Reviews

City of Saints and Madmen: The Book of Ambergris by Jeff VanderMeer, Michael Moorcock, Eric Schaller

redolentsap's review

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

mikuish's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

octavia_cade's review

3.0

I read one of the Ambergris novels a little while ago and really enjoyed it - hence the decision to read this. It's a collection of four novellas, and it doesn't really match Shriek for enjoyment value. To be honest, it's really more two and a half stars, rounded up. It's not the prose, which is certainly accomplished. It's not the setting, which I continue to find fascinating. It's certainly not the sly sense of humour that underpins it all, which I really enjoy. I think it's the length. Which is an odd thing to say about short(er) fiction, as I usually love it, but this wandered on far too long for my taste. The book's introduced by Michael Moorcock, and he compares VanderMeer to Mervyn Peake, who is one of my absolute favourite fantasy writers (coincidentally, I've recently been rereading Peake, in editions also introduced by Moorcock). There's some justification in this - especially in that baroque, grotesque, often comic tone that both writers use. Peake wanders in his prose as well, far more than Vandermeer, but the difference is I never find myself thinking "Would you just get on with it already!" with Peake, and there were numerous places in City of Saints and Madmen where this was the only thing I was thinking. Peake's prose is sharper, more biting, more grotesque - more compelling, as far as I'm concerned.

I tell you though, despite the often enjoyable muted black humour in this collection, there was one moment of real laughter. In the glossary of "The Hoegbotton Guide to the Early History of Ambergris", the entry for SCATHA describes it as "A wretched place, full of novelists who think 500 words where one will suffice is a sign of sophistication. Ambassadors from Scatha have rarely liked Ambergris very much" (138). I am choosing to read this as the twisted self-deprecation I hope it to be.