Cover Image: String City

String City

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“Everything in the universe is made of string. Cosmic string…String City is where the cosmic string gets knotted so tight that all the dimensions kind of fold together.”

A fully imagined and realised setting is an essential component for any novel. It helps provide context and backdrop to the characters and events that comprise the story being told. Sometimes, however, it can evolve into something much more important. Sometimes, a setting becomes such an essential part of a story or character’s identity that it would be impossible to imagine one without the other. Imagine Batman without the gritty, urban nightmare that is Gotham City, Alice going on a journey to somewhere other than Wonderland, or even Winnie the Pooh without Hundred Acre Wood. The setting is so vital to the overall narrative that is an essential part of their DNA and wouldn’t work in any other setting. String City, Graham Edwards’ latest genre-blending work, can surely be added to this list.

Combining elements of science fiction, urban fantasy, film noir, and ancient mythology, Edward’s world-building for String City is nothing short of phenomenal. On his search for the truths behind the various cases that he takes on, our PI protagonist visits a diverse range of districts in the city that were so easy to imagine in great detail while also playing a vital role in the development of the story’s narrative. There was occasion when it was hard to visualise how a newly-introduced district, despite excellent description, was connected to the rest of the city, but I guess that is to be expected when the characters’ modes of travel are so outlandish and fantastic as skipping along the cosmic string that run between different dimensions. However, such feelings of disconnect never lasted long.

Edwards’ wild and imaginative concepts were evident not only in String City’s settings, but also its characters. The city is populated by gods, titans, angels, creatures, ghosts, humans, and god knows what else, all of whom fit into the city and its mechanisms in their own particular ways. The variance in the characters’ dialogue styles was easily apparent and worked effectively to add depth to many of them, in particular the PI, Aeolus, and Arachne. While many of the characters brought a sense of gravity and grit to the story, there were plenty that actually gave a sense of whimsy, bringing a touch of Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams to proceedings, which was very effective at creating subtle changes in the tone of the book.

String City is a busy and exciting story with a gargantuan cast of characters and locales that made for a thoroughly enjoyable read. Despite the hectic and busy nature of the book, however, it still feels as though Edwards has barely allowed us to scratch the surface of either String City or indeed the Cosmos it inhabits. So whether they are concerned with the PI, Runefolk, or new characters that didn’t make an appearance this time, I sincerely hope we are treated to more stories from this truly wondrous world.

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Super imaginative and original, String City is the centre of the cosmos, where gods, Titans, robots, sentient entities, humans and hamadryads live in (so-called) harmony.

Our protagonist (unnamed - and none the worse for it) is an old school detective in this hustling metropolis. He walks the dimensions and knows more about characters and their mythologies than anyone else, but is thankfully not omnipotent, even if he has a bizarre gadget for every occasion.

The whole novel has a great Douglas Adams (Dirk Gently) and Terry Pratchett feel to it, whilst making regular references to Greek and other mythologies - something I really enjoyed - in a very film noir context.

I was worried it might be hammy, but, actually, I loved it. Certainly stretched the imagination - just roll with it!

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A private eye in a city, where string theory is actually a reality and an inter-dimensional place filled with gods, myths and other mind-bending personalities, is always going to have his work cut out for him. When he is “persuaded’ to investigate an explosion at a local casino, a heist gone wrong takes on a whole new meaning for him, involving ancient Greek Titans, an interdimensional spider god and a mysterious creature known as the Fool. Oh yes, and the obligatory dames in distress.

“String City is where the cosmic strange gets knotted so tight that all the dimensions kind of fold together”. Which describes the place in a nutshell and lets you know you’re in for a bit of a mind-stretching read.

There is so much going on conceptually in this novel in terms of theoretical physics, ancient gods, mythical creatures and heists, not to mention the classic noir narrative complete with down at heel scruffy gumshoe (although this one has a front door with singularity locks). Did I mention the fiendishly complicated plot? In other words, an enormous smorgasbord of concepts rammed together in what could have resulted in nothing more than a pile of pretentious drivel. But String City is enormous fun when you get onboard those strings and don’t let the boundary wolves get you. The dialogue is so Chandleresque slick, you can sense the oil dripping off the castors of the storyline.

Each chapter is packed with “stuff” in this all you can eat buffet of worldbuilding. But they are short, allowing you to take a psychological breather before diving into the next action-packed, mind-bending, concentration-demanding episode.

