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X-Dimensional Assassin Zai Through the Unfolded Earth
Zai is an international assassin. He's not a super-spy or a ninja; he's just a resourceful guy with a smidgeon of tradecraft, a complete lack of conscience, and a love of travel. Really, it's all about the travel. So, when his new agency starts to send him on assignment to places that do not exist, it's a dream come true. A hidden continent colonized by refugees from sunken Atlantis; a secret space station where aliens come to trade with humanity; an aerostatic city-state that travels the Earth's stratosphere; a post-apocalyptic Faerie Land; a medieval village operated as both a theme park and a thaumaturgical research center... It's like he's unfolded a familiar map of the world and found an extra page. But the life of an x-dimensional hitman is not all hijinx and happy snaps. When Zai learns that one of his jobs was not properly sanctioned, he himself becomes a target. With one of his handlers gone rogue, can Zai trust his allies any better than his enemies?
- GenresScience Fiction
242 pages, Paperback
First published September 9, 2022
12 people want to read
About the author
Jason Franks
42 books34 followersJason Franks is a novelist and comics writer. His occult rock'n'roll novel Bloody Waters was an Aurealis Award finalist, and his dark fantasy Faerie Apocalypse a Ditmar nominee. His Sixsmiths graphic novels were shortlisted for a Ledger award.
Born in South Africa, Franks grew up in Melbourne, Australia. He has also lived in the United States and Japan.
Franks' upcoming work includes Frankenstein Monstrance, a comics miniseries with Tam Nation, and a sequel to Bloody Waters called Blackened Skies.
Born in South Africa, Franks grew up in Melbourne, Australia. He has also lived in the United States and Japan.
Franks' upcoming work includes Frankenstein Monstrance, a comics miniseries with Tam Nation, and a sequel to Bloody Waters called Blackened Skies.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 16, 2022
Jason Franks is at it again, creating a lively, unexpected world – or in this case, worlds – which seem almost familiar but are deliciously off-kilter, while he plays with and subverts tropes from a dozen different storytelling techniques.
The Zai of the title is a quiet, self-contained Japanese man. He likes to travel to new places with his ever-present camera recording the experience, conduct his business as efficiently and unobtrusively as possible, then return home to his beloved girlfriend, Michiko. Luckily for his travel ambitions, Zai is an assassin-for-hire and his speciality is arranging little accidents.
When Zai (his professional name) signs up with curious agency and finds his travel arrangements now sending him to places that don’t exist. Clone copies of cities, hidden continents, space stations and a post-apocalyptic Faerie (his Faerie Apocalypse world, perhaps?). A book – Doors and Ways - slips in and out of his possession, slowly revealing to Zai his X-Dimensional skills his missions escalate from murder to survival.
One of the many delights of X-Dimensional Assassin Zai is viewing the parade of warped action tropes through the non-Anglo eyes of the assassin and the various guides, directors and targets he encounters. His very dry humour also gives the reader some hilarious events, including Zai riding in the Wild Hunt mounted on a battle sheep.
The worlds get wilder and wilder, and the stakes get higher and higher for Zai too, as he is forced to shift from subtle arranger-of-mishaps to more public battles with guns blazing. The final trope is gently rendered as the reader hopes the best for this assassin anti-hero in holiday shirts.
All in all, another terrific book from Jason Franks.
The Zai of the title is a quiet, self-contained Japanese man. He likes to travel to new places with his ever-present camera recording the experience, conduct his business as efficiently and unobtrusively as possible, then return home to his beloved girlfriend, Michiko. Luckily for his travel ambitions, Zai is an assassin-for-hire and his speciality is arranging little accidents.
When Zai (his professional name) signs up with curious agency and finds his travel arrangements now sending him to places that don’t exist. Clone copies of cities, hidden continents, space stations and a post-apocalyptic Faerie (his Faerie Apocalypse world, perhaps?). A book – Doors and Ways - slips in and out of his possession, slowly revealing to Zai his X-Dimensional skills his missions escalate from murder to survival.
One of the many delights of X-Dimensional Assassin Zai is viewing the parade of warped action tropes through the non-Anglo eyes of the assassin and the various guides, directors and targets he encounters. His very dry humour also gives the reader some hilarious events, including Zai riding in the Wild Hunt mounted on a battle sheep.
The worlds get wilder and wilder, and the stakes get higher and higher for Zai too, as he is forced to shift from subtle arranger-of-mishaps to more public battles with guns blazing. The final trope is gently rendered as the reader hopes the best for this assassin anti-hero in holiday shirts.
All in all, another terrific book from Jason Franks.
December 21, 2022
Fantastic! Loved it! Review to follow.
May 30, 2023
If there’s one thing I’ve come to expect from Jason Franks at this point, it’s that he delights in delving into different genre tropes with the primary goal of taking a wrecking ball to them. In this case, he takes on the international-assassin-for-hire template, starts off a bit whimsical and gets progressively weird with it – in a good way. Zai is a Japanese hitman hired by a mysterious company based in Karachidor, a country that doesn’t exist – at least not on Earth as we know it. In fact, the Earth is multidimensional with various hidden realms, and the company wants Zai to travel to them and kill people.
This turns out to be a dream job for Zai, who is very good at assassination but is in it mainly for the tourism. Consequently, the first half of the book is sort of a mash-up of Lawrence Block’s Keller stories and Ursula K. Le Guin’s SF travelogues, with Zai being sent to a cloned medieval village, a secret space station, an aerostatic city-state and a post-apocalyptic Faerie Land, to name a few, where he spends as much time sightseeing and trying local food as he does assassinating. Then things take a turn for the worse when one of his employers goes rogue, after which we meet ninjas, wayward gods, refugees from Atlantis and kitsune spirits straight out of Studio Ghibli (with a possible John Carpenter homage thrown in).
