Genre Fiction
![Richard Kadrey - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B000APSCPU.jpg)
The Grand Dark
"A stand-alone heavy hitter that's more in line with recent deviants like Chuck Wendig's upcoming Wanderers (2019) and Daniel H. Wilson's The Clockwork Dynasty (2017). Tonally, this lush novel is closer to Scott Lynch's pirate fantasy The Lies of Locke Lamora (2006), but technologically it resembles the near-future dystopias of Cory Doctorow or China Miéville […] Wildly ambitious and inventive fantasy from an author who's punching above his weight in terms of worldbuilding-and winning."
-- Kirkus (starred review)
From the bestselling author of the Sandman Slim series, a lush, dark, stand-alone fantasy built off the insurgent tradition of China Mieville and M. John Harrison-a subversive tale that immerses us in a world where the extremes of bleakness and beauty exist together in dangerous harmony in a city on the edge of civility and chaos.
The Great War is over. The city of Lower Proszawa celebrates the peace with a decadence and carefree spirit as intense as the war's horrifying despair. But this newfound hedonism-drugs and sex and endless parties-distracts from strange realities of everyday life: Intelligent automata taking jobs. Genetically engineered creatures that serve as pets and beasts of war. A theater where gruesome murders happen twice a day. And a new plague that even the ceaseless euphoria can't mask.
Unlike others who live strictly for fun, Largo is an addict with ambitions. A bike messenger who grew up in the slums, he knows the city's streets and its secrets intimately. His life seems set. He has a beautiful girlfriend, drugs, a chance at a promotion-and maybe, an opportunity for complete transformation: a contact among the elite who will set him on the course to lift himself up out of the streets.
But dreams can be a dangerous thing in a city whose mood is turning dark and inward. Others have a vision of life very different from Largo's, and they will use any methods to secure control. And in behind it all, beyond the frivolity and chaos, the threat of new war always looms.
-- Kirkus (starred review)
From the bestselling author of the Sandman Slim series, a lush, dark, stand-alone fantasy built off the insurgent tradition of China Mieville and M. John Harrison-a subversive tale that immerses us in a world where the extremes of bleakness and beauty exist together in dangerous harmony in a city on the edge of civility and chaos.
The Great War is over. The city of Lower Proszawa celebrates the peace with a decadence and carefree spirit as intense as the war's horrifying despair. But this newfound hedonism-drugs and sex and endless parties-distracts from strange realities of everyday life: Intelligent automata taking jobs. Genetically engineered creatures that serve as pets and beasts of war. A theater where gruesome murders happen twice a day. And a new plague that even the ceaseless euphoria can't mask.
Unlike others who live strictly for fun, Largo is an addict with ambitions. A bike messenger who grew up in the slums, he knows the city's streets and its secrets intimately. His life seems set. He has a beautiful girlfriend, drugs, a chance at a promotion-and maybe, an opportunity for complete transformation: a contact among the elite who will set him on the course to lift himself up out of the streets.
But dreams can be a dangerous thing in a city whose mood is turning dark and inward. Others have a vision of life very different from Largo's, and they will use any methods to secure control. And in behind it all, beyond the frivolity and chaos, the threat of new war always looms.
Editorial Reviews
"The Grand Dark is a miracle of the old and the new: a tale of weimar decadence that is also a parable for our New Gilded Age [...] It's a fun and terrifying ride, gritty and relentless, burning with true love and revolutionary fervor." - Cory Doctorow, author of Radicalized and Walkaway
"Kadrey has written for us a beautiful nightmare - one that's often eerily familiar - showing a theatrical world set on the edge of war, and losing itself in the shadows of brutality and oppression." - Chuck Wendig, New York Times bestselling author of Wanderers
"The Grand Dark is more than just another reliably strong outing from a veteran writer. It's the work of a major science fiction/fantasy creator going way out in a limb in the effort to wholly redefine himself, all while crystallizing what's made him great." - NPR
"Wildly ambitious and inventive fantasy from an author who's punching above his weight in terms of worldbuilding-and winning." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Stunning. The hard, spare, considered voice that's driven Kadrey's gonzo supernatural noir has been honed to a deft Kafka-esque edge. Unsettling and dreamlike, seductive and bleak, the jaws of The Grand Dark gape to devour you." - Max Gladstone, author of Empress of Forever
"Artisanal gene mod and robots and coal dust and a big middle finger to the oligarchs, plus bicycles!" - New York Times bestselling author Kevin Hearne
"[For] readers who like morally complex characters and enjoy their fantasy on the dark side." - Booklist
"The novel feels almost China Mieville-esque in its tone and themes." - Seattle Book Review
"The Grand Dark is a thematic buffet. Wealth, addiction, and censorship are only a few of its social and political layers. Foremost among its concerns ...