String City is a highly entertaining story with a great deal of humour (check out the bladderwrack plug-in to the weather scanner), cliff-hangers, twists and great characters (R2D2 and C3PO are so last year compared to The Scrutator), which make you think “Wow that was genius. How can Graham Edwards top that?”, and in the next chapter he does.

Definitely on my to-read again list, not only to pick up all the things I missed the first time, but just because I really enjoyed it.

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"What had started as a routine inter-dimensional hop from my office to the Tartarus Club was rapidly turning into a life-or-death struggle."

A rip-roaring gumshoe detective novel - in the vein of Dashiell Hammett - with a breathtaking sci fi setting. This is a thoroughly enjoyable romp.

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This is a treat for lovers of SF and Mickey Spillane. Setting the usual "gumshoe" novel within a wildly original alternative universe ought not to work but somehow succeeds magnificently. There is novelty on every page with a running theme of a detective caper that takes you on a roller coaster which never lets up and never gets predictable. Graham Edwards has a truly original imagination.

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String City is a high-concept book that will probably only appeal to certain audiences. The world building in this is quite phenomenal, bordering on the utterly bizarre- and it's amazing.

Our unnamed noir gumshoe lives in String City, where the infinite dimensions that exist in the universe collide. And I mean they COLLIDE. It's a volatile place barely clinging to equilibrium as the different dimensions constantly smash into each other. Until recently, this city filled with Titans, golems, cyclops, and even a sentient sewer managed to tentatively coexist, but as our PI investigates a casino break-in with his new assistant and a robot he soon realizes that all of their worlds are hurtling toward a cataclysmic end.

What an absurd thrill ride this was, a delightful blend of fantasy, science fiction, mythology, and noir. It's the most unique literary world building I've ever come across. I was hooked from beginning to end and really hope this turns into a series.

My only gripe with it was the never ending arsenal of ill-explained gadgets that got him out of every sticky situation (including actual sticky ones). It was a bit like, "Wait, what has he got now?!" I think this might be where a lot of readers will get lost, trying to make sense of the gobbledygook devices he pulls out of nowhere with no explanation as if we know what they are.

That aside, this was a lot of fun to read and I really hope there's more. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for a copy of this in exchange for a review.

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This book was a very weird one that I found hard to get into. It was filled with all kinds of impossible things. However, at the same time I found myself wanting to know if it all turned out okay in the end.

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Graham Edwards showcases his highly imaginative mind in this cyberpunk hard boiled noir detective fiction. His world building is extraordinary and hugely compelling, where gods, horror, and more are interwoven in this mindbending, weird, but oddly addictive storytelling. Our protagonist has no name, referred to as PI or gumshoe throughout, which does work and he just happens to be a stringwalker. String City is where the cosmic string gets knitted so tight that all the dimensions kind of fold together, where everything and anything is reality, where nothing makes sense, but everything somehow hangs together. The economy has taken a downturn but the private investigation business does well in such times. It all begins with a mob of clients baying for his blood outside his office, unhappy with his inability to solve their cases when the sky lights up with a huge explosion at the Tarturus Club, a casino run by the Titan, Hyperion.

Hyperion wants our PI to investigate the heist where a theft of scathefire is discovered, the case ends with a titanic brawl, but it is the beginning of an story where it becomes clear that the city faces an apocalyptic future, and in dire need of a gumshoe to save it. Our gumshoe quips with one liners, refers to women as dames and dolls, encounters femme fatales and has a traumatic back story with the loss of his beloved wife, Laura, which is slowly revealed. He owns a nifty coat that proves to be essential on numerous occasions and an metal plated fedora hat, has a doppelganger, and acquires Zephyr, a capable assistant with a troubling back story, along with Bronzey, a Scrutator, a state of the art robot designed by the Thanes. Along the way he encounters a rich and famous meat mogul, Jason, tax collecting scarab beetles, golems, a flesh eating gigantic spider, Arachne with nefarious plans, a god in charge of the winds, the fool, and the perils of picking up a penny. Then there is Deliciosa, a zombie angel cop, who has every intention of doing her job right up to the bitter end. It all ends up in a thrilling finale in Beyond!

