Scan barcode
philibin's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.75
(3.75 Stars)
This was very good, similar to Kadrey's Sandman Slim series in a lot of ways. I've been reading the Eric Carter series and this is written in the same style and world, but I have to be honest... I liked it better than any of the Carter books. Possibly because I liked the main character better?
I read the Graphic Audio version, and while I am not a fan of this format, it was still very good. I do prefer an unabridged audio.
This was very good, similar to Kadrey's Sandman Slim series in a lot of ways. I've been reading the Eric Carter series and this is written in the same style and world, but I have to be honest... I liked it better than any of the Carter books. Possibly because I liked the main character better?
I read the Graphic Audio version, and while I am not a fan of this format, it was still very good. I do prefer an unabridged audio.
ducky_dreadful's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
mcf's review against another edition
5.0
Pulpy, outrageous, and absolutely fantastic. The best book about a zombie mob heavy you'll ever read, with the added bonus of effortless writing, singular, engaging characters, and the tantalizing suggestion of a sequel on the horizon. It's impossible to put down and weirdly hard to forgot.
dantastic's review against another edition
4.0
A job to steal a precious stone goes wrong and a thug named Joe Sunday is murdered. Now Joe's a zombie with a craving for human flesh and everyone in town is after the stone. Is there anyone Joe can trust and can he find the stone before a centuries-old madman uses it to become immortal?
Right out of the box, I have to say that this book is pure fun. While I'm giving it the same rating as Winter's Bone, it in no way is as well written or powerful. That being said, here we go!
City of the Lost is an entertaining noir tale that just happens to star a zombie. The dialogue is hard boiled and in the present tense. It has moments of hilarity and not the lame attempts at humor other urban fantasy noir tales that shall remain nameless use. It also has a lot less misogyny than the tales about a certain unfunny wizard from Chicago normally display.
Joe Sunday wasn't a nice guy before being made a zombie and dying didn't help his manners. He kills and bludgeons his way through this tale, all in pursuit of a stone that may or may not be able to turn him back into a human and Giavetti, the man who covets it. The supporting cast are an interesting bunch: a Nazi sorcerer named Neumann, and his henchmen Archie and Jughead. Jughead's a little person with the teeth and demeanor of a pitbull. There's Samantha, the woman with a connection to the villain, the Bruja, an urban witch, and Frank Tanaka, a detective who's also investigating Giavetti.
There's a lot of dark humor in this book and I caught myself snickering a few times, from Joe using a dog to bludgeon someone, speculating on the ethics of eating hookers to keep from rotting, to Joe sneering and saying "I didn't want any part of that guy in my mouth." Funny stuff.
Any complaints? Not really. There were a lot of twists and only about half of them were predictable. I have a feeling it's meant to be the first book in the series but it was quite a satisfying read on it's own. For a fun zombie book, it's an easy four.
Right out of the box, I have to say that this book is pure fun. While I'm giving it the same rating as Winter's Bone, it in no way is as well written or powerful. That being said, here we go!
City of the Lost is an entertaining noir tale that just happens to star a zombie. The dialogue is hard boiled and in the present tense. It has moments of hilarity and not the lame attempts at humor other urban fantasy noir tales that shall remain nameless use. It also has a lot less misogyny than the tales about a certain unfunny wizard from Chicago normally display.
Joe Sunday wasn't a nice guy before being made a zombie and dying didn't help his manners. He kills and bludgeons his way through this tale, all in pursuit of a stone that may or may not be able to turn him back into a human and Giavetti, the man who covets it. The supporting cast are an interesting bunch: a Nazi sorcerer named Neumann, and his henchmen Archie and Jughead. Jughead's a little person with the teeth and demeanor of a pitbull. There's Samantha, the woman with a connection to the villain, the Bruja, an urban witch, and Frank Tanaka, a detective who's also investigating Giavetti.
There's a lot of dark humor in this book and I caught myself snickering a few times, from Joe using a dog to bludgeon someone, speculating on the ethics of eating hookers to keep from rotting, to Joe sneering and saying "I didn't want any part of that guy in my mouth." Funny stuff.
