that traders are rare, and only welcome on the bottommost tiers. Most of the city world appears to be totally independent, although there are vast differences in the people from row to row (level to level). For instance, the lowest level consists of swamp and doesn't appear to be inhabited, at least by humans. The lower levels are inhabited by gangs, including those who have survived the Thaiburly equivalent of the Roman Arena, known here as the Pits. Higher up there are scavengers, then artisans, then middle management, then the cream has risen to the top and resides in the highest levels.
Our hero, Tom, witnesses a murder, and the rest of the story takes us on his mad scramble to escape and return to his home, where there is another issue brewing, unknown to either Tom or his companion, Kat. Throughout we see the hands of the city's rulers, as they connive and manipulate to make things go either their way or what they perceive as the right way.
The story ended with a cliffhanger. I don't know that it was fascinating enough to make me look for the sequel. There are too many places where coincidence, including the lucky appearance of some hero, saved the day.
May 2, 2017
Tom, a streetnick from the City Below, sees something he shouldn’t have. Now he’s on the run from a hired assassin, rival streetnicks, and the renowned Kite Guard. With the help of Kat, another resident of the City Below, he’ll have a shot at making it home. But forces are a play that neither of them anticipated…
There were several different characters, plotlines, and predicaments to be resolved. Whates did well in keeping things relatively uncomplicated so that each plotline had a resolution and the book was an easy yet fun read. It works well as a stand-alone story but I’m definitely looking forward to the sequel.
There was a hint of steampunk but not an abundance. Instead it focused more on Thaiburley, the City of Hundred Rows, which was somewhere between a location and a character in and of itself. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as developed as either a character or a location as it could have been. I like to try and get a mental picture of the fantasy world when I read and I didn’t have the easiest time doing that here. Whates would have done well to include a touch more exposition about Thaiburley. Hopefully, he paints a more vivid picture in City of Hope and Despair.
There were several different characters, plotlines, and predicaments to be resolved. Whates did well in keeping things relatively uncomplicated so that each plotline had a resolution and the book was an easy yet fun read. It works well as a stand-alone story but I’m definitely looking forward to the sequel.
There was a hint of steampunk but not an abundance. Instead it focused more on Thaiburley, the City of Hundred Rows, which was somewhere between a location and a character in and of itself. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as developed as either a character or a location as it could have been. I like to try and get a mental picture of the fantasy world when I read and I didn’t have the easiest time doing that here. Whates would have done well to include a touch more exposition about Thaiburley. Hopefully, he paints a more vivid picture in City of Hope and Despair.
June 27, 2015
If I could give this 2.5 stars I would. It had a lot of elements that I like. Magic, constructs, monsters, intrigue but it didn't really gel for me. My biggest problem, right from the start was that I couldn't picture the city. It sounded like it was some very unique construct of "rows" that were stacked on top of each other but the description didn't make sense to me. So I was distracted for a long time trying to figure out how a character could fall off the wall and pass by other "rows" which I guess were levels like the different floors of a building but I'm not sure. I really wanted to be astounded by this "cool/original" idea for a city but I couldn't be so that was disappointing.
Then also in the beginning the main character's name is Tom, but another important character's name is Thomas. That helped add to the confusion of things.
I liked the multiple bad guys/intriguey thing. I liked the frantic pace of characters being chased around.
I didn't like the kind of deus ex machina of the Blade and the ending seemed to take too long wrapping things up. I also wasn't a fan of the cliffhanger left at the end for one of the characters.
Then also in the beginning the main character's name is Tom, but another important character's name is Thomas. That helped add to the confusion of things.
I liked the multiple bad guys/intriguey thing. I liked the frantic pace of characters being chased around.
I didn't like the kind of deus ex machina of the Blade and the ending seemed to take too long wrapping things up. I also wasn't a fan of the cliffhanger left at the end for one of the characters.
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