The Drowning City

The Necromancer Chronicles #1

by Amanda Downum

Symir -- the Drowning City. home to exiles and expatriates, pirates and smugglers. And violent revolutionaries who will stop at nothing to overthrow the corrupt Imperial government.

For Isyllt Iskaldur, necromancer and spy, the brewing revolution is a chance to prove herself to her crown. All she has to do is find and finance the revolutionaries, and help topple the palaces of Symir. But she is torn between her new friends and her duties, and the longer she stays in this monsoon-drenched city, the more intrigue she uncovers -- even the dead are plotting.

As the waters rise and the dams crack, Isyllt must choose between her mission and the city she came to save.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Urban Fantasy, High Fantasy, Magic, Paranormal, Dark Fantasy

351 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 1, 2009

Reviews

[Bookwraiths · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally reviewed at Bookwraiths.

The Drowning City by Amanda Downing is an ambitious book with a penchant for compelling prose and a gray characters, centered in a beautifully rendered city with a Southeast Asian flavor. While it did not fully realize its potential, I must give credit to the author for aiming high and nearly reaching her lofty goals.

Symir. The Drowning City. A trading metropolis filled with pirates, revolutionaries, and spies, constantly in fear of being washed away by the mighty Mir River or destroyed by the lurking volcano nearby. Only magically wards holding back certain annihilation. The dearly bought peace allowing revolutionary fever to seethe to the surface, threatening to blow the city apart!

When Isyllt Iskaldur and her two bodyguards, Adam and Xinai, sail into the grand harbor they know that the city is a ticking time bomb. In fact, that is why they have come, for the Assari Empire’s covetous eyes have been wandering toward her northern neighbors, and only internal problems will stop the Empire’s inevitable invasion. And Isyllt, master necromancer and spy, intends to fan the flames of unrest until just such an event rips Symir apart.

Once settled, Isyllt’s local contact with the rebels quickly becomes an idealistic youth named Zhirin. This young woman having been caught up in the revolutionary spirits of the city by her relationship with a young man. And though Zhirin’s family has grown prosperous by cooperating with the Empire, she is willing to risk it all to aid Isyllt in providing aid to the rebels, unaware that her benefactor’s motives might not be completely altruistic.

Meanwhile, Isyllt’s guard Xinai finds that returning home to Symir has affected her more than she ever imagined. Her path taking her away from her companions and back to the people who aided her escape to the north after her village was massacred by the Imperials and their local collaborators so long ago. The unexpected ghosts of the past quickly catching Xinai up in the spirit of revolution and leading ehr down a road she never expected to take.

From this combustible mixture, circumstances quickly spiral out of control. More than one revolutionary group fighting against imperial occupation. Their methods very different: one willing to kill enemy and innocent alike, while the other seeks a less destructive path to freedom. Isyllt forced to fight against her own conscious, as her actions escalate events, pushing the unaware citizens toward a struggle that will cause untold destruction and death. Her use of the unsuspecting Zhirin causing more than a little guilt. Events leading to a near inevitable end.

Without a doubt, Amanda Downum does an excellent job in The Drowning City of creating the living, breathing city of Symir. It is vividly described, amazingly realistic, and hopelessly wracked with division and revolutionary violence. The clashing views of the citizens – whether Imperial, rebel, collaborator, or neutral individual – wonderfully explored, especially the emotional struggles of characters after suicide bombings kill innocents. The senseless deaths the catalyst for much soul searching and more than a little self-justification, as characters reconcile their own guilt with their desires to free their city or protect their country from invasion. I can’t say I always agreed with their decisions, but they were powerful and gripping.

Another triumph here is Isyllt and her necrotic talents. This smooth-as-silk spy one cool customer, calculated yet emotional, deadly yet compassionate. Her talent for necromancy deftly done by Downum with enough explanation to give her ghostly magic a feel of reality yet not so much as to strip it of its tantalizing mystery. With so much still unrevealed about her, I can’t wait to read more about her.

But this was not a perfect book. Far from it. From tedious beginning to uninspiring romantic plots to unrealistic outcomes, there were more than a few elements which caused this narrative to underperform. And toward the end, even the mesmerizing local itself served more as a distraction than a compliment to the narrative, draining whatever momentum the story had achieved. As I said earlier, Amanda Downum aimed high with this novel, but she just wasn’t quite able to pull everything together to reach the full potential of this story.

Filled with mystery and magic, set in a wonderfully envisioned world, The Drowning City was an entertaining look at terrorism in a fantasy setting, and its lead character, Isyllt, has all the traits of developing into a memorable character. No, the novel did not completely satisfy me, but I will still be searching for the next book in the series, interested to see how Amanda Downum continues to develop this intriguing world.

[Eh?Eh! · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pre-RBRS #12

This is a serviceable fantasy. There was nothing I can point to that was awful or wrong, but it was just...plain. If I'd read it a few years back, I probably would've liked it quite a bit. I'm just not wild about multi-volume epics just because they're multi-volume epics anymore.

The author renames cultures for her world, mostly Filipinos and Egyptians, but there were also Romans and I think Russians (maybe that one popped up in the 2nd book?). I can't remember the new names so I'll use the old ones. A Roman necromancer comes to the Egyptian-conquered Filipino empire in order to stir up rebellion. See, the Romans feared indications of the Egyptians' continuing empire-building turning towards them, and thought to pre-emtively halt these expansionist plans before they're acted upon. The necromancer, her name is Isyllt, is accompanied by a pair of bodyguards, a native American tank of a man and his Filipino co-warrior. They meet a half-breed magic student who has what becomes an important connection to the river and another mage who is more than he seems. The Filipino warrior abandons her charge to join the rebellion. There is a nearby volcano.

Downum does explore patriotism with her rival rebel groups, one pursuing economic disruption and the other using violence against foreigners and collaborators. Is the connection to the land more important than family? Is it a betrayal to make the best of the situation, instead of fighting and dying? Also just about all her strong characters (strong in will, strong in power, not too strongly described) are women. There were quite a few different combinations of mother-daughter conflict.

