The Drowning City Review

The Drowning City
the first book of the Necromancer Chronicles is Amanda Downum’s debut release from Orbit books. Right from the start this book seems to promise something special. The sleek and dark cover just calls to you from the shelf with the promise of eastern mystery; this is not your safe well trodden medieval fantasy.

The story itself is set in the tropical city port of Symir, located on the border between the expansionist Assari Empire and the northern Kingdom of Selafai.
“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.”
And its here we meet our main protagonist Isyllt Iskaldur, Necromancer and Spy accompanied by her mercenary body guard Adam. She is tasked to bring chaos and rebellion to the island in order to bring a halt to the Empires long feared invasion.

The imagery used throughout this story is amazingly detailed and rich, Symir is a dank and dangerous place crisscrossed by canals infested by the flesh eating Nahk who are only just kept at bay by wards and charms, the inhabitants themselves are divided by political allegiance, social status and family clan. The resistance is divided into two camps, fighting each other as much as the Empire. Even the cities restless dead take sides or are bound and forced to obey there masters will.

The problem at the heart of this work however is that the characters never really seem to work in the setting, almost as if the cast from a soup had somehow managed to get onto the set of a Cameron blockbuster. Which is an unfortunate as the whole tale hinges on the choices people make due to honour, duty or love and for that it needed much stronger characterisation? If you can get past this “the drowning City” has it all, assassins, rebels, ghosts, zombies, a volcano all wrapped up in a luscious backdrop.

Amanda Downum is definitely an author to keep an eye on in the future as she has a true talent that shines throughout this book; I just got the feeling that this was not exactly the book she was thinking of when she started. But hey, I could be wrong.

I would: Loan this from a library, and if you like it buy the set once it’s finished.