This novel is well named, since the city is more vivid than its characters or plot. Like New Crobuzon in Perdido Street Station, Bohane comes alive. I feel like I could find my way around the place, from "the Arab tangle of alleyways and wynds" that make up the Bohane Trace, up the 98 Steps to the "bleak, forlorn, .. violently windy" Northside Rises on the bluffs over the river, across the footbridge to Smoketown, and along De Valera Street into New Town.
In the year 2053, the Harnett Fancy (Trace blood-and-bone) prepares to feud with the Cusacks (from the flatblocks on the Rises) for control of the city. Meanwhile, the Gant Broderick, boss from twenty years gone, wanders back from the Big Nothin' along the High Boreen.
The story is told in a colorfully concocted patois that is fun to read. And, oh, the costumes!
In the year 2053, the Harnett Fancy (Trace blood-and-bone) prepares to feud with the Cusacks (from the flatblocks on the Rises) for control of the city. Meanwhile, the Gant Broderick, boss from twenty years gone, wanders back from the Big Nothin' along the High Boreen.
The story is told in a colorfully concocted patois that is fun to read. And, oh, the costumes!
Silver high-top boots, drainpipe strides in a natty-boy mottle, a low-slung dirk belt and a three-quarter jacket of saffron-dyed sheepskin.
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