City of Saints and Madmen: The Book of Ambergris

by Jeff Vandermeer

Once upon a time, on the banks of the River Moth, a city sprang up like no other in or out of history. Founded on the blood of the original inhabitants, the stealthy gray caps, and steeped for centuries in the aftermath of that struggle, Ambergris has become a cruelly beautiful metropolis--a haven for artists and thieves, for composers and murderers. City includes the World Fantasy Award-winning novella The Transformation of Martin Lake.

This is the first edition containing four novellas:

"Dradin, In Love"
"An Early History of Ambergris"
"The Transformation of Martin Lake"
"The Strange Case of X"

Genres: Fantasy, Weird Fiction, Horror, Short Stories, Science Fiction Fantasy, Science Fiction

219 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2001

About the author

NYT bestselling writer Jeff VanderMeer has been called “the weird Thoreau” by the New Yorker for his engagement with ecological issues. His most recent novel, the national bestseller Borne, received wide-spread critical acclaim and his prior novels include the Southern Reach trilogy (Annihilation, Authority, and Acceptance). Annihilation won the Nebula and Shirley Jackson Awards, has been translated into 35 languages, and was made into a film from Paramount Pictures directed by Alex Garland. His nonfiction has appeared in New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Atlantic, Slate, Salon, and the Washington Post. He has coedited several iconic anthologies with his wife, the Hugo Award winning editor. Other titles include Wonderbook, the world’s first fully illustrated creative writing guide. VanderMeer served as the 2016-2017 Trias Writer in Residence at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. He has spoken at the Guggenheim, the Library of Congress, and the Arthur C. Clarke Center for the Human Imagination.

VanderMeer was born in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, but spent much of his childhood in the Fiji Islands, where his parents worked for the Peace Corps. This experience, and the resulting trip back to the United States through Asia, Africa, and Europe, deeply influenced him.

Jeff is married to Ann VanderMeer, who is currently an acquiring editor at Tor.com and has won the Hugo Award and World Fantasy Award for her editing of magazines and anthologies. They live in Tallahassee, Florida, with two cats and thousands of books.

Reviews

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is excellent stuff. Jeff VanderMeer takes influence from the baroque, surreal fantasists of yesteryear, such as Mervyn Peake, Lord Dunsany, or even H.P. Lovecraft (in his less horrific moments), and combines this influence with the more modern elements of steampunk and urban fantasy that can be seen in authors like China Mieville. Out of this mix, he has created his own world, which mostly focuses on the city of Ambergris, a sprawling riverside land that has fallen into functional anarchy after decades of benign neglect by its rulers. In these four novellas, Ambergris is the true main character, rather than any of the people who appear in the stories, and it's the unique elements of Ambergris--the "mushroom dwellers", Albumuth Boulevard, famous composer Voss Bender, Hoegbotton and Sons, etc.--that give this book its narrative unity, despite focusing on completely different characters from one story to another. "Dradin In Love" starts things off with a tale of an apostate priest who has come to Ambergris in search of a job and finds love, in the form of a woman he spies through a third-story window. We are first introduced to Ambergris through the naive and quite possibly insane eyes of Dradin, and what we see colors our opinion both of the city and of Dradin himself. The second story, "The Hoegbotton Guide To The Early History of Ambergris by Duncan Shriek", is completely different in tone, purporting to be a historical overview of Ambergris and maintaining that tone throughout the main text. Said main text is subverted, however, by copious footnotes in which we learn more and more about the character who authors the historical overview, Duncan Shriek. His feuds with other historians and personal place in the history of Ambergris is slowly illuminated through these footnotes, and they make an already interesting fictional history far more entertaining. The third story, "The Transfiguration Of Martin Lake", combines elements of the first two stories, switching as it does from art criticism penned by Janice Shriek, giving a detailed analysis of the major paintings of Martin Lake for yet another Hoegbotton Guide, to a narrative about the life of Martin Lake, specifically an episode that sheds light on why he painted the things he did in the first place. Finally, we end with "The Strange Case of 'X'", a shorter story with an atmosphere of creeping horror and an entertaining if somewhat predictable twist ending. This is the least substantial of the four stories here, and although it is entertaining, it's not as fascinating as the world-building and the mysterious twilight atmosphere of the three preceding stories.

Apparently "City Of Saints And Madmen" is now available in a much longer and more expanded edition, with 700 pages instead of 200. I have this version on order and look forward to reading the additional content when it arrives. However, for now, I'm quite satisfied with the shorter edition that I read, and feel that it stands on its own as a significant and entertaining work.