I thought many, most, of the revelations were too convenient, someone coming in with an overheard remark or vital piece of info just in time. It took quite a while for things to unfold, which could've been compressed with writing (as in, not chewing over every movement but using transitions such as "and then" or "a few hours later"). Isyllt was injured more and more for most of the last half of the book, and it was wearying to read of another burn on her already slashed arm with the stabbed hand.

Ah, I forgot about the necromancy. There are a bunch of rules of what can and can't be done with that power. It just didn't glow. I don't know that it was because of the author's style, but it felt as mundane as pulling out a hammer to nail something down instead of awe-inspiring, despite everyone turning white with fear when they realized what Isyllt could do. I think it's me.

It was an okay book. I hear the next one is much better.

[mark monday · Rating 2 out of 5]

well, it started okay. this review will be rather short and lame because honestly the good parts of the novel were fairly short and the rest was rather lame. the first third starts out well and i was willing to suspend any criticism of the surprisingly weepy protagonist because the atmosphere was wonderfully evoked and the protagonist's profession - a necromancer who is also a rebellion-fomenting spy! - is fascinating. "The Drowning City" itself is an absorbing place and the frequent use of magic was well-done: learned magic is separated into various arts and seem to also be based around various elements, as well as charms that non-mages can use; the supernatural is also present in a wide variety of beasties, spirits, and ghosts (especially ghosts). the confusion and irritation started coming during the second section, where the mishmash of cultures (rather stereotypical depictions of 'oriental' culture that are coming into conflict with a rather less stereotypical depiction of an imperialistic 'arab' culture) began to seriously annoy me. the coincidences also began to arrive, to eye-rolling effect. and finally, the third portion: far too rushed, far too sentimental, far too clichéd. in the end the overall feeling i was left with was exasperation instead of the curiousity i should have had for further adventures. still, the use of magic was plentiful and enjoyable, so if that is what you are looking for, this novel will not disappoint in that regard.

[Hirondelle (not getting notifications)]

I can´t read this. It sounded great, so great I spent (wasted) one of my precious 2011 book buying slots on it (don´t ask. Or do, if you want a long explanation). The setting is interesting, seems like there is a political intrigue plot, and the tone of the story overall reminded me a bit of early Flewelling. All of these are good things for me. But the writing was driving me mad till I finally decided to just quit and go read something else.

Probably it´s me, not the author, lots of people seem to have been able to process the writing on this book. Me, I just had to reread paragraph after paragraph to make sure who a pronoun refers to, or if the strange made up word is one that already has been referred to, or is a place in the map or what on earth it means. It was almost a chore to read this, since I had to make a conscious, concerted effort to try to understand the foreign words, with little pay-off for that effort.

Examples:

- Short jerky sentence structure. Like this. But worse. Sentences without verbs.
- Erratic pronouns. Or non existent ones. Sometimes you do not know who the pronouns in sentences are, if it is the character we started the paragraph with and who is the PoV for the scene, or if it is somebody else mentioned in paragraph (I think sometimes it´s one, sometimes the other). Particles also sometimes elided. "And now Rahal al Seth sat the Lion Throne". Uh?
- Sentences which just seem clumsy to me things like Ward-posts lined the road, simple charms to keep predators away and something else, a spell to hold the stones steady if the earth shook.. Or things like "Whatever native families had lived there were long gone. I do not think the native families were indeterminate or in infinite number? Whatever anyway.
- Personal pet peeve (it might very well be just me), some repetitiveness in the first lines of chapters. Chapter 2 "Isyllt and Adam crossed...", chapter 3 "Isyllt and Adam found...", chapter 4 "Isyllt woke...", chapter 6 "Isyllt and Adam returned..." . Later it changes to consistently Zirhin something, hopefully Zirhin develops a brain in the later parts of the series (I had some problem with the plot in bits of Zirhin´s PoV I made my way through).
- And last but not least, the total overdose of made up words (and concepts) with very little contextual information to allow us to remember what is the meaning or to keep track of what Sivahara, Selafaïn, or meliket refer to.

So, a few chapters and I do not care to keep reading. There is a story here almost surely, but the way that story is being told just put me off. Next.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Again, I wish Goodreads had a slightly more granular rating system, because this novel is a very solid 3.5.

Amanada Downum's debut is more of everything than I was honestly expecting-- more strongly executed, more vividly described, more willing to blow anything and everything sky-high in a startling climax. Not many first-time novelists are willing to smash an intricate setting, but Downum fuses confidence with unpredictability and goes for the gusto in her last act. The Drowning City is an intriguing blend of espionage, murder mystery, culture clash, and colonial criticism. Some of the moral argument loses its tension when one of the story's factions drops all pretense of restraint and goes on a kill-crazy rampage, but as far as first-novel problems go that's a mild blemish. This is a brisk, well-calculated and atmospheric novel; I wish I'd read it sooner.

[notyourmonkey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two things make this book for me: 1) interesting worldbuilding and 2) oh my god the female characters. They're everywhere! Doing everything! With, like, complexity! And depth! And differing motivations!

In fact, I think this book fails the reverse Bechdel test (I don't think there are two male characters who have conversations about anything other than the women in this book), and I find the change so unexpected and delightful, I'm beside myself.

Extra bonus of all the women but one (who is the mainest of the three or so main characters but omg not the only woman!) being non-white. There's pretty clear parallels here - Europeans, East Asians, Arabs - and some of the broad, sweeping racial generalizations constructed by the plot of this book (Arabs are the oppressing empire! the Asians are oppressed, downtrodden, and vicious! Europeans are the outsiders/potential saviors!) skirt the line of being dodgy. However, given the work the author has done in pushing women beyond the context of the stereotypical Female Fantasy Novel Tropes, I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt to the next book to see how things develop with these various cultures.

All in all, a political intrigue plot driven by strong worldbuilding and an intriguing system of magic and death, with heaps and heaps of female characters doing interesting things.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I forgot exactly how I first came across _The Drowning City_ by Amanda Downum, but I’m sure it was from browsing online rather than in a brick & mortar bookstore. I might have been checking out Orbit’s (the publisher) website. Either way, the cover art was attractive, and what immediately grabbed me was that it promised an Eastern setting. No offense to the 90% of fantasy that isn’t of the urban subgenre, but I tire of stories taking place in medieval Europe (no offense to Europe either). The prospect of something different shot this book up to the top of my list. The fact that it was a debut novel didn’t deter me. With the string of pretty decent debuts fantasy fiction has been getting lately, I actually jump at them.

