Ann Walker
4/12/2015
The Demon and the City is another one of those wonderful books where the City is a major character. Although Singapore 3 doesn't exist (yet) Liz Williams depicts it vividly in all its steamy, smelly, garish glory. Not just the elegant upper reaches where the wealthy (mostly Evil, and in league with Even More Evil) lord it over the rest, but the crowded middle class and lower class areas - abandoned temples, markets, criminally overcrowded markets.
The characters are wonderfully vivid, as well - gods, demons, a talking teakettle that turns in to a protective badger-spirit, elegant and venal corporate executives, honest and honestly overworked cops. This series is such an enjoyable, engrossing change from my customary reading.