Addendum, 5/24/08: Not long after finishing this original version of "City Of Saints And Madmen", I obtained the expanded 2006 edition, which features something like a dozen extra stories and other miscellaneous pieces tacked on (as mentioned above). All of these works were added as an "AppendiX", purporting to be a collection of documents found in Patient X's room after he disappeared (fear not, that is not a spoiler for "The Strange Case of 'X'"). Some of these were even better than the four original novellas, in particular "The Cage", a story that purports to be written by Ambergris-based writer Sirin. This one scared the crap out of me, I don't mind telling you. Some of the more surreal and meta- stories included in the Appendix, such as "King Squid", a fake scientific monograph, and "The Exchange", a story published as an illustrated booklet, each page of which features copious annotations by "X", were interesting not only as stories themselves but also as artifacts that had greater meaning in the context of the rest of the book. Vandermeer was already moving towards these multiple-level conceits with some of the original stories, especially "The Hoegbotton Guide To The Early History Of Ambergris, by Duncan Shriek", but he takes them to a higher level with some of the stories attached in the appendix, and as a result, I can now say with authority that a reader won't get the full experience of reading this book unless they read the expanded version.

[Marcus Johnston · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Cthulhu by another name, but set in another world, and it is incredibly well done. Two things when reading this - It's a series of five novellas and the first story is disappointing. But once you get past that... Amazing. Just skip the first fifty pages.

[Daniel Polansky]

Four shorts which are loosely connected as being about, in some way, the fantastical city of Ambergris, sort of a 1920's New York built atop a Lovecraftian abyss, although this is to exaggerate the degree to which the stoplacery ever really becomes clear. Each story is sufficiently different as to make a general review sort of useless – two have a normal-ish narrative structure, one purports to be a historical pamphlet regarding the early years of the city's existence. I applaud anyone who attempts to do anything innovative in the fantasy genre, stale as it tends to get, and while none of these stories blew my brains out of the back of my skull they were weird and sometimes scary and generally enjoyable. I'll keep my eye out for something else by VanderMeer next time I'm wondering through the Strand.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read the four stories here plus The Cage from the appendices of a later edition, which are all that's included in the Ambergris Omnibus. Really great, though I recommend tracking down the other stories as well.

[Bibi Renssen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Consisting of two short stories, a history of Ambergris (never have I laughed this much while reading footnotes), and a mind bending last chapter, this book was strange and disturbing, yet hauntingly beautiful. Ambergris feels magnetic and VanderMeer writes about it with such a mashup of fantasy and surrealism that the reading itself feels unsettling and intriguing and the place feels as real as any other. Written at times almost like a strange textbook (or guidebook as the book itself would call it), City of Saints and Madmen is a densely informative reading journey unlike any I’ve had in fiction and one that I really enjoyed.

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jumpin cats! What an overwhelming accomplishment. I wasn't liking this very much when I started it, but I hung in there and was richly rewarded. Vandermeer has one of the most formidable imaginations I have ever encountered. I don't want to start blabbing and spoil your journey, but if you want to experience something incredible unfold before you, then read this sucker my friend. Read this sucker....

[Nicholas · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 of the stories are very good. History of the city of Ambergris, not so much.

[Ryan Berger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: I read this as part of an overall anthology of Vandermeer's Ambergris trilogy. It's surprisingly hard to find a comparable thing to log on GR. Apparently, the other paperback versions of this book are around 700 pages. I've seen the physical book in a store and I have a hard time believing that's accurate. Unless there's some crazy font-fuckery going on, there seems to be more content in those editions. Mine only contained "Dradin, In Love", "The Hogebotton Guide to an Early History of Ambergris", "The Cage", "The Transformation of Martin Lake", and "The Strange Case of X". So, this is the closest I could find. Man, I'd love to read that Moorcock introduction. Also, I read this last year at the time of logging this.

Vandermeer's Ambergris is one of the most underrated settings I think I've come across. He's just an unfathomably underrated writer in general, especially of his not-explicitly SF stuff (even if he doesn't take up the mantle of a true-blue SF writer. Disappointing, but I forgive you, Jeff!) like what speed Ambergris coasts in.

"Dradin, In Love" really rips your face off to begin this collection. The first page is so spellbinding, so effective, and so devious with how it will set things up for later that it cannot help but stick out in my memory, clear as day, almost a year later. So many lines in this opening stretch of narration are things I can recite from memory ("The most secret part of the whale" part stands out), up there with the beginning of Le Guin's Lathe of Heaven in my mental cannon. Vandermeer sweeps you up very quickly in this character and this inch-wide-and-a-mile-deep world of Ambergris that you cannot help but fall in love with it immediately.

"Early History of Ambergris" was fun. Told in the style of a history book about the conflicts, circumstances, and ghost stories that built the titular story. Vandermeer dials down the prose flourishes in favor of putting more hooks in you and going *way* up on the worldbuilding, but it's a fun change for a short story collection. If it were a typical novel I might call it uneven. But that is a great secret weapon for this setting, and I must admit I'd love to see the author take another stab at this world of his.