Setting:
As mentioned, the setting isn’t the standard fantasy backdrop. It feels very South Asian in all respects: landscape, clothing, food, names of places, people, and even greetings. What I enjoyed most about the setting was that it really came alive; there was a good deal of personification used to describe aspects of the environment. There were always vivid enough descriptions of the environment to maintain the cultural feel and a good general sense of place and time. And the author did this without slowing down the pace. So I’d say all bases were covered as far as setting is concerned.

Magic System:
After Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn spoiled me, I’ve been picky about magic systems. Anything that doesn’t seem original enough or doesn’t have logical rules turns me off. So I wasn’t too excited about the fact that certain tropes like necromancers, ghosts, etc. were used. However, the execution of these things was nicely done.

The author never got into the science of how things worked like Sanderson does, and the range of what is possible in the magic system was wider than I would have preferred, but it wasn’t as loose or underdeveloped as some fantasy I’ve read. I suppose one could say it was closer to the way superhero abilities work, where characters specialize in a singular realm of abilities rather than the Gandalf-anything-goes type of magic.

Characters:
The characters were pretty dynamic. They spoke differently, acted in different ways, felt differently about issues, disagreed with one another, lied to each other. Each of the viewpoint characters was likable, and I could understand their decisions even when I disagreed with them. The latter part applies to non-viewpoint characters as well. There were some who were dislikable, but still understandable.

What I found in this novel were antagonists, rather than villains. What I mean is there is no character that I really hated or was annoyed with (i.e. no conventional madman villain who kills arbitrarily). However, I would have liked to have had a character that I was really afraid of. That, to me, makes a good “villain”. I suppose the trade-off for the author of offering both sides to a conflict and making disparate viewpoints understandable or relatable is a reduction in the antagonists’ intimidation factor.

On another note, from what I can remember, all—if not just the major—viewpoint characters were female. Each voice was distinct and each journey intriguing, but I’d like to see the author delve into more male viewpoint character writing in a subsequent novel. Not that the story suffered from a lack of it; just for my own curiosity of the author’s courage and skill and my preference for more mixed viewpoints. This story was written well enough that I think she could do it. [Amanda Downum may have written short stories with male viewpoints, but I don’t venture into that format very often, to be honest.:]

Plot & Conflict:
As mentioned before, no conventional villain, nor a conventional Tolkienesque setting. This plot was a recipe for originality. Sure, stirring up a revolution to fight the power has been done before, but these days originality is really just a measure of how much the market is saturated with a thing. Another measure is how predictable the plot points are, and this one had me anticipating yet still guessing the whole way. You can read the back cover for the premise.

The story looks to be divided into three acts, each of which contain plenty of drama. The beginning wasn’t as slow as some fantasy I’ve read. I’d say things got jumping fairly early. The pacing was steady; didn’t stagnate and didn’t overwhelm either. Plots were weaved well; when paths collided it didn’t feel tossed in out of nowhere.

Tension built from the very beginning and continued ebbing and flowing throughout. The characters were definitely challenged with a decent balance of internal and external conflicts. The story didn’t follow the recent trend of characters being horrifically tortured and gutted and the like, but the main characters, including the protagonist, do not escape unscathed. And I do mean permanent consequential damage, not just a flesh wound here and there.

The climax was action-packed. There was no cliffhanger or major loose thread at the end. This novel felt complete and satisfying with a general sense that there would be more to come later in the characters’ lives.

Romance:
I say this all the time: usually when two characters meet for the first time in a story, I don’t find it believable that they fall deeply in love by the end. This author may be of the same frame of mind. There are a few relationships already established at the outset, and the new ones that form aren’t sappy. They are complex and love is not easy for the characters. It suits my taste, but I can see how some readers may find the romance lacking. I imagine it would be due to personal taste or from being used to lovebirds pining over each other being the driving engine of a story. Alas, it is not so in this story.

Prose:
On a scale of conversational to poetic, I’d say the prose was more poetic, but not overwhelming or pretentious. I found myself rereading things because it’s not my favorite style, but I got through it well enough that I didn’t feel it was a chore. So I’d say that is an accomplishment. The thing that slowed me down was more the cultural or theme specific vocabulary, which may just be ignorance on my part. I didn’t mind learning new words.

Gripes:
The first 34 or so pages were a bit tough for me to get through. There were dozens of new words—including names of characters, places, and cultural or magical concepts—to memorize and distinguish. The author skillfully used context to show the reader, rather than tell, what these new words meant. I appreciated the lack of info-dumping to explain the world and who everyone was, but I would have preferred these things to be served up in more manageable portions. It’s not so much the foreign words, as these are common in fantasy; it’s that there were so many in such a short amount of time.

There wasn’t an appendix in the back of the book, nor on the author’s website that I could find, so I just opened up a word document and typed up my own notes on the words and characters. After that, it was smooth sailing for me. This, however, might not be an issue for a lot of fantasy readers who are used to keeping track of these things mentally.

My only other gripe was the occasional dialogue hiccup, for which I’ll provide an example:

Page 127-128
[Kiril:] smiled, spiderweb wrinkles deepening around his eyes. “Maybe later.” An old argument, more a joke by now. Isyllt swallowed. “But how are you? How goes the trip?”

“I’ve spoken to the people I needed to, and made arrangements.”

{end}

First of all, the wrinkles around Kiril’s eyes emphasizing the sincerity of his smile was a great image, and the book was full of descriptions like that. After that, though, I knew it was Kiril speaking the next words but having Isyllt’s reaction in the same paragraph made my brain switch to thinking she spoke the words that followed, even though it was still Kiril’s paragraph.
So I suppose that glitch is my own fault, but it would have been a much easier read if it had been written like this:

[Kiril:] smiled, spiderweb wrinkles deepening around his eyes. “Maybe later.” An old argument, more a joke by now.

Isyllt swallowed.

“But how are you? How goes the trip?”

“I’ve spoken to the people I needed to, and made arrangements.”

