Sam Sykes

http://fouroffivewits.com/2015/06/26/you-should-read-the-city-stained-red-by-sam...

"What makes fantasy so enticing these days is the subversion of tropes. Martin subverts the hero in A Song of Ice and Fire, Joe Abercrombie subverts the gathering of unlikely parties for a quest to save the world in The First Law books, but these two books do it differently.

Starting with The City Stained Red, Sam Sykes, like Scott Lynch does in The Lies of Locke Lamora, injects his world with lovable, likeable, snarky, and sarcastic jerks. In the city of Cier’Djaal everyone has a mouth of them despite the seriousness of the situation. Unlike mercenaries, adventurers like Lenk and his gang are considered lower than prostitutes in respectability in this world, which I have dubbed Lenkworld, Simple there to get paid a foot war of rival gangs are killing each other, one of those gangs wants to resurrect a dead god king, and all the characters are having revelations about themselves. All the while characters, and not just the main characters, have insults, quips, banter, retorts, wisecracks, and witticisms on their lips on every page. It isn’t overdone though, working more like a buffer to the darker parts underneath. There’s a sickness in this city as Gariath, a dragonman, puts it. The system is manipulated by the equivalent of the upper class and the crime organizations. The humans, being the only species welcome in Cier’Djall, are bigoted against everyone who isn’t them in this city. Our heroes all are struggling with guilt, love, acceptance, and identity while trying to survive in this city when all hell breaks loose. It is rare, like The Lies of Locke Lamora is rare, that a book can be both funny and tragic but Sam Sykes does it well. What makes it different from …Lamora is the suffering his characters are going through internally.

An added bonus, I had no idea this was part of an ongoing series. It is the beginning of a new trilogy continuing from a previous trilogy. I was ninety percent through the book when I found that out and had no struggle with backstory or history by not (yet) reading those previous books."… (mere)

I feel torn on this.

On the one hand, Brianna is likable and her shortcomings are relateable. There is a feel-good story in here about believing in yourself and doing things because they make you happy, not to impress someone else (even if that someone else is your celebrity chef father.)

On the other hand, there's kind of a weird undercurrent of racism and gentrification in here that left an unpleasant taste in my mouth. The monsters were persecuted and basically forced into this ghetto called Monster City, where they make their own society apart from humans. The top chef there (Madame Cron) is a monster who remembers the days of persecution, being driven from their homes, etc. (She's also the brownest character in the book.) Now this rich, blonde human comes in and starts a restaurant that ignores their laws, takes business away from monster businesses, etc. And Madame Cron doesn't like it. And I get why she doesn't like it! There's a little bit of lip service paid to her background explaining why she hates humans so much, but she doesn't manage to escape her role as the bad guy, trying to take Brianna (and her restaurant,) down.

I'm not saying that the author is a racist, or that Brianna is an unlikable character, or that she's doing something bad on purpose, but the story IS problematic IMO. Maybe Sam Sykes meant to flesh out Madame Cron more and make her more sympathetic and less of a villain, but just didn't end up doing that. I don't know. But I found myself agreeing with her throughout the book, and feeling like all the people (and monsters) telling her to get over the subjugation of their people (because it was so long ago) were being total jerks. And Brianna should have had to realize that she was at least somewhat in the wrong here.

THAT ALL BEING SAID. It was otherwise fun. And cute. The art is colorful and eye-catching. But it could be better. 2 1/2 stars.… (mere)

In light of recent events and as the victims of both Sam Sykes and Myke Cole speak out on the sexual harassment, misconduct, and assaults perpetrated by one or both, I have removed my review and will no longer be supporting this or other authors that have been accused.

Believe the victims.

Perhaps someday, these authors' actions will finally outperform their words of, "I need to do better." I hope they will. But regardless, no action can remove the harm they have done to women and young authors who looked to them for guidance and leadership.

… (mere)