The Last Smile in Sunder City

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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I think this could be my longest post ever, and I'd still leave things left unsaid, you wouldn't believe the length of my notes for a book of this size. I'll try to hit the most important points. To fill in whatever lacunae appears below, you should probably also read what was said over at Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub, The Tattooed Book Geek, Grimdark Magazine, and FanFi Addict—they're what convinced me to buy the book.

“So, you're a Man for Hire?”

“That's right.”

“Why don't you just call yourself a detective?”

“I was worried that might make me sound intelligent.”

The Principal wrinkled his nose. He didn't know if I was trying to be funny; even less if I'd succeeded.

“What's your relationship with the police department?”

“We have connections but they're as thin as I can make them. When they come knocking I have to answer but my clients' protection and privacy come first. There are lines I can't cross but I push them back as far as I can.”

THE LAST SMILE IN SUNDER CITY

I made my way east along Fourteenth Street without much hope for what I might be able to find. Professor Edmund Albert Rye; a man whose life expectancy was already several centuries overdue. I doubted I could bring back anything more than a sad story.

I wasn't wrong. But things were sticking to the story that knew how to bite.

and

There was a hangover on the horizon, along with something else. Something sort of stupid.

A devil was sitting on my shoulder whispering the kinds of things that stopped working on me years ago. I was only in my thirties but I was old. You don't measure age in years, you measure it in lessons learned and repeated mistakes and how hard it is to force a little hope into your heart. Old just means jaded and cynical and tired. And boy, was I tired.

* Which is, admittedly, the point of redemption.

THE LAST SMILE IN SUNDER CITY

Maybe nobody gets better. Maybe bad people just get worse. It's not the bad things that make people bad, though. From what I've seen, we all work together in the face of adversity. Join up like brothers and work to overcome whatever big old evil wants to hold us down. The thing that kills us is the hope. Give a good man something to protect and you'll turn him into a killer.

noir

Post apocalyptic fantasy of a sorts. Luke Arnold introduces us to a fantasy world where the magic is suddenly gone. He asks the interesting question on what happens to all the fantasy creatures that relied on magic?

Sunder City is a place that used to be the industrial heartland of a magical land, churning out magical artifacts from the magical fires beneath it. When the magic goes out, the city remains but its industry is gone. Fetch Phillips is a man for hire - a kind of private investigator. He is brought in to investigate the disappearance of a vampire. There are some strong Dresden vibes here, even if the setting is quite different, with the fantasy noir stylings.

Interspersed in this noir tail is the story of what lead up to this magical apocalypse, what makes someone (something?) a monster and plenty of interesting world building. Luke Arnold has a wonderful light humour to his writings (like the best noir) and this is an eminently readable, creative and fun take on a genre bending tale.