{end}

Usually, a writer is taught to use a separate paragraph when a new person speaks (which is correct), but I prefer it when a separate paragraph is used for any type of response, not just dialogue. Though for all I know it could have been the copy editors or someone else who arranged the sentences that way to save space in the printing. I only mention it because it felt like it happened often enough to make me reread dialogue on occasion. There were also times when two consecutive paragraphs were the same person speaking, which confused me as well.

Other than these two complaints, which are probably just brain farts on my behalf, the novel was pretty solid. And two hiccups is actually pretty impressive for a debut, in my opinion.


Overall Reading Experience:
What can I say? I enjoyed it. It was rather good, even without taking any debut sympathy points into account. However, bare in mind my bias attraction to Eastern fantasy. I do plan on reading the next book in the series when it becomes available, and this volume was enough of a good read that I wouldn’t mind going through it again before reading the sequel. Solid 4/5 stars.

Disclaimer: I’m a pretty tough critic/picky reader. My posted reviews doesn’t nearly cover all the books I’ve read. There are a good number of books I won’t review publicly because I have too many complaints about them. So I essentially only post reviews of books I really like, and even then only when I actually get around to writing one.

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Isyllt Iskaldur. Necromancer and, not to put too fine a point on it, spy, sent to the city of Symir with a couple of bodyguards to stir up trouble and incite the locals to rebellion against the rival government that rules the area. (Because that always works out so well.) Naturally, complications ensue ... There are wheels within wheels, factions within factions, ghosts rebel and otherwise, and all manner of unexpected challenges.

This was one I've had my eye on for a while. I'm glad I finally took the plunge; I'm also glad that I waited long enough that after finishing the first book I could jump straight to the second (and then the third). The characters are interesting, complex and often conflicted, the setting has a distinctly Southeast Asian feel that's well-conveyed by carefully chosen details, and the magic, although present, is never without cost.

[Nicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read this ages ago, and quickly followed it up with the second book, but then didn’t get onto reading the third book. So I felt like I needed to refresh my memory. The first book wasn’t my favourite, and I still think the second is probably stronger, but the idea of a spy necromancer running around fomenting rebellion remains pretty darn cool. The cultures are a little bit… umm. They feel like very obvious analogues. But I give Guy Gavriel Kay a pass for that, so Amanda Downum can have it too — and mostly her mythology hangs together and everything works, so that’s fine.

Issylt is a pretty awesome main character, though her relationship with Kiril still… doesn’t entirely make sense to me, and I don’t feel like I can root for her to actually get what she wants in that regard. He’s older than her, and they probably shouldn’t have been in a relationship at all. Still, there’s something to be said also for her perspective that it’s her decision, and he shouldn’t shelter her from the consequences of it. People do that with women, real and fictional, far too often.

Zhivrin is less appealing as a character, but her arc works well, and her ending has a perfect bittersweetness. I love how it’s foreshadowed, as well. Xinai, well, I feel like she more or less got what was coming to her — I can sympathise to some extent with anger at imperialism and the damage it can do, but I don’t understand fighting back against that at any cost. Particularly not when the cost is your own people.

Both times I’ve read this book, I’ve finished it in almost one sitting, so that’s something else to be said for it. But now, onwards!

Originally reviewed for The Bibliophibian.

[Besha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t often have a sense of loss after finishing fiction—I shelve the world and move on to another. After reading this and its sequel I wandered around with the unsettling feeling that some large and well-written component of my life had disappeared.

The magic is complex and well-thought-out, the politics are dense and entertaining, and the cultures are analogous to the real world but dissimilar enough that it doesn’t feel lazy. Some surprising subcultures and customs make appearances, most notably the hijra, whom Downum portrays with care and grace.

Her sentence-level writing can be a little melodramatic, but she pays close attention to sensory experiences and has incredible skill in invoking them: the flavor of pastry, the chaos of a riot, the dankness of a vampire’s lair, the scent of a demoness’s perfume.

That, by the way, is an inside joke that I don’t want to spoil, but I’ll say that it’s possible to purchase the blend in question. I got a sample and learned that cinnamon perfume 1) smells like Red Hots and 2) will actually burn your skin. Presumably the demoness is unfamiliar with the former and immune to the latter.

I’m really looking forward to the third novel in this series, in part because it will provide an excuse to reread these two books.

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Drowning City is a book with a terrific premise and marvelous world-building, and a promising start to a new fantasy series. I was particularly pleased to encounter a fantasy with an Asian flavor rather than the tired old pseudo-European feel; Downum lived in Southeast Asia for many years, and this experience no doubt brings an authenticity to the setting. Isyllt Iskaldur is a necromancer and a spy, who was sent to the city of Symir to stir up political unrest. Symir is in the land of Sivahra, which is under the control of the Assari Empire; the empire is also rumored to be turning its attentions towards Selafai, Isyllt's home. But Symir is full of revolutionaries, and it shouldn't take much for Isyllt to fan the flames. Yet nothing is ever that simple, when the dead themselves get involved, and the waters begin to rise. . .

It's really difficult to explain why this book didn't score higher for me than it does. It's a high three, possibly even a three and a half, if they existed, but I just can't go higher than that with a book that kept me interested but not emotionally engaged. I liked the characters, and I wanted to know what would happen to them, but I wasn't compulsively turning the pages. Part of that was the fact I spent the first 75-100 pages or so just trying to figure out what was going on. There is a map in the front of the book, but it's really the wrong one, if you ask me; the action takes place in only a tiny portion of it! I'd have liked a smaller one focused on Symir and its neighbors. Another source of confusion was the multiplicity of nationalities, tribal identities, and political affiliations the different characters had, though that was also partly what made the setting so rich. If there were any way for the author to include a non-spoilery glossary at the back of the book, that might have helped me to keep them straight.

Another factor that might have kept me from being fully engaged in this book from the beginning was the focus on Isyllt and her objective of stirring up unrest. I liked Isyllt; her magic was fascinating and her demeanor elegant, and I really enjoyed the chemistry she had with the mysterious Asheris. However, I found it difficult to care whether she succeeded in causing the necessary political unrest (and for the longest time, it really seemed more like she witnessed it than contributed to it), because she did not live in Symir or under Assari control. This might have worked better if we had actually seen Isyllt in Selafai and known what she was hoping to protect. Instead, she seemed a bit distant from what was going on, able to watch the various factions in Symir slugging it out with no more than the usual human concern that there not be too much bloodshed.

