Review: The Demon and the City

[megwrites]

Title: The Demon and the City (Detective Inspector Chen, Book 2)
Author: Liz Williams (mevennen; Arkady.org)
Genre: Science Fiction
Page Count: 374 pages
Publisher: Nightshade Books





Basic Plotline: With his partner, Detective Inspector Chen, on vacation with his wife Seneschal Zhu Irzh finds himself working a case involving gruesome killings in Singapore Three, including the daughter of wealthy family who is connected with the powerful head of a pharmaceutical company that has plans that reach from Heaven to Hell and could mean the end of Earth.


The Positives: I think I'm officially a fan of the Detective Inspector Chen series now, and I think Zhu Irzh carries the story as well or better than his earth counterpart.

As usual, the characters come across three-dimensionally but vividly from the bit parts to the main character. Zhu Irzh is even better rounded in this novel, wrestling with his growing conscience without it becoming a syrupy kind of issues (ala Angel or such shows). He retains his wily demonic charms and sarcasm and makes a great counterpart to the steady, prudent, methodical Chen.

The plot, as well, is suitably twisty though not totally unpredictable. That didn't stop me from enjoying it, however.

Of course, this novel is just as much about the setting as it is the plot. Once again, Singapore Three and it's otherworldly counterparts make for a fascinating ride. From the grit and grime of a crowded city to the rareified air of Heaven and the seedier parts of Hell, revisiting the world introduced in Snake Agent is great fun.

The Negatives: I don't know if it's part of Williams' style or just the way these two books panned out, but there is more than a touch of deus-ex-machina in the way that all the characters who have been traveling along separate, but parallel plot threads manage to meet each other just in time for the big action scene and the wrap up.

While it didn't detract from my reading so much that I wanted to put down the book or anything, it did make the ending rather predictable to me. I was put off, additionally, by the Interludes that are sprinkled throughout the end. They came as an unwelcome interruption to me getting through the climax of the book and I felt they could have been taken out with no great loss.

There were times when I felt the plot did not take up all the pages and that sometimes we cut away from chapters just as the action got good just to give a reason to make the novel longer.

A squick alert as well. There is a somewhat graphic scene of an attempted rape, and a victim who does not report this rape (though she's in the middle of trying to Save the World, so it's understandable). The rape is stopped at the last moment, and I did not feel it was handled in an inappropriate manner, but it is described and is somewhat violent. While this is not necessarily wrong or bad of the author to have written, I do know that people have varying levels of tolerance for such things. So if you're in a place where that's not something you want to or even can read, I might pass it over or maybe skip this book.

My only other complaint is that I wanted to see more of the Chen/Zhu Irzh partnership, because I think they make a great contrast. They're complete opposites and yet they borrow from each other in interesting ways.


CoC Score: 9. This novel is all CoC's all the time and even more diverse than the last novel. This time there are protagonists from other Asian countries - India notably.

Not a full 10 because Williams herself is white, and there are a few places where I think there were some slip ups which may be much more bothersome to someone who derives ancestry or origins from the cultures Williams writes about than they are to me.

For instance, she borrows from Hindu theology to have a main character who is a deva, which she describes as a demonic Indian courtesan - and to my understanding, devas are usually positive spirits and beings and asuras are the demonic counterparts. Of course, my knowledge of Hinduism is cursory at best, so feel to correct me if I am wrong!

I also saw a few places where Western ideas/phrases slipped in. In one scene she has a Chinese character (Robin Yuan) make a crack about "bitches" after someone speaks of dogs. And I don't know if that particular word/idea would make the crossover into Chinese. I think the formal name for female dogs being the same word used to insult female humans is an Englishism. Again, if I am wrong, correct me.

But these were - to my American, Western, white eyes - really rather minor. I'm still building a knowledge of Chinese culture, so there's probably a lot that I have missed. If there is, let me know. I'm always up for learning more.


GLBT Score: 7. Three points deducted because the first and only onscreen same-sex couple introduced in the novel ends with one partner dying. Of course, that partner reappears in a reincarnated form and plays a part all through out the novel. I felt that mitigated the Dead Lesbian trope just a wee bit. However, other same-sex couples are mentioned sans any dying and it seems that queerness is just as normal in Singapore Three as heterosexuality, which I appreciated. There is a greater emphasis on the heterosexual (albeit demonic) pairing between Jhai Tserai (f) and Zhu Irzh (m) with semi-graphic sex scenes included. I wished that, perhaps some of the same sex couples that were mentioned could have been shown on screen.


Gender Score: 10. All types of women all over. You have the compassionate, penitent, hardworking Robin Yuan, the ambitious and oddly repressed Jhai Tserai. You have the scheming, spoiled Deveth Sardai along with goddesses (good and bad) and all of them have agency all by themselves.