"Kadrey has written for us a beautiful nightmare - one that's often eerily familiar - showing a theatrical world set on the edge of war, and losing itself in the shadows of brutality and oppression." - Chuck Wendig, New York Times bestselling author of Wanderers
"The Grand Dark is more than just another reliably strong outing from a veteran writer. It's the work of a major science fiction/fantasy creator going way out in a limb in the effort to wholly redefine himself, all while crystallizing what's made him great." - NPR
"Wildly ambitious and inventive fantasy from an author who's punching above his weight in terms of worldbuilding-and winning." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Stunning. The hard, spare, considered voice that's driven Kadrey's gonzo supernatural noir has been honed to a deft Kafka-esque edge. Unsettling and dreamlike, seductive and bleak, the jaws of The Grand Dark gape to devour you." - Max Gladstone, author of Empress of Forever
"Artisanal gene mod and robots and coal dust and a big middle finger to the oligarchs, plus bicycles!" - New York Times bestselling author Kevin Hearne
"[For] readers who like morally complex characters and enjoy their fantasy on the dark side." - Booklist
"The novel feels almost China Mieville-esque in its tone and themes." - Seattle Book Review
"The Grand Dark is a thematic buffet. Wealth, addiction, and censorship are only a few of its social and political layers. Foremost among its concerns ...
Readers Top Reviews
Christiaan Van de
Kadrey's description of postwar Proszawa reminds me of Heinrich Boll's short stories of post-war Germany - the desperation, the way a possession, talent, or wits can make the difference between scrabbling a living or not. I was engrossed from the start. If you're looking for the bonkers action and operatic stakes of Sandman Slim, you won't find it here. Some people seem miffed that a reviewer or two compared this to Mieville's Bas Lag stories (and perhaps The City and The City) and it didn't measure up. No - it's not as dense or baroque as his worlds, and I didn't spy the word "palimpsest" once. But if you engage with Kadrey's world on its own terms I think you'll be satisfied with a timely parable.
Kindle Christiaa
Elements of George Orwell, Philip K. Dick, and Kurt Vonnegut blended to tell the story of a scarred scared little boy growing up trying to survive in a society recovering from devastating war that is divided between the have and have nots, those seeking escape through hedonism and drugs while the world is controlled by secret police and people seeking to control the masses and so called degenerates through a secret that's is to scary to phantom
C. BlackwolfKindl
I love the Sandman Slim series. Read it 3 times. This is completely different. I really hope there are many more books to come in this series.
zorcazorcaC. Blac
Okay! I just finished reading Richard Kadrey's Grand Dark a second time. I read it twice because it was such fun the first time. I'm a huge fan of his Sandman Slim series and will admit I was afraid I might miss hanging out with Stark and Candy and the gang. But not to worry. The Grand Dark invites the reader into an amazingly detailed world that feels, at once, utterly familiar and darkly Kafkaesque. The wonderfully realized main characters, Largo and Remy, want to do right in a world that has gone terribly wrong. Despair would be so easy, but courage, love and increasingly quick wits allow them (and the reader) to ultimately triumph. The pacing is seductive and the dark world just detailed enough to fire up the imagination. Kadrey's banter always rings true, moving the plot along with delicious details and a mordant humor. In this book, the voices are clear and easily distinguishable. There is inevitable social commentary, but not at the cost of storyline. I can't help hoping we get to read more about Upper Proszawa and its intriguing citizens.
Catfishzorcazorca
It's nice to have a non-Sandman Slim novel from Richard Kadrey. He is quite adept at painting a visual tapestry of fantasy that it's a joy to read his works. The Grand Dark is the tale of Largo, a bike courier, working in a city that has recently been at war. The city is a mystery, full of run down buildings from the war, to parties, to factories. The technology is a steampunk blend of robots and automatons. You really get the sense that it's never really sunny there but a perpetual haze. Largo is a naive messenger who happens to know his ways around the city from his very humble beginnings with his father. The story really takes off as Largo is promoted to head courier after the other head courier goes missing mysteriously. Largo works at taking on his new duties and struggles with staying sober in a city that appears to party often. Things evolve further as Largo finds himself in different parts of the city making mysterious deliveries. The story is interesting and it did keep me reading along. There were times where I struggled to care about Largo though as he's kind of an ordinary, weaker character trying to find his place in a chaotic city. What did keep me reading though was the fascinating blend of technology and science in the city. I would recommend this book.