On the other hand, there are two viewpoint characters besides Isyllt who have a vested interest in the factionalism of Symir: Zhirin, an apprentice with the mages at the Kurun Tam, and Xinai, one of Isyllt's bodyguards, who has been away from Sivahra for many years but was born there. Zhirin is quite young and has become involved with a leader of one of the more peaceful revolutionary groups; Xinai is returning to her tribe after many years away, and wants freedom at any cost. The contrasts between Zhirin and Xinai, and between the two of them and Isyllt respectively, are quite interesting to read; of the three women, I think I found Zhirin the most compelling (hint: she turns out to have a magic that's really cool).

The Drowning City has a lot going for it, despite its problems. The system of magic is very interesting, as are many of the Sivahri tribal customs and beliefs. I like political intrigue, and The Drowning City has plenty of it, even if it does feel a bit tangly in spots. It's nice not only to have strong female protagonists, but a variety of them, with diverse backstories and abilities. I am definitely interested in the next book of the series, and looking forward to learning more about Isyllt and her world.

[Tiara · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. This was an ambitious first novel at best. Downum clearly has a beautiful way with words. Passages like the following really resonated with me:

Excitement hummed in her blood, dizzied her worse than any wine. And that was the true reason she was here, the reason she would go where she was sent, no matter how ugly the mission. Not for king and country, not even for Kiril, but because danger sang to her like a siren, and after the first giddy brush with death, the rush of knowing that she was still alive, she’d known she could never stop.

However, while I don’t doubt this played out wonderfully in her head, she forgot about her readers. This book wasn’t really written in the way that you’d expect of a first book in a series. It felt like I was jumping into the second or third book in a series, as if everything that was being said was information that I should’ve already known. I think she was trying to craft it in a way to be mysterious, feeding readers information piece by piece until the big reveal. But it just felt confusing and like I was missing out on a whole story.

The first 70 pages or so of this book could’ve been removed. The little information that we did get from those pages could’ve been woven into the story. Most of those first pages seemed rather fumbling and didn’t offer much useful more than seeming to pad the book to take up the reader’s time. Totally unnecessary, and it nearly made me put the book down. If I hadn’t stuck with it for one more chapter, and the next chapter did prove to be interesting, I wouldn’t have ever picked up this book again.

Also, she used many words native to the characters that the reader is unfamiliar with, words that most of the time didn’t even have a hint as to what they really meant, words that needed at least a dictionary in the back. I like when a book has a language that is its own (or some amalgam of real language), but it does no good when I’m sitting here hoping that this word means something honorific and just isn’t some random word that means “girl.”

Then, there was the confusing POVs. I’m a reader that doesn’t mind “head-jumping,” but it’s not implemented well here. Sometimes, I didn’t even realize the POV had changed until I read some information that made me realize that this had to be one of the other characters, and it was more than a bit frustrating at times, considering how much I wanted to like this story.

I did enjoy the intrigue, mystery, and supernatural aspect that Downum tried to use. I think her characters have potential to be amazing and praiseworthy, but I just don’t think this was executed as well as it could’ve been. And I have to admit that I thought the ending was sublime and really showed what this story had the potential to be. I will give the second book a chance and hope that Downum found her footing a little better because this does have so much potential to be an amazing series.

[Nikoya · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would say 3 1/2 stars; and the reason I am being generous this was the writers first novel. There was definitely room for improvement. My biggest complain was the lack of a glossary so I found myself a bit twisted around by the names and words she used in her story. If you are going to create a world with as much culture, as she did, WRITE A GLOSSARY. Seriously. It was frustrating.

I like the main characters because she doesn't sit around feeling sorry for herself; however I felt, that there could be more about her. I think that she created too many characters of focus that she kind of neglected the important one; her main character. Also, when you are creating a story line that is based upon "myth" of the people you have to spend more time than some obscure references.

For a first novel it held lots of promise and I think with time she will become an amazing fantasy writer; especially if she adds a glossary to her books. (Like who is who, what the heck that word means, and the different groups.)

[Terence · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this novel from the library shelf on impulse.

But I can't finish it. It's not that the writing is bad, which is why I've given it two stars. Usually, if I can't finish a book, it gets one star. But there's nothing here that's engaging me on any level, and I don't want to waste my time with it when I have so much on my shelf that promises to be more interesting.

Obviously, I'm not recommending The Drowning City but I wouldn't want to deter anyone from reading it. It may be just the thing for some reader.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The reason why I gave it two stars was because I found Amanda Downum's style of writing to be a bit confusing. It's been a long time since I've had to do so much re-reading. Even with the provided map, I found it hard to place characters and places. At one point, I was positive the "Khas" was a country.. but then later thought it was an ethnic group.. but then got the impression that it was a city or fortress? I definitely think Downum could have better described characters and places better. Also, in the beginning of the book, I thought "Roshani" was a character's name; I believe it means "hello," or something to that effect. And I guess "meliket" is a term for endearment?

Overall, I was too distracted by the seemingly lack of syntax to enjoy the book. It wasn't that the reading level was challenging; it was more that I struggled to figure out what exactly was happening, why, and who was involved.

The excerpt for the next book seemed a little more promising, so I'll probably read it but still..

(The main reason why I picked up this book was because of the blurb on the front cover by Jacqueline Carey, who's a superb author and one of my favorites. Though this book is definitely no comparison to any of hers.)

[Jared Shurin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amusingly, the copyright page of my ebook says:

Copyright (c) 2009 Amanda Downum
Copyright (c) 2008 Brent Weeks

A copy/paste typo, clearly, but, for a moment, I was pretty impressed by Weeks. Entertainment I knew he could do, but progressive, political, multilayered, post-colonial espionage? That seemed a little out of his wheelhouse.

