I received this novel from Orbit Books, through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review: my thanks to both of them for this opportunity.
Urban Fantasy scenarios often share several common elements: a city where supernatural creatures exist side-by-side with humans, either in plain sight or hidden; the presence of magic; an atmosphere typical of noir movies; and a P.I. engaged in a complex investigation. The Last Smile in Sunder City does possess these elements, granted, but sets them in an unusual background that gives the story and its characters a new, intriguing perspective.
The world in which the story is set was imbued with magic once, but a catastrophic event named The Coda closed off its source with tragic consequences, and now the city of Sunder, once a flourishing center of industry, is just a ghost of its former self, as are its supernatural inhabitants, stripped like their world of any magical attribute that made them what they were. Fetch Phillips is a human Man For Hire, eking out a meagre living by accepting odd jobs, just enough to pay the rent and fuel his drinking habit – he does not work for his fellow humans though, out of a deep-seated sense of anger and guilt whose roots are explored in the course of the story.
Tasked with looking into the disappearance of a teacher from the city’s multi-species academy, Fetch finds himself caught in the kind of complex tangle of misdirections and threats that is to be expected in a story’s investigative thread, but this inciting incident is only the pretext to explore the world and its inhabitants as they try to pick up the pieces of the past and to build a new life out of the ashes of the old one. Fantasy novels more often than not rely on magic, but here instead we explore a culture that has to deal with the sudden death of it, and what this means in the everyday existence of Sunder’s citizens: the sad, grey, hopeless mood of the story often reminded me of Tolkien’s Elves’ long defeat, a battle with no hope of victory that is however still fought because the idea of surrendering to the inevitable is even more loathsome.
The world building in The Last Smile in Sunder City is its best feature, indeed. The image of Sunder City that I built in my mind reminds me of a town in the throes of the Big Depression, where people have to find new ways to survive not so much out of financial troubles (although they are a factor in many instances), but out of the disappearance of the magic that helped run many of the activities, like the streets deprived of wizardry-powered electricity and barely lighted by torches or fires. Then there are the dreadful physical transformations brought on by the Coda: werewolves frozen in the transition from wolf to man, formerly immortal Elves who aged overnight or even crumbled to dust, vampires who lost their teeth and the ability to thrive on blood – the description of what happens to the majority of those supernatural beings at the very moment in which the Coda happens is something both nightmarish and imbued with profound emotional impact.
The social changes in the post-Coda world have taken another, uglier facet as well: the connection to the world’s magic was severed by humans in an underhanded attempt at harnessing that power – humans were the only ones unable to tap it, and it was their intention to put themselves on the same level as the magically-able creatures. Now that supernatural beings have been stripped of their edge, humans feel entitled to take over: their technology, the mechanical means by which their civilization moves, are the only ones that work now, which puts them in the position of superiority they craved for a long time. Not a pretty spectacle at all…
In all of this, Fetch Phillips keeps his distance from everything and everyone, a loner by personal history and by choice, nursing his deep guilt with the same care he nurses the endless bottles of liquor and the drugs that barely help him go through the days: at face value this personality traits, and attitude, would have made me dislike him immediately, but for some reason I felt pity for him, which increased as his story was revealed through the flashbacks showing how he came to be the individual he is now. Fetch Phillips seems destined from a very young age to be alone, even in the company of others, of being the one looking in from the outside, never being part of something, never feeling accepted, and this shapes both his psychological profile – past and present – and the string of bad choices that ultimately bring him to the momentous decision whose outcome will weigh him with endless guilt and regret. He is a man possessed by a strong death wish, uncaring of the damage he sustains as a result of his actions, but at the same time he does not seem to really want that end, because it would also mean the end of his self-inflicted penance – and also the end of what little good he might do to atone for his past mistakes.
I’m aware that all of the above might sound depressing and excessively gloomy, but in reality it’s not as grim as it might seem and it’s also quite compelling, not to mention that the small, very small glimmer of light that can be perceived toward the end promises that things might not look so hopeless in the next book, or books, of this series.
