The Last Smile in Sunder City
2020 • 352 pages

Ratings17

Average rating3.6

15

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.

April 23, 2022Report this review