This is definitely for those who enjoyed Seth Dickinson's Baru Cormorant, Daniel Abraham's Long Price, Mark Charan Newton's Drakenfeld or even Douglas Hulick's sneaky swashbucklers. And, what with those being some of my fantasy favourites, it should clue you in: I thought this book was great.

Issylt is a spy. She's sent to the city of Symir. Symir, colonised by the Empire, is being used to fund possible Imperial expansion. By disrupting the city - in any way possible - Issylt can slow, or stop, those ambitions. The mission ain't easy, of course. Symir is chock full of factions: rebels, violent rebels, dead rebels, loyalists, smugglers, mercenaries, criminals, expansionists, traditionalists, religious cults, you name it. Everyone's got some skin in the game, and, rightfully so, they're all a little wary about foreigners coming in to cause trouble. Issylt has to find the right allies, and they might not all be very nice people.

Bonus fun: Issylt is also a necromancer - and magic is woven throughout the entire story. There's clearly a rigorous system, but the author, wisely, eschews detailed magical systemisation and just lets the magic be *weird* and a bit *mystical*. It is never a hand-wavey plot solution, as much as baked in to the world itself. Although there's a steep learning curve, by the halfway point the role of spirits and gemstones and angry ghosts feels entirely natural. This is very much a fantasy world - and a fun one - but the weirdness never overshadows an elaborate and compelling political plot.

Highly recommended. A world you want to play in, a mess of characters with their own endearing quests and vulnerabilities, and a plot that's full of, well, plots.

[Nicky · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up The Drowning City somewhat on a whim, this morning. A couple of my friends loved it, a couple didn't like it so much but loved the second book, so I thought I would be reasonably likely to enjoy it, but wasn't in a hurry to pick it up. I read it in one day, though (six sessions altogether, taking only two and a half hours in total), and while I wasn't utterly compelled to keep reading -- I was fine with stopping and playing Persona PSP for a good chunk of the day -- I wasn't forcing myself to read either, by any stretch of the definition.

It's a pretty easy read, irritating in places because of the made-up language. It took me a while to get hold of who was doing what and why, but once I did, it was easy enough to keep track. There are several strong female characters, which I enjoyed, and -- you know, I find it a little horrible that I am actually about to remark on this with surprise -- I don't think there was a single rape threat in the whole thing. I've grown so used to that, lately. Anyway, it goes through three POVs, in limited third person, all of them female, all of them distinct. I don't feel like I got that strong a sense of people's motivations, now I think about it: I'm not sure what keeps Isyllt doing what she's doing, anyway.

I liked that the characters aren't impervious: Isyllt is permanently injured, for example. Actions have serious consequences: magic doesn't solve everything.

All in all, I enjoyed the politics -- shades of Kushiel's Dart, a little, but without all the sex: there's no explicit sex here at all, actually, it's all fade to black -- and the world, which was fairly vivid and well-explored: I think my only complaint is that I didn't feel so emotionally attached to the characters that my heart was in my mouth when they were in danger. It lacked immediacy, somehow.

Going to read the second book either tomorrow, or maybe on the train/Eurostar on Monday, which does show how interested I got.

[Lightreads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Extremely recent debut. A second world southeast Asian-ish fantasy. Forensic necromancer comes south to the drowning city to secretly foment revolt. Cue a lot of spy back-and-forth, dueling strategies of violence and nonviolence, imperial politics, elemental magic, and a demon.

An interesting book that I wasn't all that interested in. It happens that way sometimes – you're reading, and you think things like hey, that's a nice image, and this is more complicated than I was expecting, and ooh, volcano. But the circuit never quite closes, and you spend the entire book on the outside looking in. Which is not my preferred reading experience.

Still, the end had an awful lot of wiz-bang to it, and I'm interested enough to pick up the sequel next year.

[Riel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book frustrated me quite a bit. In theory it sounded great, the summary was interesting, the plot seemed fun and I loved the idea of a necromancer spy. In reality it fell flat. The story was slow going, the writing style felt clunky, and the characters annoyed me. Especially the main character. The necromancer part was cool, but as for the spy part... well for someone who was supposed to be amazing she seemed to be decidedly bad at spying. She was constantly crying, tripping over things, and had about three different people suspecting her of being a spy in the first half of the book. There was potential in parts of it, which made me even more frustrated because I really did want to like this book. But ultimately it just left me disappointed.

[Liviu · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a book tailor made for my taste; I struggled to get into it several times and finally fast read it and nothing improved; naming conventions that are jarring and wooden prose with no narrative flow; no more books in this series for me

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fantasy Review Barn

Three people aboard a trade ship enter the city of Symir. The purpose of their journey is not benign; finding and funding the terrorist organizations that could take down the city. Isyllt is a necromancer from the north looking to slow Symir’s expansionist ways. She is joined by two body guards, Adam and Xinai, the latter being a native with very bad memories of the city. Even early on she realizes the horror of what she is working for, for success will mean death of innocents and even friends.

The author admits the plight of New Orleans after Katrina to be a heavy influence for Symir; the city is under constant threat of flooding, as well as under the shadow of an active volcano. Both are kept in check through judicious magic warding. Isyllt arrives for the start of monsoon season as well, upping the danger. It adds an interesting dynamic to the city, and the constant threat of natural disaster isn’t something I have experienced in my own fantasy reading all that often.

They city itself provides the backbone of the book, and the entire story stays focused within or around Symir. I loved the city’s life; despite the constant threats it was obvious that for most people life did not revolve around the main characters but rather had a life of its own. It sounds strange, but so often it seems the main characters of stories create a black hole the rest of the world falls into, and I really enjoy that the author avoided this. By focusing on the one city we are left not knowing much about the rest of the world, but who cares? The city is what matters, and by sticking with Symir the book avoids the trap of bloat.

There are a few other things I felt were done well. The dueling rebel groups had different means to their ends, but neither were obviously the good guys. While Isyllt is revolted by the extreme measures one group takes (including a suicide bombing), she knows that here ultimate goal could lead to just as much death. Because of the ambiguity of just who is in the right there were great dynamics. Were the occupiers evil? Sure they did some horrible things (secretly forcing political prisoners to do hard labor), but also allowed the natives a voice in government. However working with the occupiers leaves people labeled as collaborators, and possibly a target for the groups working to free the city. Even Isyllt is caught in a strange place, at one point helping the person who could bring down her entire plan in the investigation of an attack like she is supposed to be supporting.