"The Cage" is short, yet very visceral and effective. Probably the most overt horror story of the collection, though they're all varying levels of depraved.

"The Transformation of Martin Lake" is one of my favorite short stories/novellas of all time. The crown jewel of the collection. The way Vandermeer creates a kind of fictional commune of artists akin to New Yorks Greenwich Village or Hemmingway's Paris is breathtaking, and the meta-narrative about art and the artist is enough to make a bleeding heart artist cry. The plot at the center regarding the struggling painter Martin Lake is also unforgettable. One of my personal favorite things I've ever read, though I think a lot of the significance is special to me and only me.

Unfortunately, "The Strange Case of X" was mostly a big nothing to round out the collection. I won't spoil the gimmick but it wears out its welcome at light speed, and while I did enjoy the kind of "wait is he kidding haha what the fuck" the same way you size up a potentially dangerous, yet talkative person on the subway, but I can't say I found it all that interesting.

For a short collection, you might be tempted to way what's here equally and end up with basically a quarter of the collection as lame and forgettable. But that would be foolish. At least two of these stories are show stoppers, A+ Hall of Fame genre-fiction short stories, with two more high quality ones bringing up the rear.

Disgustingly underrated. The book that turned me into a Vandermeer acolyte.

[Patrick Wikstrom · Rating 2 out of 5]

A whole new fantasy world is imagined by the author in which he places a series of diverse characters who inhabit parts and places in the land of Ambergris. Almost seems like a series of mini novellas plopped into the same landscape, the central characters of each one don’t link up along the way or near the end of this 800+ page volume. The author includes lots of background information about his world in the form of an Ambergris Glossary, the notes of the psychiatrist who studies a main character, a section about the societies myths, a bibliography about squid which feature prominently in the massive second part of the book called King Squid section. If you’re intrigued by fantastic fantasy lands this book may be just right for you. I gave it a whole hearted try but wasn’t caught up by the concept. 2**

[Tripp]

Collection of brilliant novellas that often take the shape of other genres--a guidebook to the world of Ambergris, a glossary, an art history commentary, and so on--and that pack more seamless world-building into its trim page count than many multi-volume fantasy series manage in their thousands of pages. And the language never rests, always presenting new arrangements, as if a grand symphony included the magical improvisations of jazz.

[Alanna Mercy-Marshall · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most unusual book I've ever read. I loved it.

[Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The version I finished is the original four novellas plus “the cage” (i.e. the version included in the Ambergris Omnibus collection of the trilogy). Weird! Cool!

[Halle Mah · Rating 2 out of 5]

this book took me way too long to read.. very intricate, but interesting concepts. I dont think im gonna continue the series

[Victor · Rating 5 out of 5]

coolest method to world building i have read or heard of. so dense. so confusing. in a very good way. It was a mystery where the pay off was understanding ambergris

[Euan · Rating 5 out of 5]

City of Saints and Madmen from the get go was absolutely a new favourite- as I'd hoped, seeing it compared to so many books I liked, and as one of the bigger New Weird series I hadn't read. Of the stories in (my copy of, in the omnibus) CoSaM, I liked them in the order most to least: Dradin, in Love, The Transformation of Martin Lake, The Hoegbotton Guide to an Early History of Ambergris, The Cage, and The Strange Case of X. I think the only one which wasn't a 'favourite' on it's own right was The Strange Case of X, but all were 5/5. Favourite for me is that extra little "something" beyond 5/5, where it just resonates with me. For X, I think it was mostly just suffering in comparison to the others- it wasn't as much fun as traipsing around Ambergris, and I wasn't quite enamoured with the "author-analogue insert". It was a fun conceit though, and done excellently well- somewhere else, or as a full novel with expanded hopping back and forth, it might have been a favourite too. Dradin and Martin Lake in particular landed excellently with me, using the short format to glean just the most exciting and compelling elements of the descent from normality into bizarreness. The History of Ambergris, as well as laying a lot of the groundwork for what comes in Shriek and Finch, played into my love of fictional documents/non-fiction from a setting.

[Octavia Cade · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read one of the Ambergris novels a little while ago and really enjoyed it - hence the decision to read this. It's a collection of four novellas, and it doesn't really match Shriek for enjoyment value. To be honest, it's really more two and a half stars, rounded up. It's not the prose, which is certainly accomplished. It's not the setting, which I continue to find fascinating. It's certainly not the sly sense of humour that underpins it all, which I really enjoy. I think it's the length. Which is an odd thing to say about short(er) fiction, as I usually love it, but this wandered on far too long for my taste. The book's introduced by Michael Moorcock, and he compares VanderMeer to Mervyn Peake, who is one of my absolute favourite fantasy writers (coincidentally, I've recently been rereading Peake, in editions also introduced by Moorcock). There's some justification in this - especially in that baroque, grotesque, often comic tone that both writers use. Peake wanders in his prose as well, far more than Vandermeer, but the difference is I never find myself thinking "Would you just get on with it already!" with Peake, and there were numerous places in City of Saints and Madmen where this was the only thing I was thinking. Peake's prose is sharper, more biting, more grotesque - more compelling, as far as I'm concerned.