As a debut novel The Last Smile in Sunder City is not a perfect one: there are some pacing issues, particularly in Fetch’s flashbacks that could have been tightened a little to avoid the loss of focus on the issues of the present, and there are times when the search for the missing vampire teacher seems to become irrelevant, instead of being the connecting element of the story. Yet, the narrative remains engaging throughout, and that’s definitely a plus: I will look forward to seeing how Sunder City – and Fetch – will fare in the next installments.
My Rating:
Very in-depth review. Love it 🙂 the werewolf mid-transformation was perhaps one of the most powerful lasting images for me from this. Just made me feel sad for the magical folk.
Looking forward to the sequel.
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Thanks! And yes, I would not mind reading the sequel right now… 😉
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I’m increasingly intrigued to give this one a whirl when I get a chance later this year. And then finish watching Black Sails, ahem.
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Black Sails is one of the Netflix offerings I have my eyes on, but don’t want to start until I’ve finished a few other series (like Vikings), but now curiosity might have the best of me… 😀
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I feel much the same in reverse about Vikings 😉 I used to play in a pirate LARP, so Black Sails was irresistible for me although it takes a few episodes to settle down (it’s worth sticking with it, the first 2-3 episodes are rough). And Luke Arnold’s Long John Silver is fab 😉
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Well, thank you for the tip! I will remember that I need to be patient and give the show some time to grow on me, once I start watching 🙂
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Well it seems a good debut Maddalena!
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It is! And as such it’s a very well-crafted one 🙂
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My problem with this book (that I haven’t read), is that the cover must have been done by the same artist who did the River of London series and they used about 1 brain cell of originality
Not that even a fantastic cover would have drawn me in, I just like to justify my grumpitude with something 😀
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LOL Here’s to grumpitude! (I’ve had my bouts of it now and then…)
The cover is indeed similar – I have not read the other book but I’m aware of it, and I made the same comparison – but the story is well worth a try.
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I confess I skimmed your review because I’m hoping to read this one soon and I want to go in with fresh eyes, but woohoo, I’m excited by your rating. I’ve heard this one being described as deliciously dark, and that’s totally my thing 😀
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Yes, it’s a good description – but it’s not the kind of darkness that preys on your spirit, and the world is an enthralling one 🙂
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Great review! This sounds very cool – particularly the Coda and what happened to the magical creatures/peoples at that moment. You’ve sold it to me! 😁
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I hope you enjoy it then! Happy reading 🙂
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I like that the story uses the death of magic rather than its presence to be what it is essentially: a fantasy novel! It is indeed a really fascinating world with a greater character to follow. I’m definitely intrigued by this series and will probably wait to see if the sequel does as well with everyone who picks it up before tackling it. Excellent review as always, Maddalena! 😀
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Thanks! I admit I was a little worried, at first, because an actor turned writer sounded a bit weird, but he showed such great skill in this debut that I will certainly look forward to the next book in this series 🙂
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I really liked the sound of this one and your review definitely strengthens that feeling, but I decided not to request this simply because I knew I couldn’t fit it in – I’m not a big fan of being sensible but sometimes needs must. This does sound right up my street though.
Lynn 😀
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I waited some time before requesting it because of a similar… overcrowding problem in my TBR, but after the first reviews came in I knew I had to read it – I was far too curious! Something else had to wait of course, but I think it was worth it… 😉
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I have waited quite some time before adding this book to my TBR, and I conceded defeat (or victory) to it this morning after reading another great review of it. But if I wouldn’t have done it then I would have done it now, because you managed to intrigue me to no end! I really hope to read this book soon! 🙂
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Then I hope you enjoy it just as much as I did: it was a surprise for me, because the synopsis does not do it justice, and there is something in this story that keeps you glued to it… Happy reading! 🙂
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Somehow I didn’t realize this was an urban fantasy type story. Looks pretty interesting, even with the pacing issues.
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The issues are slight and did not keep me from enjoying the story – this is a debut novel, so it was bound to suffer from some… growing pains 🙂
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