ssweeny reviewed The Grand Dark: A Novel by Richard Kadrey
The Grand Dark: A Novel
4 stars
I guess the term for this is "dieselpunk"? The book is set between the World Wars, in a fictional Eastern European city called Lower Proszawa. It's an old city with delineated neighborhoods by class and occupation, dominated by a giant arms factory. Also there are automata called "Maras" that run around doing everything from deliveries to policing.
The setting absolutely steals the show here. It feels lived in, and you can feel the tension in the people who want to celebrate victory in the previous war but can sense that another one is coming.
Much like the last Kadrey book I read, Metrophage, this one spends just a bit too long wallowing in all the ways the main character is a pathetic loser who wishes he was something more, but this time I think the arc is more satisfying, and once the action gets going it keeps up a nice …
I guess the term for this is "dieselpunk"? The book is set between the World Wars, in a fictional Eastern European city called Lower Proszawa. It's an old city with delineated neighborhoods by class and occupation, dominated by a giant arms factory. Also there are automata called "Maras" that run around doing everything from deliveries to policing.
The setting absolutely steals the show here. It feels lived in, and you can feel the tension in the people who want to celebrate victory in the previous war but can sense that another one is coming.
Much like the last Kadrey book I read, Metrophage, this one spends just a bit too long wallowing in all the ways the main character is a pathetic loser who wishes he was something more, but this time I think the arc is more satisfying, and once the action gets going it keeps up a nice clip.
Definitely recommend a read if you like dark retrofuturistic nonsense like I do.