I tell you though, despite the often enjoyable muted black humour in this collection, there was one moment of real laughter. In the glossary of "The Hoegbotton Guide to the Early History of Ambergris", the entry for SCATHA describes it as "A wretched place, full of novelists who think 500 words where one will suffice is a sign of sophistication. Ambassadors from Scatha have rarely liked Ambergris very much" (138). I am choosing to read this as the twisted self-deprecation I hope it to be.

[Brad · Rating 3 out of 5]

I suppose all fantasy worlds are collages of some sort. Your standard derivative Tolkien stuff, your D&D and high fantasy, is all a vaguely medieval Western Europe, with some drastically altered Eastern Europe folk tale stuff added (I'm thinking trolls and elves and whatnot), with an altered form of Greek deities added. But that format has become so widely used that it seems homogeneous and normal.

VanderMeer's Ambergris is certainly different, if not vividly so; his fantasy city isn't medieval, but roughly Victorian, or even early 20th century. He's as likely to look to other novels for inspiration over old folk tales or mythologies. It, too, is a collage of different historical periods, different cultures, and different books, all served up with a self-conscious postmodernism (if that isn't redundant) that proves VanderMeer ain't Delany. Mostly, it's the urban setting that turns VanderMeer's tales away from heroic quests and into the realm of the personal and interpersonal. And that strikes me as the right direction for fantasy to be going in.

This edition of City of Saints and Madmen is four novellas; two of them, "Dradin, in Love" and "The Transformation of Martin Lake" are quite good; the annotated history of Ambergris is all right, though I found that I didn't actually want to know the history of the city, and that the format (multiple lengthy footnotes, a long appendix) detracted from the overall narrative; the final story, "The Strange Case of X," is fucking terrible. Still, the strengths of the good stories were such that I'm interested in reading the extended edition of the collection, and perhaps some other works by VanderMeer.

[Frank · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the things I like most about fiction is the concept of world building. To create an alternate reality so captivating & fully realized that it not only feels like a real place, but a place almost preferable to reality. It's why I've been drawn to fantasy & sci-fi writing, it's why I'm such a huge D&D nerd & it's certainly a part of why I love video games. Worlds like Ed Greenwood's Faerûn, Terry Pratchet's Discworld, William Gibson's Sprawl & video games like the Suikoden series are places where my mind has often wandered & wondered what it would be like to actually live within them. I'm sure I'm not alone here & this collection of short stories of VanderMeer's Ambergris only proves that.

I was already pulled in by the first story, "Dradin, In Love", but when I noticed the next story was a heavily footnoted "history", complete with referential glossary, I knew I had found an author who gets as lost in the worlds he creates as I do as a reader. Then I continued reading...

Without giving anything away, I will conclude by saying that this collection of stories is not only a remarkable work of fiction with fantastic imagery and intense plotting, but it was also a book which made me think hard on what it is that makes people attracted to this kind of fiction in the first place. Any work that causes a certain level of introspection deserves some credit, and I can't give this one enough of it

[Dale Philbrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

The version of "City of Saints and Madmen" that I read consisted of four novellas about the city of Ambergris (I've read reviews of newer publications of the book which contain more stories). The first story "Dradin In Love" is a seemingly straightforward story of a man seeking the affections of a glimpsed stranger. But the story devolves into a violent introduction to the traditions of Ambergris. I found the second story, a travel guide/early history of Ambergris, to be the most interesting and satisfying. The history of the city is rich and horrific and a the style of the narrarator adds a touch of humor. I really enjoyed this history. "The Transformation of Martin Lake" tells the story of Ambergris's most celebrated artist and provides more insight into the political and artistic history of the city. The final tale blurred the line between fiction and perception as the author and creator of Ambergris is questioned about his sanity when he claims that Ambergris actually exists. These stories paint a rich and scary history of the city and I can't wait to read more about it.

I have purchased a different version of this book that contains about 300 more pages of stories and I'm looking forward to reading them.

[Nicholas Whyte]

http://nhw.livejournal.com/22001.html[return][return]City narratives are always great (China Mi

[Ash · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so good! It makes me hella suspicious of mushrooms though.

[Mpho3 · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 1/2 stars

[Velvetink]

*note to self. Copy from A.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn't love all of this, in fact, I didn't even read the last story in the collection. But enough of these stories are striking and fascinating, the book is worth the read.

[Ben · Rating 2 out of 5]

"The Transformation of Martin Lake" is excellent--the other novellas are a slog.