In Polanksy’s dark, moody debut novel, there’s no sun, no joy, and stayling alive for another day is about the only reason to rejoice; the grim setting makes for an interesting tale about a man with a past…a strong debut novel with a hero who doesn’t waste time worrying about the moral implications of cutting someone’s throat.”
–Kirkus Review

Polansky hits all the right notes in his intelligent first novel, a blend of dystopian fantasy and hard-boiled crime. Sharp, noir-tinged dialogue and astute insights into class struggle mark Polansky as a writer with a future.”
–Publishers Weekly

Low Town
by Daniel Polansky
Release Date: August 16, 2011
Publisher: Doubleday US
Price: $15.85 (Amazon US)
Pages: 352
Review copy received from the publisher.

Watch the trailer:

Plot Description (from Goodreads):

Drug dealers, hustlers, brothels, dirty politics, corrupt cops…and sorcery. Welcome to Low Town.

In the forgotten back alleys and flophouses that lie in the shadows of Rigus, the finest city of the Thirteen Lands, you will find Low Town. It is an ugly place, and its cham­pion is an ugly man. Disgraced intelligence agent. Forgotten war hero. Independent drug dealer. After a fall from grace five years ago, a man known as the Warden leads a life of crime, addicted to cheap violence and expensive drugs. Every day is a constant hustle to find new customers and protect his turf from low-life competition like Tancred the Harelip and Ling Chi, the enigmatic crime lord of the heathens.

The Warden’s life of drugged iniquity is shaken by his dis­covery of a murdered child down a dead-end street . . . set­ting him on a collision course with the life he left behind. As a former agent with Black House—the secret police—he knows better than anyone that murder in Low Town is an everyday thing, the kind of crime that doesn’t get investi­gated. To protect his home, he will take part in a dangerous game of deception between underworld bosses and the psy­chotic head of Black House, but the truth is far darker than he imagines. In Low Town, no one can be trusted.

Daniel Polansky has crafted a thrilling novel steeped in noir sensibilities and relentless action, and set in an original world of stunning imagination, leading to a gut-wrenching, unforeseeable conclusion. Low Town is an attention-grabbing debut that will leave readers riveted . . . and hun­gry for more.

To read an excerpt of the book, click here.

Review:
If you’re looking for a crime-fighting, supernatural-investigating PI with an elf sidekick, fairy friends, and a doomed vampire boyfriend, Low Town is not for you. If on the other hand you’re looking for a noirish fantasy novel featuring plenty of crime, murders, and drug use, not to mention an addict for a main character who used to be a cop, you’ve come to the right place. Low Town, the debut novel from Daniel Polansky, who counts Dashiel Hammett and Raymond Chandler as well as George R.R. Martin among his influences, is a different kind of supernatural noir tale sans the supernatural baddies or the romantic subplots.

I like my supernatural noir a lot grittier, and more along the lines of Cal McDonald: Detective Tales or the Sandman Slim series from Richard Kadrey, which starts with Sandman Slim, and read Low Town with that expectation in mind, and although Low Town didn’t quite deliver on that, it’s still one of the better fantasy reads of the year.

The book’s setup actually reminded me a lot of China Mieville’s The City & The City in that it sort of mixes political elements and extensive worldbuilding into Low Town itself, and somewhat of The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch in terms of the overall feel. Reviewers have had mixed reactions to the novel so far, but the one thing most people agree on is that the worldbuilding is the best aspect of the book; it’s set in its own individual universe with its own magic, conventions, races, laws, different history, whereas most urban fantasy novels just take place in the real world but where supernatural creatures are out in the open.

Although the book was hard for me to get into at first and I found there to be a few too many characters introduced right off the bat, The Warden is an intriguing character. He used to be a good guy, but somewhere along the way, fell from grace and became a hunter of the seedier denizens of the area, although he still clings to the authority he had as a cop.

The Warden stumbles across a dead child and that sets off a chain reaction of events. He investigates, asks around for more details, and his goal is to find the girl’s murderer. But he’s also selling drugs at the same time and his morals as well as his position on the good/bad scale are always in question.

The character with whom The Warden has the most interesting exchanges was without a doubt Crispin, The Warden’s ex-partner, who is vehemently opposed to him in every way. Their banter was the highlight of the book for me as it came off as interesting and full of great dialogue. He alludes to The Warden’s past in a way that made me want to more about him and why he became the way he did.

Crispin wants The Warden to get lost and stop screwing up his investigation, and tells him so plainly. Despite there being a few too many characters with names starting with C and W, as with Wren, The Warden’s sidekick, as the book goes on, the style gets easier to read, which isn’t the case with the first few chapters. But once you stick with the book, it gets better.

Overall, the fight scenes were decent, the dialogue really shone in some places, and the humour was so-so (for hard-boiled fantasy fans wanting truly excellent humour, check out Richard Kadrey’s Sandman Slim). The ending, while predictable, still provided a satisfying conclusion. Low Town will appeal to readers who want their hard-boiled supernatural fix but less of the creature features. Once again, the worldbuilding is really what sets this book apart from the similar titles out there.

Here are some other opinions you might want to check out:

Fantasy Book Critic — very detailed and well-thought out analysis.
Mad Hatter’s Bookshelf
Shlok Vaidya
Dazed Rambling
Blood of the Muse — also an excellent review.

About the author:
Daniel Polansky was born in Baltimore. Low Town is his first novel. To visit Daniel’s website, click here. To find him on Twitter, click here. To find him on Facebook, click here. To find him on Goodreads, click here.

Here’s a neat video interview you can watch with Daniel:

Daniel is also running a contest on his website, which you can read more about here; I encourage you to enter!

Giveaway: I’m happy to announce that I have one shiny, brand spankin’ new copy of the book to give away to one lucky reader! This giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents only, and entries must be received by August 21 (next Sunday). To enter, simply comment on this post with your name, twitter handle or email, and let me know why you want to read Low Town. The winner will be announced on August 22nd. Bonus points if you add myself or Daniel on Twitter or GFC

Good luck to everyone!