Book Review: The Only City Left by Andy Goldman

When Allin’s parents died, he made a promise to them to stay alive, but in a city like his, that is far easier said than done.  The enormous city is dying, suffering rolling blackouts as it succumbs to the countless ages it has served as the sole refuge for its inhabitants.  Flesh eating robots, angry ghosts, werewolves, and other strange monsters regularly roam the halls and have long since beaten the human population into triviality.  The only hope Allin has left to cling to is his goal to the reach the roof of the city and see the sun for the first time.  The city seems to have other plans, ever leading him in circles, and always downward.  Before long, he finds himself caught up in a longstanding war between the werewolves and a race of humanoid cats.  On one side, the ghostly leader of the werewolves wants Allin for some secret, horrible scheme, while the cats want him as bait to put an end to the werewolves reign of terror.  Allin must decide whether to continue his life of solitude, or to confront his past and join with the cats to save what’s left of humanity.

The Only City Left is a unique dystopian tale with a rich setting and interesting characters.  The action at times is so frenetic that it left me breathless.  I loved following along with Allin as he explored the city and couldn’t wait to find out what horror awaited him around the next corner.  The city’s desolation serves as a brilliant contrast against the one ray of hope, the tiny sliver of civilization represented by the cats, that begins to change Allin’s point of view.  Thus, even though the subject matter is quite dark, the story doesn’t feel overly heavy or depressing.  Overall, the book is a great combination of adventure, science fiction, and fantasy.

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Book Review: The Altar Girl by Orest Stelmach

When Nadia’s godfather dies, she is convinced the police have got it all wrong.  There is no way the old man could have accidentally fallen down those stairs.  Unlike the police, Nadia knows her godfather was terrified of those stairs.  So much so that he would often wait until his next visitor arrived to send them down to the cellar in his stead.  Never one to shy away from confrontation, Nadia says as much to anyone who will listen.  Her questions attract the attention of the decidedly wrong sort of people, and she is soon caught up in a race to solve the mystery surrounding his death or risk becoming a victim herself.  Her investigations take her deep into her beloved godfather’s not so innocent past, and up against her own brother and mother.  Before long, Nadia doesn’t know if she really wants to understand what happened to her godfather, but she fears what will happen to her if she fails.

The Altar Girl is a fast paced mystery/thriller that kept me reading well past bedtime.  Nadia’s upbringing and her godfather’s past are heartbreaking and yet somehow also triumphant.  Nadia’s pursuers are ever at her heels, creating an urgency to the story that makes it almost impossible to put down.  The mystery of the godfather’s death has enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing almost right up to the end of the book.  Are the criminals chasing her responsible for the ‘accident’? Could Nadia’s brother really have been the culprit? Is Nadia only creating a fantasy to protect the image she has of a saintly godfather? And yet, at the end, it is apparent the answers were there all along, hidden amongst the complicated layers that made up her godfather’s complicated life.

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