There is plenty of science in String City but Edwards does not make the error of over explaining the concepts which can impact negatively in slowing down the storytelling. This is a fantastic novel, and the only things that stopped me from elevating this to a 5 star read is that the prose could have been more fluent, a need for greater simplicity and more cohesion in some of the ideas, and more developed characterisation. Then we could be in the same ball park as say, Ben Aaronovitch! This is not say I did not love this, I certainly did and I would read anything the author writes. A fabulous and fun reading experience which I recommend highly. Many thanks to Rebellion Books for an ARC.

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2.5 stars, if I could.

A private detective in a really strange and really confusing city goes on maybe five different adventures with absolutely fascinating companions and it gets crazier by the page - that's how I'd describe this book.

And honestly, the premise sounds like it might be my thing. The execution not so much.

I really couldn't get into this world, it seemed such a mess with no real rules and no explanations and while some parts were certainly really interesting the rest just confused me and left me wondering why there wasn't a map or some proper introduction to String City.

I didn't mind the protagonist (who isn't named, by the way) per se but I did mind his regard for his female companions. He basically only calls them "honey" or "darling", needs to save them from God knows what and apart from the Big Spider no female character in this novel ISN'T a love interest/potential love interest.

All in all, I did have some fun reading this but I certainly expected more.

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Read more sci-fi than mystery, and this was a good mix. "Weird" is an apt summary -- It was a little challenging, but overall a good read. It's certainly unpredictable, and has some interesting characters! I think only someone with talent could pull this off. Thanks for the free advanced copy!!

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String City stakes a claim for one of the strangest hard boiled detective stories to grace the genre. It is set in String City, a place where all of the multiverses held together by cosmic string come together. It is a place where mythological creatures rub shoulders with fictional creations and a smattering of the real world. As the gumshoe narrator succinctly puts it:

String City is where the cosmic string gets knitted so tight that all the dimensions kind of fold together. All the worlds that there are – and plenty that there aren’t – get wrapped in a homicidal lover’s embrace. Impossibilities happen, moored to reality by the knots in the string. Like the tour guide says: in String City nothing makes sense, but everything hangs together.

When the book opens the narrator, a hard boiled detective type in String City is being besieged by clients unhappy with his service when he is commissioned by the Titan Hyperion to find out who raided his gambling house, the Tartarus Club. This is the first of a series of highly improbable but decidedly enjoyable escapades and cases that all tie in to what appears to be an impending armageddon. Along the way, the gumshoe will encounter among other things cyclopses, golems, giant spiders, Jason of the argonauts, sentient robots, scarab beetle accountants and will pick up a girl Friday called Zephyr with secrets and problems of her own.

String City is balls to the wall insanity, a mash of quantum physics, classic mythology and noir detective fiction. Digging deep into noir fiction tropes (including plenty of bourbon, a femme fatale and tragic backstory) Graham Edwards manages to play the weirdness straight and improbably this keeps the venture afloat. It is so crazy that it should not work. But it does.

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It’s a tough job being a gumshoe in an interdimensional city full of gods, living concepts and weirder things. Good thing I’m a stringwalker, able to jump between realities. It started when I was hired to investigate an explosion at a casino. A simple heist, I thought, but it turned into a race to stop the apocalypse. So I rolled the dice, and now I’m up against the ancient Greek Titans, an interdimensional spider god and a mysterious creature known as the Fool. I’m going to need more than just luck to solve this one. If I fail, all things—in all realities—could be destroyed. Just another day in String City.

String City by Graham Edwards has such a cool premise as a sci-fi, urban fantasy, neo-noir. There's so much to see and the world-building of the titular city is absolutely fantastic. It's incredibly visual and it's easy to imagine everything. I wasn't all that interested in any of the characters, but I did appreciate the main character's dialogue and style. I mean, I can't resist someone who sounds like they'd fit perfectly in a Dashiell Hammett or Raymond Chandler story. Plus, that character also has a versatile coat that I think Kell from A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab could really appreciate. This could have been a solidly entertaining four star romp, but unfortunately at times it's disjointed and confusing to keep all of the interdimensional hoping and the like straight.

Overall, String City by Graham Edwards has a lot of potential and is quite unique. Edwards's world-building skills are the standout of the novel. It's a lot of fun to see all of the weird things living together in the city. If you're a fan of The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, and The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, I expect you'll like this as well.

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It's an interesting premise and entertaining. It's also confusing and kind of all over the place. Anyway, overall it's a good read.

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I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley, in exchange for an unbiased review.

