The Soft Touch: A Low Town novella

Low Town #3.5

by Daniel Polansky

Time passes
Kings fall
Low Town endures

Low Town is the worst slum in the Empire, where lives are sold on the penny. Once its heir apparent, Wren returns after fifteen years to a city in turmoil, the syndicates feuding and the city on the brink of rebellion. Drawn into a tangled web of intrigue and murder, Wren finds himself the pawn in a conspiracy threatening to drive the Empire to war.

But all is not as it seems. Because Wren was trained by the most brilliant crime lord that ever lived—and he's come back to Low Town to find him.

Genres: Fantasy, Adult

176 pages, Paperback

Expected publication June 30, 2026

About the author

Daniel Polansky is the author of the Low Town trilogy, Empty Throne duology, the Hugo-nominated novella The Builders, and A City Dreaming. He can be found in Los Angeles, mostly.

Reviews

[Mark Lawrence]

This is described as a novella - whether it's technically a novella (fewer than 40,000 words) or just a short book, I don't know. I feel it must be nearly a book...

Anyway, I was a big fan of the Low Town trilogy. I think you could read this on its own, but I very much enjoyed its connections to the original.

The main character (who is the point of view for almost the entire book - I think we slip away from him very briefly) is Wren Gustav. Wren is returning to Low Town after an absence of 15 years. Fifteen years is also the time elapsed since the first Low Town book was published, and it's easy to imagine that many of Wren's thoughts and feelings on returning the city are in some manner projections of Polansky's own on returning to the subject.

So, we get a lot of the old Low Town vibe: drugs, criminal gangs, royalty, mages, the Black House and its secret agents and less secret police force. And that's all good fun. Wren is also fun. We get to see him rediscovering the place, and he's the one using the eponymous Soft Touch, albeit 'soft' only in comparison to the Low Town norm. But he does seem super-competent and to have some overarching plan, and it's nice to see him mess with these hardened criminals and devious agents.

There's also a peace deal with the empire's long-term enemy being signed, along with various objections and shenanigans, and uncertain tie ins to Wren's business.

Two random items I noticed and enjoyed were:

i) Long list-descriptions of the city that went on almost comically long but were entertaining in their variety.

ii) Wren repeatedly slows the pace and has philosophical discussions with probably six different major players wherein both sides lay out their thoughts on humanity in general, in the peace process, in the nature of peace, etc etc. These are fun and thoughtful, though perhaps more of an authorial indulgence than the likely product of such interactions. Wren's upbeat optimism takes a battering but he does cling pretty tightly to his faith in people as a whole.

And one point of confusion:

Who the hell is Samhael? This character popped up in a way that made me think he must have been introduced earlier and then that bit had been cut in an edit...


It's a relatively short tale, and with the main character being one of the mysteries we get to unravel, it does mean that there are impediments to the growing of emotional bonds between reader and character, which in turn means I was perhaps less invested in the outcome than I might have been.

In the end there are a number of twists, some more satisfying than others.

Overall, I'm reminded once more that Polansky is an excellent writer, and that it's sad we've not seen more of his work.

I had a good time reading this and I'm sure that other Low Town devotees will too. It may even lead more readers down the path to the original trilogy to enjoy its thrill and spills!



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[Jamedi]

Rtc

[Luke Scull · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE SOFT TOUCH is a pleasing return to Low Town that is set some years (decades?) after the trilogy. Returning to the city where he grew up, Wren must navigate the local crime bosses and unpick a conspiracy that threatens to derail a truce between the Empire and its longstanding enemy, the Dren.

Wren is a man who would very much love to be the open hand rather than the clenched fist, if the world but allowed it. Alas, even his considerable wit is insufficient to avoid bloodshed in a city crawling with lowlifes, double-crossers, and opportunists.

Polansky's writing is evocative, his dialogue snappy and clever, and his aptitude for painting a grimdark city canvas and populating it with morally repugnant figures still a match for the very best. The first half of the book is tremendous; the second wobbles a little, partly because one significant villain seems to appear out of nowhere, partly because the rollercoaster of plot twists and revelations is simply too fast and perhaps too convenient to be fully effective.

There were also one or two character moments involving Wren that seemed in active opposition to the outlook he was espousing a dozen pages earlier. This is a novella that embraces a certain kind of nihilism, which isn't necessarily a bad thing - it just left me slightly confused about Wren's ultimate goals.

Overall, however, a fine read. Fans of the trilogy will absolutely want to dive in. Those who have yet to read the trilogy are better served reading that first, as THE SOFT TOUCH ultimately spoils the ending of the third novel in definitive fashion.

[Drew McCaffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an advance review copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Daniel Polansky has pretty much always been an author I admire...even when I don't necessarily like or enjoy the stories he tells. The LOW TOWN trilogy was one such exercise, where I found his characters relentlessly compelling, his prose wonderful...and the story somewhat unsatisfying (especially after the first book).

THE SOFT TOUCH almost completely fixes that issue.

This book has all of Polansky's sparkling wit and deft touch with language, but it's also heartwarming (in a gritty, often bloody way) and almost cozy. One of the defining aspects of this story is its *hope*. And that was something I thought LOW TOWN was missing.

I enjoyed the hell out of this story. Highly recommend.

[Katerina Tsigkou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fifteen years after the events of She Who Waits, Wren returns to Low Town.

The Young Queen of the Empire is about to sign a treaty with the Dern. Wren finds himself in the middle of a conspiracy, that could bring everything down. Can he prove to be his father’s son, always one step ahead?

The Soft Touch is an excellent and well written novella. Not as Grim as the Low Town Trilogy, I would say it’s more lighthearted - besides the death and horrors - and it gives the reader hope, as similarities with our world as we know it are inevitable.

Really an enjoyable novella that can also be read as an introduction to Daniel Polansky’s world.

Thank you Adrian and Grimdark Magazine for the ARC.

[Fiona Denton · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Soft Touch was my introduction to the Lown Town world, and it was excellent.

I am a part of GdM, but I've had nothing to do with the production of The Soft Touch, and my rating is my own.

[Stacey Markle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damn! 5 star for sure. More review to come!