Any complaints? Not really. There were a lot of twists and only about half of them were predictable. I have a feeling it's meant to be the first book in the series but it was quite a satisfying read on it's own. For a fun zombie book, it's an easy four.
eddyfate's review against another edition
4.0
"The protagonist, Joe Sunday, is a hitman for a local mobster who, through a variety of mishaps, ends up turned into a zombie. Because that’s just what happens in L.A. And yet, the supernatural elements don’t end up overpowering the plot — the story slips in and out of the mystical parts effortlessly, making them feel like a natural part of a story that is really about one man’s attempt to get what’s owed him, and maybe a little payback if he can get it."
Full review here: http://eddyfate.com/2012/02/20/peer-review-city-of-the-lost-by-stephen-blackmoore/
Full review here: http://eddyfate.com/2012/02/20/peer-review-city-of-the-lost-by-stephen-blackmoore/
katzenkindliest's review against another edition
4.5
Das war überraschend gut (dafür, dass ich Zombie-Bücher nicht mag). Spannend mit einem guten Schuss trockenem Humor. 4,5 Sterne
lpcoolgirl's review
5.0
Loved reading this book, being in his perspective, since we saw him briefly in that one Eric Carter book! This was a really great story! So glad that I finally read it!
paulataua's review against another edition
3.0
A zombie crime novel? Yep, and with just a little bit of the supernatural thrown in. The mildly entertaining and mildly humorous “City of the Lost” is nothing to text home about, but certainly fills a hole when you have a couple of hours to kill.
scotoma's review against another edition
4.0
Blackmoore wrote a (so far) three-part urban fantasy series about a necromancer in L.A. that’s pretty good, to which this book is kind of a prequel. I say kind of, since the main character Eric Carter doesn’t make an appearance and the book somehow subverts the typical approach of those novels.
Our main “hero” Joe Sunday is basically one of the henchmen of a local crime boss, who gets roped into supernatural events due to his boss’ involvement with same events. He is transformed into a zombie who occasionally has to eat the heart of a living person or he falls apart while trying to figure out what happened to him, how to undo it and become if not less dead, at least less ravening zombie.
The main Eric Carter books were already a notch more violent and brutal than normal urban fantasy, this book ratches up the violence factor even more. Sunday isn’t really a hero though, he’s like the very definition of an anti-hero, even before his transformation he was a thug and murderer and did despicable things, but his change makes even him flinch initially at what he has to do to survive.
It’s grimy and brutal and thus really enjoyable in a way few of these novels really manage when they try to represent the main character as one of the good guys even when they ostensibly are not. For all that Sunday is a terrible person, he feels more like a force of nature, beyond judgment and inconsiderate of morals, and yet its fun to see him having to deal with being more considerate and smart to actually find his way when he rather would like to rip people apart. Which comes in handy at the end when he has to deal with an enemy who can come back from even death.
Our main “hero” Joe Sunday is basically one of the henchmen of a local crime boss, who gets roped into supernatural events due to his boss’ involvement with same events. He is transformed into a zombie who occasionally has to eat the heart of a living person or he falls apart while trying to figure out what happened to him, how to undo it and become if not less dead, at least less ravening zombie.
The main Eric Carter books were already a notch more violent and brutal than normal urban fantasy, this book ratches up the violence factor even more. Sunday isn’t really a hero though, he’s like the very definition of an anti-hero, even before his transformation he was a thug and murderer and did despicable things, but his change makes even him flinch initially at what he has to do to survive.
It’s grimy and brutal and thus really enjoyable in a way few of these novels really manage when they try to represent the main character as one of the good guys even when they ostensibly are not. For all that Sunday is a terrible person, he feels more like a force of nature, beyond judgment and inconsiderate of morals, and yet its fun to see him having to deal with being more considerate and smart to actually find his way when he rather would like to rip people apart. Which comes in handy at the end when he has to deal with an enemy who can come back from even death.
mcf's review
5.0
Pulpy, outrageous, and absolutely fantastic. The best book about a zombie mob heavy you'll ever read, with the added bonus of effortless writing, singular, engaging characters, and the tantalizing suggestion of a sequel on the horizon. It's impossible to put down and weirdly hard to forgot.
More...