Straight off the bat: I LOVE the world-building for this book. As a writer myself, world-building is an area of weakness for me, and I always get a little bit excited to see someone nailing that aspect of writing. If you are a world-building junkie, there is a lot to like, and the sheer scope of ambition is impressive. The science that underpins the setting is a good blend of fantastical, fresh, and believable, blending new and familiar elements alike (eg, dimension hopping and a lot of Greek myth). I also enjoyed the voice of the MC, having a fondness for noir (and it is VERY noir in atmosphere, despite the unusual setting.)


The MC is an intriguing character, and because I don't want to get into spoilers I'll avoid giving too many specifics here, but suffice to say he's had a rather colourful life and is in possession of a varied skill set.

However--and this is where my review strays into the realm of the subjective--he verges into being coy, at times. Zephyr, one of two sidekicks throughout the novel, has this to say about the MC: "Talking to you is like peeling an onion. Every time I think I'm getting somewhere, it turns out to be just another layer."

...And that's often how I felt as well. The MC's past and history start out as a mystery, and usually unveiled in moments of crisis. For example (no spoilers), MC finds himself in a jam--so we dip into a flashback about the time he did X Y Z, which gave him X item or Y skill, which he then promptly utilises. I was never sure whether the MC

The reveals were funny/engaging, and well done. But too many of them began to feel like, the MC would always escape every impossible situation even if we as the reader could not see the way out, because he simply had an endless well of past experiences and items to draw on. Every time I thought I knew the limit of the MC's options, he would pull out something fresh, so I began to assume he would *always* do this, for every encounter.

I hope this makes sense, I feel I am not explaining very well! Either way, it's not a huge issue, and is very subjective as I said, but *for me* this meant some the tension didn't run as high as it might have done.

Overall I really enjoyed the book, though, and would certainly recommend it when it's out on shelves. Intrigued to see any sequels and what else the author does with the setting.

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I loved this book. I love how it mixes the different genres making hard to understand if you're reading a sci-fi or noir. As it's so good in the end the only answer is that you don't care.
It's a wonderful book, engaging and fascinating, that you cannot put down.
I loved the style of writing and the well developed characters.
I look forward to reading other books by this author.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC

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Although the main character of this book is a noir detective, it avoids the hopeless alienation of true noir in favour of something more noblebright.

It's very high-concept. A city at the intersection of a number of cosmic strings (as in string theory), inhabited by gods, near-gods, and monsters from various pantheons, plus ordinary people (who don't fare particularly well). This sets the scene for a story full of wonder, conflict, people punching above their weight, loss, destruction, and ultimate triumph.

If there was one thing that irritated me about it, it was that the detective had a near-endless set of devices to use to solve his problems, very few of which were foreshadowed, so it ended up being a little bit Felix the Cat. (In fact, his coat, which he turns inside out a varying number of times to transform it into whatever will be the most appropriate or useful garment for the situation, is strongly reminiscent of Felix's magic bag.) However, at least one of them had a limited number of uses, and it was hinted that the use of them carried a price, though the price never quite seemed to eventuate.

I was pleased that the detective's secretary got to be a character, rather than just a functionary, with a backstory and an arc, though she did fall into the Damsel in Distress trope at one point. There were several other female characters who had agency and weight, though I wasn't a big fan of the femme fatale or of the detective's interaction with her.

All in all, more enjoyable than not, and it ended better than I'd feared, though I'd have to be in the right mood to read a sequel.

I received a review copy via Netgalley.

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<b>This book left me perplexed</b>. I loved a mind-bending world-building but didn’t warm up to characters. 
String City is <b>a hard-boiled, interdimensional detective romp</b>. An inter-dimensional city full of gods, titans, living concepts and weirder things stands out as a character in its own right. 

Story’s protagonist, an unnamed gumshoe who can move between realities investigates an explosion at the Titan’s casino. It turns out the event connects to a mysterious member of the Runefolk trapped outside of existence. As he tries to unravel the mystery, he meets and confronts unique cast of characters - a sentient Sewer, the Spider Queen, a god who manipulates the weather. With the help of Zephyr and Scrutator (a mechanical entity), he must question and even battle the fabric of existence. 

I loved String City’s world-building. You can easily picture the city, feel it and smell it. It’s one of the most fascinating cities pictured in literary fiction. Add to this Edwards’ excellent and rich prose and immerse in the world. That said, a casual reader may struggle with the world-building involving interdimensional travel, quantum tornadoes and string theory.