The magic was yet another strength; mostly because it was also subtly done. Not in lack of visibility, but rather in how it is explained. Just enough context is given to show the capabilities of various mages, but it is never over-explained to the point where it stops feeling like magic. It is diverse and fairly common, but with some very real limitations. Much of it is based around death, and ghosts are very real and often involved in all the plotting. There was one major character whose power ended up feeling a bit strong for the set up, but other than that instance it left me satisfied.

Not a perfect book, despite its many strengths. The ease with which Isyllt finds the groups she is looking for is a bit hard to believe. Some minor romance angles fell flat in my eyes, I just never bought into them. I also never really felt much life in the characters outside of Isyllt. In many ways the city they were living in out shined everyone else, a few times I had to back track to remember why this characters or that was even important.

3 ½ stars. I enjoyed it, but I can’t see it leaving a lasting impression on me.

[Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a decent escapist fantasy, if you’re looking for a setting that hasn’t been done to death. If you’re looking for memorable characters, though, best look elsewhere.

Over the last several years there’s been a push for more diversity of characters and settings in fantasy, and it looks like Downum was listening. The Drowning City is populated mostly by non-white characters from a South-Asian-inspired culture – with a fantasy twist, including ghosts and spirits. The setting is this book’s biggest strength: the culture is well-developed and layered without feeling exoticized, and the scenes positively drip with sensory detail. To the point that after reading fewer than 15 pages, I put the book down to get Indian takeout. The fact that I found the descriptions so evocative but had little trouble setting the book aside sums up my experience of this novel.

The Drowning City follows the adventures of three women, who are basically indistinguishable from each other, aside from having different backstories and positions in the world. The protagonist, Isyllt, kicks off the action by arriving in Symir as a foreign spy, meant to destabilize the colonial government by providing aid to rebels. Which sounds sexy, but results in a protagonist who lacks a clear role in the developing struggle, or much motivation to take part. There’s also Xinai, who begins the story as Isyllt’s bodyguard but soon deserts to join a local terrorist group, and Zhirin, an apprentice mage. None have any personality to speak of, beyond a willingness to get into dangerous situations, and the only difference between them (beyond the variation in their assigned roles) is that the teenaged Zhirin is idealistic, while the two 20-somethings are jaded. Generic personalities kept me from investing in the characters, which forestalled any real interest in the story, with the result that even though this is an easy read with a reasonably-paced, adventure-oriented plot, it took me a long time to finish.

That said, the plot itself is fine, and may work well for younger fantasy readers or those seeking pure escapism. The writing is adequate, though definitely in the genre (as opposed to literary) category. The necromancy and magical phenomena are somewhat unusual, fit the mood of the story and aren’t over-explained. I hesitate to call it a standalone novel, because the end leaves open major questions in the political plot that may be addressed in the sequel (though that has an entirely different setting), but the book does tell a complete story. It proved to be a basically enjoyable light read, and gets points for a big, blow-everything-open climax. Still, though the sequel is supposed to be better, this one didn't provide much motivation to read on.

[Yolanda Sfetsos · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book of The Necromancer Chronicles. When this cover first caught my eye, I decided to read a little more about the story. And once I found out the main character was a necromancer, I just had to read it.

The story is set in the city of Symir and features Isyllt Iskaldur, a necromancer and spy sent on a secret mission to find and finance the revolutionaries. But as soon as she gets to Symir things start to happen. Bad things. So much that the book is told in three different points of view -- Isyllt, Zhirin and Xinai -- to get the full scope of what's going on. Zhirin is a young apprentice caught up in the revolution. Xinai is a mercenary sent to help Isyllt, but she gets caught up on the wrong side because she's a native.

I really enjoyed the exotic and often dark locale and could literally see, taste, and feel every detail because of Amanda Downum's wonderful narrative. Her voice is crisp, different for each of the women, and so vivid that I felt like I was temporarily transported to this beautiful, yet dangerous and unstable location. It sounded so lovely, yet volatile, with a live river, angry but contained volcano, and sticky jungle. The attention to detail was amazing, and the separate stories weaved in and around each other so well that when I got to the end, everything fit in and was tied together perfectly.

Of course, the destiny of Isyllt, Zhirin, and Xinai take them to different and even sad places. The three of them suffer immense heartache, physical pain, and betrayal along the way, and aren't all on the same side either. But each woman's journey was honest, raw and true. I loved this book!

There are so many things that could've gone wrong in this book -- competing narrators, confusing loyalties, intricate politics, huge idea without substance, strange names jarring the story, too much mythology involving ghosts, spirits, and water creatures... but you know what? That didn't happen. Everything made sense. Everything clicked together to form a terrific, complex story that I enjoyed so much I know I'll be thinking about it for weeks to come. It's a fantasy that breaks into a new barrier.

The Drowning City is an amazing, interesting and very well written story that blends a variety of weird and wonderful creatures. It's what a fantasy book should be: riveting, ambitious, and succesful in it's delivery and execution. The main characters are deep, and so is the supporting cast. I can't wait to read the next one.

I've been seduced by this world, and I'm looking forward to visiting again. Only this time, it'll be in a different city.

[heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me until about 2/3ds of the way through the book to really get to the gotta-read feeling. The last third moved along pretty well.

I was really convinced through most of the book that it was going to end up being "What These People Need is a Honky", but it veered away from that, thank googly. At least mostly.

I also have to give props for "good and bad are complicated". It's so easy to get sort of essentialist, especially when you are writing about guerilla warfare. Ends, means, and motive were jumbled for all the characters, and I appreciated that. This was easily the best part of the book.

The worldbuilding was rich and interesting, and I love connecting the magic of necromancy with entropic power.

All that said, I didn't really connect with the characters, and the story was very meandering until it settled down very late in the book.

In conclusion, I'll probably get the sequel from the library, but I do not entirely give up on the series.

