Grand Dark

No cover

Richard Kadrey: Grand Dark (2019, HarperCollins Publishers)

424 pages

English language

Published Oct. 30, 2019 by HarperCollins Publishers.

ISBN:
978-0-06-267253-7
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4 stars (1 review)

'The Great War was over, but everyone knew another war was coming and it drove the city a little mad' Raised on the streets of Lower Proszawa, Largo makes his living as a cycle courier in a vast, decadent metropolis. With a dazzling girlfriend and a chance of promotion, he avoids politics and delivers without question. While Lower Proszawa's citizens seek oblivion in sex and drugs, secret police stalk its streets, strange beasts and intelligent machines emerge from its factories, and the powerful prepare for war. Soon, as the dark forces driving the city threaten everything he loves, Largo must confront them and fight to uncover their deepest secrets. From New York Times bestseller Richard Kadrey, The Grand Dark is a subversive fantasy of survival and defiance in a world sleepwalking toward disaster.

2 editions

The Grand Dark: A Novel

4 stars

I guess the term for this is "dieselpunk"? The book is set between the World Wars, in a fictional Eastern European city called Lower Proszawa. It's an old city with delineated neighborhoods by class and occupation, dominated by a giant arms factory. Also there are automata called "Maras" that run around doing everything from deliveries to policing.

The setting absolutely steals the show here. It feels lived in, and you can feel the tension in the people who want to celebrate victory in the previous war but can sense that another one is coming.

Much like the last Kadrey book I read, Metrophage, this one spends just a bit too long wallowing in all the ways the main character is a pathetic loser who wishes he was something more, but this time I think the arc is more satisfying, and once the action gets going it keeps up a nice …

Subjects

  • Fiction, fantasy, general