Joe Golem and the drowning city

Hardcover, 292 pages

English language

Published April 10, 2012 by St. Martin's Press.

ISBN:: 978-0-312-64473-4

(3 reviews)

"An illustrated novel from the acclaimed creator of Hellboy--with over 100 illustrations. In 1925, earthquakes and a rising sea level left Lower Manhattan submerged under more than thirty feet of water, so that its residents began to call it The Drowning City. Those unwilling to abandon their homes created a new life on streets turned to canals and in buildings whose first three stories are underwater.Fifty years have passed since then, and The Drowning City is full of scavengers and water rats, poor people trying to eke out an existence, and those too proud or stubborn to be defeated by circumstance. Among them are fourteen year old Molly McHugh and her friend and employer, Felix Orlov. Once upon a time Orlov the Conjuror was a celebrated stage magician, but now he is an old man, a psychic medium, contacting the spirits of the departed for the grieving loved ones left …

"An illustrated novel from the acclaimed creator of Hellboy--with over 100 illustrations. In 1925, earthquakes and a rising sea level left Lower Manhattan submerged under more than thirty feet of water, so that its residents began to call it The Drowning City. Those unwilling to abandon their homes created a new life on streets turned to canals and in buildings whose first three stories are underwater.Fifty years have passed since then, and The Drowning City is full of scavengers and water rats, poor people trying to eke out an existence, and those too proud or stubborn to be defeated by circumstance. Among them are fourteen year old Molly McHugh and her friend and employer, Felix Orlov. Once upon a time Orlov the Conjuror was a celebrated stage magician, but now he is an old man, a psychic medium, contacting the spirits of the departed for the grieving loved ones left behind. When a seance goes horribly wrong, Felix Orlov is abducted by strange men wearing gas masks and rubber suits. Molly finds herself on the run. Her flight leads her into the company of Simon Hodge, a Victorian detective who's kept himself alive with magic and steampunk mechanics, and the stalwart sidekick, Joe Golem, whose own past and true identity is a mystery to him, but who walks his own dreams as a man of stone and clay, brought to life for the sole purpose of hunting witches"--

"In 1925, earthquakes and a rising sea level left Lower Manhattan submerged under more than thirty feet of water, so that its residents began to call it The Drowning City. Those unwilling to abandon their homes created a new life on streets turned to canals and in buildings whose first three stories are underwater.Fifty years have passed since then, and The Drowning City is full of scavengers and water rats, poor people trying to eke out an existence, and those too proud or stubborn to be defeated by circumstance. Among them are fourteen year old Molly McHugh and her friend and employer, Felix Orlov. Once upon a time Orlov the Conjuror was a celebrated stage magician, but now he is an old man, a psychic medium, contacting the spirits of the departed for the grieving loved ones left behind. When a seance goes horribly wrong, Felix Orlov is abducted by strange men wearing gas masks and rubber suits. Molly finds herself on the run. Her flight leads her into the company of Simon Hodge, a Victorian detective who's kept himself alive with magic and steampunk mechanics, and the stalwart sidekick, Joe Golem, whose own past and true identity is a mystery to him, but who walks his own dreams as a man of stone and clay, brought to life for the sole purpose of hunting witches"--

1 edition

Maika reviewed Joe Golem and the drowning city by Michael Mignola

Review of 'Joe Golem and the drowning city' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

While I enjoyed this story enough to see it through to the end, there was something about the way the book was written that rubbed me the wrong way and had me forcing myself to resist putting it down unfinished. The plot, some of the characters, and particularly the setting (a post-apocalyptic, half-sunken New York where ghosts and old magic are real) were compelling, but the writing often felt like it would have served better as vivid description for an artist illustrating a graphic novel - Mike Mignola's illustrations were small and sparse, but enough to have me imagining how he would have drawn it all. While other times the book felt like it had been written for a younger audience - except I've read books for younger readers that didn't do what this one did, so perhaps that's an unfair comparison.

I felt like too much time was spent …

While I enjoyed this story enough to see it through to the end, there was something about the way the book was written that rubbed me the wrong way and had me forcing myself to resist putting it down unfinished. The plot, some of the characters, and particularly the setting (a post-apocalyptic, half-sunken New York where ghosts and old magic are real) were compelling, but the writing often felt like it would have served better as vivid description for an artist illustrating a graphic novel - Mike Mignola's illustrations were small and sparse, but enough to have me imagining how he would have drawn it all. While other times the book felt like it had been written for a younger audience - except I've read books for younger readers that didn't do what this one did, so perhaps that's an unfair comparison.

I felt like too much time was spent telling me things that I had either already been told (sometimes just a paragraph or page earlier) or precisely spelling out things that were easily gleaned from the already descriptive action and context. So more than a few times I encountered passages that felt redundant or overly expository. Some characters were sadly underdeveloped relative to their significance to other characters in the story. Dialogue often seemed unnaturally expository - even after adopting the idea that perhaps some of the characters simply spoke in a stylized manner. Basically the writing felt clumsy.

I agree with another reviewer who described this book as an extended prologue to another book. Looking back on it now, it's more or less a roundabout origin story for one character - a character who I feel has considerable potential. Perhaps that's because Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden intend to return to this tale. I hope they do as I'd like to see how the world and some of the characters develop, but I can't help wishing it would be as a full-fledged comic instead of a sparsely illustrated novel. For as much as I enjoyed the setting and story, I wanted to like this book a lot more than I actually did.

Ghalidrim

rated it

Dec. 12, 2012

Manzabar

rated it

Sept. 16, 2012

Subjects

Paranormal fiction
Private investigators
FICTION / Fantasy / Paranormal
Teenage girls
Fiction