Read if: Your copy of Sabriel [SABRIEL] [Mass Market Paperback] finally disintegrated, and a dog ate your copy of The Death of the Necromancer, and you can't live without your spooky zombie police procedural. You wish for profic that is slightly Avatar: The Middle-Aged Airbender flavored. You need more monsoon in your life.
Skip if: You're in it for characters you wish you could be.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is quite possibly the best piece of original high fantasy I've read in...just about forever. Rich, detailed worldbuilding, an intricate plot, characters with complex motivations, and, rarest of all in fantasy literature, more strong, capable women than you can shake a stick at. The only downside I could really see is that there are so many characters that it was hard to keep track of them at first. I think I'll want to reread the book so I have a better grasp of who's doing what at the beginning.

Symir is a city reluctantly under the governance of a massive empire. Isyllt—necromancer and spy—and her two bodyguards go there to find the rebellion and fund them in order to keep the empire too busy to look at her country. They find two main factions of rebellion: one hoping for peacable negotiation for freedom and another looking to slaughter all of the invaders and native sympathizers.

The glorious mess of different people—all doing what they think is the right and best thing—coming together in fire, flood, and blood is fantastic, complex, and has me deeply wanting the next book, and the next, and the next. Amanda Downum may very well be my new favorite author.

[Ithlilian · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've tried to read this book so many times because it seems like it would be amazing. It looks great, the summary is great, yet it falls flat on it's face. The characters are not special, the pace is off, the names are horrible, and the way the author describes things makes it even harder to read. It took me awhile to get into this book, and it felt like I had to physically force myself to read it. Calling it a struggle wouldn't even begin to describe the experience. I wanted to like it, which is why I've tried to force myself to read it so many times, but it's just not for me. I can't get past the descriptions and the unlikable characters. The book put me off too much in the beginning to sit through and hope it would possibly get a tiny bit better.

[T. K. Elliott (Tiffany) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Good
The world in which the delta city of Symir is set was definitely one of the better parts of this book. It's beautiful and potentially fascinating - to be honest, I would have liked more detail. There was just enough to make me curious about the history and geography of Downum's creation.

As for characters, while some people didn't take to Isyllt Iskaldur, I liked her straight off. Interestingly, though, she's not the incredibly kick-ass heroine fashionable that the moment. To be honest, she doesn't seem to actually do a lot (although I wonder how many people in real life find themselves in a situation that rapidly runs out of control and have enough on their plates just keeping their heads above water, so to speak).

The real strength of this book seems to be the imagery - not in the sense of beautiful prose, but in the sense of the pictures it makes in your head. You just don't really care that there isn't so much a plot as a bunch of people working at cross purposes until it all goes pear-shaped.

The Bad
There wasn't anything bad, as such. However, the characters were much less well-drawn than the setting. This book suffers, I think, from too many points of view. George R.R. Martin does this brilliantly, but then he works all his characters in over thousands of pages, making sure that you know them well enough that you care when he kills them. When you try to cram multiple points of view into less than 400 pages, it makes it harder for the reader to connect with any of the characters at all.

As I mentioned before, the plot wasn't so much a plot as things happening. Isyllt spends more time reacting to others' actions than initiating anything herself.

The Conclusion
I hovered between giving this three stars and four, and in the end opted for four stars. The world-building is just too good for three stars, and besides, I'm almost certainly going to read the next book in the trilogy. So four stars it is.

[Wealhtheow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Isyllt, a spy and necromancer, is sent to Symir, capital of a sort of pseudo-Asian fantasy nation currently under the rule of the same Empire that her own nation narrowly escaped from generations ago. Her duty is to destabilize the colonial government, thus distracting the Empire from invading elsewhere. She has various allies in this mission, among them Zhirin, the young apprentice of an old friend, who has joined the rebellion against the Empire. But also has many foes, among them the Empire's suspiciously powerful geomancer and the more radical arm of the rebels, who want no foreign interference in their affairs. Isyllt's bodyguard Xinai defects and joins this more extreme and violent group almost immediately.

The tale is told through the alternating viewpoints of Isyllt, Zhirin, and Xinai as each strives to discomfit or destroy the imperial forces. Although the setting is wonderfully described and there's a good deal of nuance and heartbreak in those who have to struggle between compliance with colonization and warring with their own people, the story itself didn't really engage me. It was easy to put the book down, and I had a hard time remembering the characters. Even in the final battle I had to slow down and rack my brains for which person was which. Still, that climax, and the magical powers displayed therein, are really what made this book worth reading. Earlier in the book I'd internally grumbled at how little magic Isyllt did, but once danger hits and she's deploying shambling corpses as shields or catching lit grenades with her bare hands and then rendering them into rusty hunks of dead metal, I was totally satisfied. Xinai also shines in the last battle, both as a mage and as a daughter of her beleaguered country. The last few chapters are as epic in consequences and spectacle as the earlier chapters were lacking in spark.

[Judah · Rating 3 out of 5]

You know that Big Summer Action Movie, the one with lots of fun ideas and things blowing up and zombies and spaceships and stuff? The one where about a third of the way through it, you get up to get a drink refill, figuring you won't miss much. Then a short while later, you get up to use the restroom, figuring you won't miss much. Then a short while after that, you need more popcorn...and on the way back to theatre #5, you decide to see what's happening in theatre #4 instead.(not that I endorse such behaviour, lord knows $10.00 for a ticket, $7.00 for a Coke and $7.00 for a small popcorn only entitles you to ONE movie. Have to keep those directors/actors rolling in the cash, dontchaknow!)

This is the book version of that movie.

Lots of fun and interesting concepts, but for some reason it just doesn't gel together. Entertaining enough to keep you reading (probably) but not enough to keep you from looking for something else to read at the same time. Of course, it could have suffered because I was reading The Summer Tree as well, which was pretty engrossing, and highly recommended.

I'll more than likely pick up the following books to see if the author's story-telling abilities improve...assuming I remember them.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought the book because I liked the cover AND the blurb.

I finished the book with very mixed feelings. The depiction of the world was above-average. I liked the prose too. But I totally failed to connect with the characters and the story. It was like sitting on a cloud and look what people are doing without any emotion. A thing which happens very seldom to me.
And I must admit that I'm not curious to read the next book in the series.

I would have given two and a half stars but that is not possible.