by Luke Arnold
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Ultimately I am disappointed by this, relatively, hyped new series. I was looking forward to an ‘urban’ setting in a fantasy world with a gritty, bitter leading male whom took down the bad guys for the greater good. This was really not what we receive in The Last Smile in Sunder City; instead it's a testosterone fuelled mess that just lacks true emotion.
Setting, History & Magic
It feels like Luke Arnold had a clear intent with his new debut series: create a grim dark fantasy world, add in a complex magical history (that our leading man had a major role in affecting), plus a large disparity between races/species; all which culminates into a beautifully put together setting. This complex world and history is easily the best part of Arnold’s opening book in the Fetch Phillips Archives. I love the intertwined magical abilities that each species has (or had) at any given point; and how it affected the stereotype of each group of characters. From wealth, typical job, community lived in, etc. Arnold gives us a messy society that mirrors our own in so many ways. From unfair disparities to societal expectations to rules/laws, etc.
If the actual plot itself had been better and our leading man Fetch Phillips had more personality and intrigue then I believe this would have been a brilliant opening book to a series.
Leading Man, Fetch Phillips
Unfortunately our leading man Fetch misses the mark. He feels close in the beginning. But put him up next to say, Geralt of Riviera and suddenly he feels like a poor archetype of a macho man who messed up badly and is attempting, fairly badly, to ‘redeem’ himself. I know we are supposed to have sympathy for Fetch and feel like everyone else screwed him over and set him up; but to me I feel like if he was as “clever” as Arnold seems to want him to be, then he would never have made the mistakes of the past that dominate his current situation. There is a careful balance that needs to happen between young and reckless versus plain stupidity that doesn’t match up, even considering his experience over the years, with the man we know in the current timeline.
Supporting Roles & Masculinity
As with most fantasy stories, the characters around our lead(s) are super important. This is another place where Arnold almost makes it but then ultimately misses. It’s a bit frustrating as Arnold is an actor himself (in Black Sails) and should know how important every voice and person are in a story. Given he has played many minor characters I would have expected him to know that each of them needs to feel genuine and have a rapport with the leading man.
It becomes particularly relevant just past halfway that there are only ‘macho’ male characters in this book. It’s a typical pre-1990’s issue in fantasy; but I’m super disappointed to see it happening in 2020. There is no reason why some strong female characters or at least a few LGBTQ+ ones couldn’t have been put in some of the placements where we encounter more ‘manly men’. And while many of them are enemies I still don’t see why the testosterone level has to be so high on almost every character.
Silly Language
I’lll confess I have a pet peeve against ridiculous metaphors, similes, and absurd language. There are so many in The Last Smile of Sunder City that I could write pages of them for you. But here is the one that annoyed me the most:
Overall
I really did want to love this book. I had high hopes for a new grim dark, gritty series with a sarcastic leading detective that would be a good break between intense historical or in-depth fantasy stories for me. This is Arnold’s debut novel and it is possible that this series will improve. I will likely wait for further reviews of book 2 (just recently released) or further releases in the series to see if other reviewers feel the story and writing improves. However at this time I have to say that if you are desperate for a detective story that is different in a complex world you might like this one. But if you are just fulfilling books on a TBR that were/are hyped or new; The Last Smile of Sunder City could be passed over for now. If you want a super witty, sarcastic, and disillusioned character I have to (continue to) promote Murderbot as the best choice in the last few years or pick-up any Jim Butcher series for some fun.
Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.
View all my reviews
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Ultimately I am disappointed by this, relatively, hyped new series. I was looking forward to an ‘urban’ setting in a fantasy world with a gritty, bitter leading male whom took down the bad guys for the greater good. This was really not what we receive in The Last Smile in Sunder City; instead it's a testosterone fuelled mess that just lacks true emotion.
