There are some things I really like about Lauren Beukes's writing. Present tense that doesn't drive me up the wall. Characters who are vivid and fatally flawed. Grungy, gritty realness that makes me slightly uncomfortable at times. Where it falls apart for me is the world building. I have no idea wh...
Lauren Beukes’ [b: The Shining Girls|16131077|The Shining Girls|Lauren Beukes|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1352227705s/16131077.jpg|21956898] fascinated me with her style and imagination, I thought it was a flawed gem but it put me on board for more Beukeses. The next logical book for me from the B...
Zinzi December has hit rock bottom. After years in jail for her complicity in her brother's death, she is dumped back on the unfriendly streets of Johannesburg without home, family, or friends; in fact, the only person willing to acknowledge her presence is her old drug dealer, and he wants her to ...
I really enjoyed reading Zoo City. The main character, Zinzi December, and the setting of Johannesburg, South Africa, are different from any other paranormal type of mystery I've read, and the story was seriously darker than most in that genre. It leans toward dark fantasy despite the almost realist...
So, I was reading 419, which was all about 419 scams, and was very unimpressed. It wasn't perceptive, it didn't grab me, and the characters all seemed flat. Move your gaze a week or so, and I start reading this urban fantasy set in Johannesburg, and although 419 scams are only a very small part of w...
Zoo City is one of the more original, complicated fantasy books that I’ve read this year. I’m not even sure how to tag it, that’s how many elements come into play. Urban fantasy? Johannesburg is a major city, after all, and the animal angle is clearly unreal. Dystopia? Almost, but not quite; despite...
This seemed to me to be a great idea book. The author had a great idea (and the idea I liked, criminals with spirit animals is a rather cool idea, the creation of an othering by way of a visible burden of an animal, cool) but I didn't care for the characters and by the end of it didn't really care ...
This is as far away from urban fantasy as you can get, which is what made it appeal to me. Zinzi December lives in Zoo City, a slum for criminals, easily identified by the animal familiars emotionally/psychologically bonded to them. The creatures are manifestations of their guilt, though not necessa...
Zoo City by South African writer Lauren Beukes is a must read for anyone looking for capable, resourceful female characters or a damn good urban fantasy mystery.Zinzi December is and ex-reporter, ex-junkie with and unusual companion in Sloth. Sloth is an Animal, a familiar that the guilty are cursed...
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