Here’s the thing, though. It’s not a String City guide. The book has also a plot and characters. The plot hooked me early on, the characters not so much. I didn’t care about them at all. And while I appreciate Edwards’ amazing imagination and excellent world-building, I can’t rate the book higher because of this. For me, it lacked a genuine emotion and relatable characters. 

Fascinating, intellectually stimulating world-building overshadowed characters and their narratives. I may change my opinion after re-reading the book but I’m just not sure if I’ll do it anytime soon.

Absolutely worth the read, though. Nowadays, it’s rare to find truly unique books and String City delivers unforgettable, mind-bending moments.

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”The Gumshoe” jobbar som privatdetektiv i String City, en stad full av gudar, titaner, moster, robotar och relativt ovanliga människor. Staden ligger lite som en hub för alla omgivande dimensioner. Den namnlöse detektiven, som bara kallas för The Gumshoe, kan resa via de interdimensionella trådar som givit staden dess namn. Men på senare tid har något konstigt börjat hända med trådarna och det börjar bli farligt att hoppa mellan dimensioner. Detektiven får ett erbjudande om ett uppdrag som inte går att tacka nej till. Han ska undersöka en explosion på ett kasino. Från det uppdraget så hamnar han i en vild jakt efter en mäktig artefakt som håller upp hela den existerande verkligheten. Och han måste hela tiden hålla sig på ett lagom avstånd från titan-maffian, en spindelgud och mystiska varelser som kallas The Fools.

Att läsa String City känns lite som hoppa direkt in i sista delen i en bokserie. Jag får uppfattningen att det finns en stor, spännande och välutvecklad stad runt handlingen. Men ofta känns det som att jag helt missar poänger och upplägg i och med att jag vet för lite om staden. Om jag har förstått det rätt så har Graham Edwards skrivit typ 10 noveller om detektiven och String City, men detta är första gången som han skrivit en roman i den här världen.

Här i ligger ytterligare ett problem med boken. Den är uppdelad så att det känns som att boken är byggd av en serie noveller som man sedan försökt binda ihop med en övergripande historia som ska bära berättandet så att det klarar av romanlängden. Vissa bokens delar är i det närmaste poänglösa när det gäller att föra historien framåt. Det känns inte helt rimligt att lägga 70 sidor på en sidohistoria som inte har någon som helst bäring på det övriga som händer.

Från dessa rätt så raka, om än i en klar fantastikmiljö, små deckarhistorier, med en jätteklar noir-känsla så går boken slut rakt in i en extremt komplicerad ren fantasy/sci fi-historia. Det är jättesvårt att hänga med i hur och framför allt VARFÖR boken stora antagonist, som plötsligt dyker upp under de sista kapitlen, gör som han gör. Det blir lite för komplicerat och svårförståeligt.

Med detta sagt så är den korta deckarhistorierna, där Gumshoe och hans medhjälpare löser små fall ganska underhållande. Men jag tror nog att de hade passat bättre som just noveller. Nu är det svårt att får till den övergripande historien och boken känns inte som en helhet.

Det finns lite språkliga saker i boken som efter ett tag blir störande. Framför allt gäller det upprepningarna. Att alla hela tiden tilltalar huvudpersonen med Gumshoe (som väl skulle motsvaras av att han på svenska skulle heta typ Deckarn…) och att det ständigt beskrivs hur många gånger han viker sin rock för att den ska få nya egenskaper är saker som tillslut bara blir irriterande jobbiga.

String City utspelar sig i en intressant värld, där jag tyvärr känner att jag kommer in försent. Världen är redan så klar att jag inte får den beskriven eller förklarad för mig. Det är mycket möjligt att den här boken hade tilltalat mig på ett hela annat sätt om jag hade läst alla tidigare noveller, men det är lite dåligt om detta måste ses som en förutsättning för att få grepp om bokens värld.

String City av Graham Edwards kommer ut 19 januari 2019 på Solaris förlag.

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I loved this book! A unique premise, even for a jaded reader like me. Loved the quintessential "gumshoe" persona of the lead character... a man out of place and out of time. Thoroughly enjoyable, and not the last book by Mr. Edwards that I'll read.

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ARC COpy...just a seemingly hard boiled detective managing his way-cases in a city where the stuff of legends are very much real and the very fabric of existence doesn't always obey like it does in our world. What could could possibly happen?

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