Review: Slab City Blues by Anthony Ryan
Blurb:
Gangs, killers, and vampires. One war-torn detective is the only hope of survival for a crime-ridden orbiting city… Blade Runner meets Se7en in this gritty five-story collection from New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Anthony Ryan. Alex McLeod paid dearly during the war for independence from Earth. It left the detective disfigured, jaded, and alone. In the aftermath of victory, Alex seethes as criminal factions and cold-blooded killers clash over control of the newly-liberated confederation. In his crusade for justice in the free states, he's willing to break more than a few rules along the way… The only home Alex knows is the slums of Slab, an orbiting city teeming with lowlifes, back-stabbers, and gene-spliced monstrosities. From the grimy streets of his city to the lawless Asteroid Belt, Alex goes toe-to-toe with a sharp-clawed vigilante, a mythical serial killer, and a gorgeous vampire with an ominous message. His quest won't end until his homeland earns the freedom it was promised… But even Alex may not be able to stop the impending Reckoning and a voyage to the one place he swore he'd never return: Earth… Slab City Blues: The Collected Stories contains four exciting novellas and one sensational novel set in a world of hard-boiled sci-fi and cyberpunk. If you like hard-nosed detectives, futuristic planets, and pulse-pounding action, then you'll love Anthony Ryan's world of vampires, werewolves, and space.
Review:
Anthony Ryan never disappoints me. Usually I find noir-style books a little too slow and bland, so I put off this read for a long while. However, the cyberpunk setting, high stakes conflicts, and a plethora of action kept this engaging throughout!
I found this to have some of the best side characters of any of Anthony Ryan’s books thus far. I especially enjoyed Freak, Mac, Janet, and Joe, who each had rich backstories and fun development throughout each book/section. A human-turned-computer-thing, a spliced vamp with a sketchy background, and a prize fighter with a big heart. Each of them won me over.
The MC, McLeod, is a detective/inspector type, and usually that’s not my jam. However, the PoV wasn’t written as distant as these characters usually are, and his thoughts weren’t dry and analytical. He’s intelligent but funny, and has a life outside of his police work that made his character development engaging. The moral dilemmas and sense of identity presented through his character were fascinating.
As usual, Ryan excels at placing characters in scenarios where they have to contemplate or struggle with obscure but meaningful aspects of life, death, sanity, morality, humanity, and self. One such issue was captured in facial reconstruction and another was in gene splicing. He had interesting takes on both of these issues and more, and presented them in a natural way in the story.
The finale of the book(s) really brought the whole story home, but I don’t know what to say about that without spoiling the plot. Regardless, it is always appreciated when you really get that satisfying all-ends-tied epic ending.
Genre wise this was a really fun mixed bag of cyberpunk, space opera, and a dash of fantasy. All genres I really love, and presented in intriguing ways. The setting was perfection. A multi-faceted, international, gritty, drug-filled, crime-filled, conspiracy-filled, poverty-filled, post-war space society. I loved every second of it.
Like any of Ryan’s books, there are a lot of intelligent and skilled characters. More so even in this book due to enhancements that you can’t really get in medieval or post-apoc settings. Both the protagonists and the villains were exciting to read about due to the level of thought put into their plans and how intriguing their personalities were.
