Book Review: The Golden City by J. Kathleen Cheney

Imagine, if you will, a vaguely 19th century alternate Portugal inhabited not only by humans, but by sireia (sirens), selkies, and other non-human races, and swirling with magic. What starts as an ordinary social drama quickly turns tragic and laced through with crime and politics, both internal and external. The book is part romance, part police procedural, part political thriller. Both protagonists are complex, relatable characters with realistic motivations and reactions. The listings in amazon.com suggest that this is not Cheney’s debut novel, but possibly the first book of hers not self-published? It reads somewhat like a debut work. The world-building and fantastic elements are solid, well worked out, and very appealing, though introduced in somewhat larger informative chunks than is my preference. I have a strong preference for learning about a world simply by encountering it. I felt that the first few chapters would have moved more quickly and smoothly by simply describing the events and having confidence that the reader could work out the rest. (But maybe that’s just me.) I liked the way the romantic tension between the two protagonists developed slowly (given that they were distracted by, you know, people trying to kill them!) though again I sometimes felt a lighter touch would have worked more effectively in telling the reader about their emotions and reactions. But the romantic thread is only one small part of the story. I came into this series knowing there are two more books after this, which helped in accepting the particular place the story ended. Definitely a “first book of a trilogy” feel. I have a few personal ticky-boxes that I keep track of for fantasy worlds, and one got checked off by reference to named characters who were not strictly heterosexual. Not quite a requirement for me, but an index, if you will.

GCLS: Friday (yes, I'm pretty sure it's Friday)

Not on any programming today except the massive group autographing session. Attended panels on "Whither Lesfic?", "From Fan-fic to Lesfic", and a nuts-and-bolts explanation of the Goldie Awards. Keynote speech from one of the featured authors which was pretty much just an amusing routine about the life of a writer. Took a break in the afternoon and then the massive all-authors signing session. (Signed 2 copies of my books plus a bunch of conference programs, but I had a nice chat with my table-mate about the LHMP.) Lauri and I had made dinner plans with a couple we met at one of the presentations and went off to the French Quarter for seafood and conversation. Turned out to have a lot of oddly peculiar things in common with them, including things like love of theater and drop spinning. Skipped the evening karaoke. I'm starting to be ready for my "vacation" to be over so I can relax.