A review by elusivity
Low Town by Daniel Polansky
3.0
2.5 STARS
Racist stereotypes substituting background "diversity" is bad enough. OUTDATED racist stereotypes are just plain offensive.
These Kiren heretics who are "inscrutable", "normally a docile race", "natural inclination toward obedience". "Heretics are like dogs: any sign of fear and you're as good as lost". Wtf. And that interlude with Ling Chi, like some yellowface skit with Fu Manchu, a ludicrous comic book villain plopped inside a cheesy Chinese restaurant. Cringe-inducing.
And I don't care for any argument of, oh this is a fantasy-world made-up culture. They speak Chinese. I also don't care for any argument that Warden is racist, not the book. It's a slim difference, here where I'm standing.
Gross.
---
Beyond that, this is a serviceably entertaining novel if you read rapidly and don't pause to savor any details. The world is some weird mishmash of medieval weapons & lack of sanitation/WWII trench warfare/1920s social mores.
The hardboiled detective mystery portion is OK on the detective, but not so hot on the mystery. I knew who the ultimate Bad is the first time they showed up. Warden's detecting attempts follows every beat of its genre plotting. Dude runs around, fights, gets injured, runs around some more, fights, gets injured, runs around, so on.
Granted, we read genre more for the HOW, precisely because these beats are pre-set and familiar. And still, I would appreciate more attempts to bury the obvious lede.
Racist stereotypes substituting background "diversity" is bad enough. OUTDATED racist stereotypes are just plain offensive.
These Kiren heretics who are "inscrutable", "normally a docile race", "natural inclination toward obedience". "Heretics are like dogs: any sign of fear and you're as good as lost". Wtf. And that interlude with Ling Chi, like some yellowface skit with Fu Manchu, a ludicrous comic book villain plopped inside a cheesy Chinese restaurant. Cringe-inducing.
And I don't care for any argument of, oh this is a fantasy-world made-up culture. They speak Chinese. I also don't care for any argument that Warden is racist, not the book. It's a slim difference, here where I'm standing.
Gross.
---
Beyond that, this is a serviceably entertaining novel if you read rapidly and don't pause to savor any details. The world is some weird mishmash of medieval weapons & lack of sanitation/WWII trench warfare/1920s social mores.
The hardboiled detective mystery portion is OK on the detective, but not so hot on the mystery. I knew who the ultimate Bad is the first time they showed up. Warden's detecting attempts follows every beat of its genre plotting. Dude runs around, fights, gets injured, runs around some more, fights, gets injured, runs around, so on.
Granted, we read genre more for the HOW, precisely because these beats are pre-set and familiar. And still, I would appreciate more attempts to bury the obvious lede.