Part of the fun is of course the different locations and cultures that Zai encounters, but the real appeal is that Zai is a rather likeable character (another first for a Franks novel, at least for me) for a cold-blooded assassin. And as someone who has done a lot of traveling myself, I can relate to his desire to explore local culture away from the tourist traps. Zai’s amiability also gives his final assignment and its denouement some extra emotional heft that would otherwise be lacking (and thus wouldn't have worked). All up, for me it’s his most enjoyable book since Bloody Waters.
This turns out to be a dream job for Zai, who is very good at assassination but is in it mainly for the tourism. Consequently, the first half of the book is sort of a mash-up of Lawrence Block’s Keller stories and Ursula K. Le Guin’s SF travelogues, with Zai being sent to a cloned medieval village, a secret space station, an aerostatic city-state and a post-apocalyptic Faerie Land, to name a few, where he spends as much time sightseeing and trying local food as he does assassinating. Then things take a turn for the worse when one of his employers goes rogue, after which we meet ninjas, wayward gods, refugees from Atlantis and kitsune spirits straight out of Studio Ghibli (with a possible John Carpenter homage thrown in).
Part of the fun is of course the different locations and cultures that Zai encounters, but the real appeal is that Zai is a rather likeable character (another first for a Franks novel, at least for me) for a cold-blooded assassin. And as someone who has done a lot of traveling myself, I can relate to his desire to explore local culture away from the tourist traps. Zai’s amiability also gives his final assignment and its denouement some extra emotional heft that would otherwise be lacking (and thus wouldn't have worked). All up, for me it’s his most enjoyable book since Bloody Waters.
September 25, 2023
I loved this funny, violent, wildly imaginative romp through increasingly fantastical cities and worlds, grounded by the tourist persona and dry, infallibly polite voice of our antihero, Zai. Zai is a cold-blooded assassin but he’s also a tourist—not only as a way of hiding in plain sight behind his camera and holiday shirts, but also with a genuine delight in travel which disarms the reader as much as his targets. Effortlessly genreblends in the best way.
July 23, 2023
Not sure if the author, Jason Franks, is a fan of Lawrence Block’s Keller series but that’s what initially Zai and his travelling assassin adventures (albeit not the cross dimensional parts) reminded me of. I guess most of the earlier chapters are establishing and world building but I found that the latter 2/3 of the book was much more addictive and page turning. Franks writes Zai in first person perspective and his humor is trademark non apologetic and sarcastic much like a lot his other heroes he has written but especially reminds me of his comic book series McBlack.
Perhaps Franks had found the sweet spot or the right tone for Zai, but the hunter becomes the hunted, the revenge/alt-Japan and alt-London chapters were all fantastical and probably my favourite parts from the book. Maybe it was also easier to imagine the alternate versions of places I’ve travelled to rather than the invented almost alien dimensions from the earlier chapters, too.
The growth of the character Zai is also wonderfully portrayed by Franks and I loved the interactions with all the other characters particularly so with poor misunderstood (for the most part) Rambo-san. I read that the best ending to a story or book is to be surprising but yet inevitable, and Franks ends Zai story in spades. However, if there’s ever a possibility of a sequel or Zai’s adventures continues, I hope Franks can explore more cross dimensional alternate versions of well known places as well as even time traveling historical events as hinted at Zai’s growing repertoire of abilities towards the finale.
Highly recommend this book to anyone interested in travel and exploring cross dimensional cultures!!
Perhaps Franks had found the sweet spot or the right tone for Zai, but the hunter becomes the hunted, the revenge/alt-Japan and alt-London chapters were all fantastical and probably my favourite parts from the book. Maybe it was also easier to imagine the alternate versions of places I’ve travelled to rather than the invented almost alien dimensions from the earlier chapters, too.
The growth of the character Zai is also wonderfully portrayed by Franks and I loved the interactions with all the other characters particularly so with poor misunderstood (for the most part) Rambo-san. I read that the best ending to a story or book is to be surprising but yet inevitable, and Franks ends Zai story in spades. However, if there’s ever a possibility of a sequel or Zai’s adventures continues, I hope Franks can explore more cross dimensional alternate versions of well known places as well as even time traveling historical events as hinted at Zai’s growing repertoire of abilities towards the finale.
Highly recommend this book to anyone interested in travel and exploring cross dimensional cultures!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 18, 2023
In...wait for it...X-Dimensional Assassin Zai Through the Unfolded Earth...*deep breath* Jason Franks has given us rollicking multidimensional adventure full of tongue-in-cheek humour. The worldbuilding here is phenomenal, and if there's one criticism, it's that it borders on overwhelming in places, but Jason manages to walk the line...perhaps performing one of those Chinese plate-spinning acts. Zai is a likable protagonist, going about an honest day's work with a can-do attitude and managing to have a little fun on the side. If the fountain of Jason's imagination doesn't dry up, as I suspect it won't, we can expect plenty more x-dimensional craziness from him.
November 10, 2023
Take a heap of fantasy and science fiction tropes, put a unique Franksian spin on them, and you get X-Dimensional Assassin Zai, a tale that is fresh and funny, engaging and inventive. Most enjoyable read I've had all year.
May 11, 2023
This was a very fun read, the sort of book that you can't wait to pick up the next day. Despite the fact that our main character has questionable ethics, you can't help but want him to succeed.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews