Paperback, 212 pages
English language
Published Oct. 12, 2021 by Bad Intentions Press.
Welcome to Crooked, the first volume of a new anthology series from Bad Intentions Press.
You'll find Teppo's retrieval job gone very, very wrong (or has it?). You'll find Eric Warren's gunrunner getting a second chance and Greg Dragon's smuggler surviving on the edge. Jessie Kwak's bodyguard dealing with a simple job that got quite complicated, Kate Sheeran Swed's unlikely bounty hunter getting her feet underneath her, and Wade Peterson's fighting bot showing its fiercely loyal heart.
The law is represented in this collection, too — you'll find Benjamin Gorman's take on an interspecies police investigation and Mark Niemann-Ross's story of near-future intellectual property noir.
The goal of the Crooked anthology series is to introduce you as the reader to authors who are currently writing sci-fi crime stories, and give you a glimpse into their worlds.
An interesting premise but the writing is mediocre.
Set in a ruined interwar Paris in the aftermath of a war in heaven. Fallen angels operate gangs controlling the city, once led by House Silverspires, based in Notre Dame, which now exists in terminal decline following the vanishing of its leader Morningstar.
Bit of a murder mystery, a bit of politicking, and plenty of dark fantasy. I felt the set-up was awesome but not sure it carried through my expectations off the back of it and could have done with a bit more hope against the darkness. Certainly entertaining nonetheless if you enjoy a dark fantasy vibe with plenty of French and Vietnamese tones to it.
Particularly loved the world building on this one more than the characters.
Well - I'm biased, but I think this is a great collection and I'm proud to be published alongside these authors. Well done, Jessie!
In an alternate Paris, fallen angels rule the city. The Great War left its mark on the city, leaving the Seine polluted and grand landmarks in ruins. When Phllipe is present when Isabel falls, he is drawn into House Silverspires, who live surrounded by the remains of Notre Dame.
I just loved the world created by Aliette de Bodard, twining together elements from both sides of her heritage (Vietnamese and French). Paris is recognisable but changed. None of the fallen know why they were banished from Heaven, but what remains of their power has helped them rise above the humans.
The houses are all at a sort of stalemate, all of them seek power but no one wants another war, so they circle each other, on the look out for weaknesses. When Phillipe finds a mirror which appears to hold memories of the first fallen, Morningstar, little does he know …
In an alternate Paris, fallen angels rule the city. The Great War left its mark on the city, leaving the Seine polluted and grand landmarks in ruins. When Phllipe is present when Isabel falls, he is drawn into House Silverspires, who live surrounded by the remains of Notre Dame.
I just loved the world created by Aliette de Bodard, twining together elements from both sides of her heritage (Vietnamese and French). Paris is recognisable but changed. None of the fallen know why they were banished from Heaven, but what remains of their power has helped them rise above the humans.
The houses are all at a sort of stalemate, all of them seek power but no one wants another war, so they circle each other, on the look out for weaknesses. When Phillipe finds a mirror which appears to hold memories of the first fallen, Morningstar, little does he know he's opened Silverspires up to something dark.
Phillipe is an immortal, unable to return to his homeland (an alternative version of Vietnam). He hates what the fallen stand for and is angry at being bound to Silverspires. Yet, he has a bond with the new fallen, Isabelle, who is an innocent in all this. The fallen represent colonialism, using their power to spread across the globe, ruling where they don't belong. But then the fallen are also exiles of a kind. I hope the other books explain a bit more of the history of this world and explore how the fallen came to be.
Then there's the house alchemist, addicted to the ground up bones of the fallen and trying to block out the memories of her previous house. The bodies of fallen possess power and when one dies, it's important to harvest every last drop. But this power isn't for humans, and Madeleine is slowly killing herself. She turns to drugs because reality is too hard to bear.
As well as all these fantastic characters, there are the power struggles of the houses, not all of them as kind as Silverspires. Plus the plot lines of the dark forces unleashed by Phillipe, if accidentally, and the mystery of who is behind it.
It took me a little while to get into, just because of all the elements. Once I'd absorbed the world and characters, I loved it. A breath of fresh air in a genre so often dominated by US and UK settings.