Setting, History & Magic
It feels like Luke Arnold had a clear intent with his new debut series: create a grim dark fantasy world, add in a complex magical history (that our leading man had a major role in affecting), plus a large disparity between races/species; all which culminates into a beautifully put together setting. This complex world and history is easily the best part of Arnold’s opening book in the Fetch Phillips Archives. I love the intertwined magical abilities that each species has (or had) at any given point; and how it affected the stereotype of each group of characters. From wealth, typical job, community lived in, etc. Arnold gives us a messy society that mirrors our own in so many ways. From unfair disparities to societal expectations to rules/laws, etc.
If the actual plot itself had been better and our leading man Fetch Phillips had more personality and intrigue then I believe this would have been a brilliant opening book to a series.
Leading Man, Fetch Phillips
Unfortunately our leading man Fetch misses the mark. He feels close in the beginning. But put him up next to say, Geralt of Riviera and suddenly he feels like a poor archetype of a macho man who messed up badly and is attempting, fairly badly, to ‘redeem’ himself. I know we are supposed to have sympathy for Fetch and feel like everyone else screwed him over and set him up; but to me I feel like if he was as “clever” as Arnold seems to want him to be, then he would never have made the mistakes of the past that dominate his current situation. There is a careful balance that needs to happen between young and reckless versus plain stupidity that doesn’t match up, even considering his experience over the years, with the man we know in the current timeline.
Supporting Roles & Masculinity
As with most fantasy stories, the characters around our lead(s) are super important. This is another place where Arnold almost makes it but then ultimately misses. It’s a bit frustrating as Arnold is an actor himself (in Black Sails) and should know how important every voice and person are in a story. Given he has played many minor characters I would have expected him to know that each of them needs to feel genuine and have a rapport with the leading man.
It becomes particularly relevant just past halfway that there are only ‘macho’ male characters in this book. It’s a typical pre-1990’s issue in fantasy; but I’m super disappointed to see it happening in 2020. There is no reason why some strong female characters or at least a few LGBTQ+ ones couldn’t have been put in some of the placements where we encounter more ‘manly men’. And while many of them are enemies I still don’t see why the testosterone level has to be so high on almost every character.
Silly Language
I’lll confess I have a pet peeve against ridiculous metaphors, similes, and absurd language. There are so many in The Last Smile of Sunder City that I could write pages of them for you. But here is the one that annoyed me the most:
”The last thing I remember was the sound of the landing,
like someone stepping on an egg full of snails.”
Let’s just break this sentence down for a minute…
- Snails are not born with hard shells, they are soft and so there is no sound of a breaking snail baby (it’s too squishy),
- Like snake eggs the shells of snails are gelatinous or very soft; they don’t have the crisp break of a chicken egg like we are used to, and
- why on earth would you use a comparison that no one has probably ever heard (even if the shells were hard)? I just don’t get it and it drives me crazy.
- I literally put the book down upon reading this line just to post on Goodreads about how ridiculous it is. Anything that takes me out of a book so abruptly is a fail.
Overall
I really did want to love this book. I had high hopes for a new grim dark, gritty series with a sarcastic leading detective that would be a good break between intense historical or in-depth fantasy stories for me. This is Arnold’s debut novel and it is possible that this series will improve. I will likely wait for further reviews of book 2 (just recently released) or further releases in the series to see if other reviewers feel the story and writing improves. However at this time I have to say that if you are desperate for a detective story that is different in a complex world you might like this one. But if you are just fulfilling books on a TBR that were/are hyped or new; The Last Smile of Sunder City could be passed over for now. If you want a super witty, sarcastic, and disillusioned character I have to (continue to) promote Murderbot as the best choice in the last few years or pick-up any Jim Butcher series for some fun.
Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.
View all my reviews
1 comment:
Oh man - I know about weird metaphors (and that one is REALLY werid!) or language taking you out of the story. Recently I was reading a book with a sex scene, and it was doing a pretty good job until it started talking about him 'slowly impaling her on himself' and I just broke down laughing for a couple minutes!
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