β Scribed by Jeff Vandermeer
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
In Finch, mysterious underground inhabitants known as the gray caps have reconquered the failed fantasy state Ambergris and put it under martial law. They have disbanded House Hoegbotton and are controlling the human inhabitants with strange addictive drugs, internment in camps, and random acts of terror. The rebel resistance is scattered, and the gray caps are using human labor to build two strange towers. Against this backdrop, John Finch, who lives alone with a cat and a lizard, must solve an impossible double murder for his gray cap masters while trying to make contact with the rebels. Nothing is as it seems as Finch and his disintegrating partner Wyte negotiate their way through a landscape of spies, rebels, and deception. Trapped by his job and the city, Finch is about to come face to face with a series of mysteries that will change him and Ambergris forever.
VanderMeer's third book set in the fungus-laden city of Ambergris is an engrossing recasting of the hard-boiled detective novel. Traditional tropesfemmes fatales, double-crossing agents, underworld crime lordsmix seamlessly with a world in which humans struggle to undermine the authority of sentient fungi a century after the events of 2006's Shriek: An Afterword. By the time titular detective Finch solves the double murder of a human and a fungus, he's been drawn into a conflict in which he's rarely sure who's manipulating him or why he's so important to their plans. VanderMeer's stark tone is brutally powerful at times, and his deft mix of genre-blurring style with a layered plot make this a joy to read. Though the book stands well on its own, fans of the earlier Ambergris novels will appreciate it even more. (Nov.)
Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
'Finch is - well, it's Farewell, My Lovely if Philip Marlowe worked for pod-people while snacking on Alice's Wonderland mushrooms. It's The Name of the Rose if Sean Connery's character was a conglomeration of self-aware spores instead of a mediaeval monk. It's The Spy Who Came in From the Cold if all the agents were also testing psychedelic drugs and hung out in a postapocalyptic Emerald City instead of Eastern Europe. More importantly, Finch is a really good book - exciting, dark, suspenseful, and wonderfully weird.' Tad Williams 'I can't remember ever reading a book like Finch. Audacious... extravagant... macabre. I'm impressed Stephen R. Donaldson Fungal noir. Steampunk delirium. Paranoid spy thriller ... A clear signal, if one were ever needed, that VanderMeer remains one of modern fantasy's most original and fearless pioneers' Richard K. Morgan 'Wow, what a cool novel. Heavy with shadows and dark as sin detective fantasy... Hell I loved it. In fact, I'm a little jealous' Joe R. Lansdale 'Finch just blew me to hell and gone... I loved the meeting of the grime and the sublime and oh so beautifully crafted... Think Cormac McCarthy... with an amazing nod to Lovecraft and still that doesn't capture the spell this novel casts' Ken Bruen 'Fans of the avant garde will appreciate VanderMeer's latest work. VanderMeer skillfully pairs horror motifs with dreamlike imagery' Wall Street Journal '[An] intriguing and highly original novel... VanderMeer can write beautifully' Washington Post
In Finch, mysterious underground inhabitants known as the gray caps have reconquered the failed fantasy state Ambergris and put it under martial law. They have disbanded House Hoegbotton and are controlling the human inhabitants with strange addictive drugs, internment in camps, and random acts of terror. The rebel resistance is scattered, and the gray caps are using human labor to build two strange towers. Against this backdrop, John Finch, who lives alone with a cat and a lizard, must solve an impossible double murder for his gray cap masters while trying to make contact with the rebels. Nothing is as it seems as Finch and his disintegrating partner Wyte negotiate their way through a landscape of spies, rebels, and deception. Trapped by his job and the city, Finch is about to come face to face with a series of mysteries that will change him and Ambergris forever.
VanderMeer's third book set in the fungus-laden city of Ambergris is an engrossing recasting of the hard-boiled detective novel. Traditional tropesfemmes fatales, double-crossing agents, underworld crime lordsmix seamlessly with a world in which humans struggle to undermine the authority of sentient fungi a century after the events of 2006's Shriek: An Afterword. By the time titular detective Finch solves the double murder of a human and a fungus, he's been drawn into a conflict in which he's rarely sure who's manipulating him or why he's so important to their plans. VanderMeer's stark tone is brutally powerful at times, and his deft mix of genre-blurring style with a layered plot make this a joy to read. Though the book stands well on its own, fans of the earlier Ambergris novels will appreciate it even more. (Nov.)
Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
'Finch is - well, it's Farewell, My Lovely if Philip Marlowe worked for pod-people while snacking on Alice's Wonderland mushrooms. It's The Name of the Rose if Sean Connery's character was a conglomeration of self-aware spores instead of a mediaeval monk. It's The Spy Who Came in From the Cold if all the agents were also testing psychedelic drugs and hung out in a postapocalyptic Emerald City instead of Eastern Europe. More importantly, Finch is a really good book - exciting, dark, suspenseful, and wonderfully weird.' Tad Williams 'I can't remember ever reading a book like Finch. Audacious... extravagant... macabre. I'm impressed Stephen R. Donaldson Fungal noir. Steampunk delirium. Paranoid spy thriller ... A clear signal, if one were ever needed, that VanderMeer remains one of modern fantasy's most original and fearless pioneers' Richard K. Morgan 'Wow, what a cool novel. Heavy with shadows and dark as sin detective fantasy... Hell I loved it. In fact, I'm a little jealous' Joe R. Lansdale 'Finch just blew me to hell and gone... I loved the meeting of the grime and the sublime and oh so beautifully crafted... Think Cormac McCarthy... with an amazing nod to Lovecraft and still that doesn't capture the spell this novel casts' Ken Bruen 'Fans of the avant garde will appreciate VanderMeer's latest work. VanderMeer skillfully pairs horror motifs with dreamlike imagery' Wall Street Journal '[An] intriguing and highly original novel... VanderMeer can write beautifully' Washington Post
π SIMILAR VOLUMES
Paperback, 320 pages Published November 3rd 2009 by Underland Press AMBERGRIS: 239 Manzikert Avenue, Apartment 525. Two dead bodies lie on a dusty floor. One corpse is cut in half, the other is utterly unmarked. Only one is human. Ambergris is occupied, ruined and rotting. Its buildings are crum
### From Publishers Weekly VanderMeer's third book set in the fungus-laden city of Ambergris is an engrossing recasting of the hard-boiled detective novel. Traditional tropesfemmes fatales, double-crossing agents, underworld crime lordsmix seamlessly with a world in which humans struggle to undermi
In a world where mysterious underground dwellers rule the state of Ambergris and control its residents with addictive drugs, internment camps and random acts of terror, John Finch and his partner, Wyte, must solve a double murder for their oppressive masters, all while trying to make contact with th
### From Publishers Weekly VanderMeer's third book set in the fungus-laden city of Ambergris is an engrossing recasting of the hard-boiled detective novel. Traditional tropesβfemmes fatales, double-crossing agents, underworld crime lordsβmix seamlessly with a world in which humans struggle to under
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