City of Saints and Madmen

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I tend to allow an author like David Mitchell to get away with loose or almost thread-bare connections. I got the impression that The Strange Case of X was supposed to be a sort of surprising twist story, forcing us to question our assumptions about the nature of reality versus fantasy. However, right from the beginning, I assumed the twist--I’m not saying I cleverly figured it out, but that it never occurred to me that the story might end any other way. It would be as if a story ended with the revelation ‘he was a dog all along!’, when earlier stories were all from the point of view of dogs, and the story in question kept mentioning leashes and chew toys. Perhaps if it were read in isolation, it would work better, but when collected alongside other Ambergris stories, it's hard to imagine reading it any other way. Jeff VanderMeer is a very clever, very talented guy. But I feel that sometimes, he lets his cleverness get in the way of a good story. Gangsterland: During and after the War of the Houses, Ambergris has a high number of small gangs dividing control of the city amongst themselves. And after the Rising, they're tolerated by the Gray Caps so long as they keep out of the Gray Caps' way. A new complication occurs when foreign spies come to the city to set up shop.

His elements are all more overtly connected to the theme of Ambergris, a city that doesn’t seem to be as developed as the modern world, but still doesn’t seem to resemble any city from the past, apart from aspects of the Byzantine Empire.

Tropes present in the books of Ambergris

I was not happy though that the only way to add this notification was either as a title/subtitle or as standard text — even with bolding and italicization available. I wanted something that was clearly setoff from my text in a different typeface, but not overshadowing it in any way either. I realized that what I wanted was a font size and style much like that of the attribution found underneath images on Medium. City of Saints and Madmen” (“COSAM”) not only explores a world of New Weird author’s Jeff VanderMeer’s creation, it gives a detailed insight into the method of his creativity. I might have a little brain-child that turns into my own special idea or book City of Saints and Madmen (Ambergris, #1) BY Jeff VanderMeer after reading a great book. Land of One City: Ambergris is but a single city founded on the ruins of the fungal city that the whaling fleet calls Cinsorium and can't expand too far from there due to the dangers of the surrounding jungle. It has all the economic and political power of a country as its economy waxes with the Freshwater Squid trade and growing industrialization. This book is a collection of linked stories, possible to read as standalones, but all taking place in and around VanderMeer's invented city, Ambergris.

It explores just how much desire, lust and love occur within the head of the Subject, regardless of the existence, knowledge, awareness, consent or encouragement of the Object.Genre Shift: Halfway through the book, the story goes from a murder mystery to becoming a spy-caper with plenty of foreign intrigue. Higher-Tech Species: The Gray Cap mostly have better tech (including some that can fiddle with reality) than the local humans who only had guns 100 years ago. However technologies like radio confound them and the Gray Cap never truly mastered their technology. Finally the Gray Cap tech advantage gets wiped out when the scattered Rebels return with new tech. Annoying Arrows: Averted, the whaling fleet that founded Ambergris were dangerous not just with sword and harpoon, but also were excellent archers. It was with these medieval weapons, that they conquered the early Gray Caps and held their own against marauding forces from outside.