REVIEW: Green City Wars by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Philip Marlowe meets Redwall in this superior adult noir tale, where all the characters are animals, fighting for survival in the city underneath the humans.
In the solar cities of the future, the humans relax in the sun and the animals work in the shadows. Genetically engineered Little Helpers, serving humanity—unseen, unheard.
Meet Skotch. Raccoon, PI—yours for a few buttons as long as the job isn’t too illegal, whatever that means.
A mouse has gone missing. Normally this wouldn’t raise any hackles, nor any alarms, but this mouse has something that everyone seems to want, though nobody appears particularly eager to say what that something is.
The fee is good—perhaps too good. Certainly not something Skotch can easily turn down.
If only Skotch can work out where the mouse is hiding, what he’s hiding, and why his secrets are upsetting a lot of animals caught up in the Green City wars.
CW/TW – animal death
Dear Mr. Tchaikovsky,
I started “Green City Wars” expecting just a quirky noir mystery with talking animals. Yes, those animals are there and they talk. But before that really gets going, there’s almost two chapters of HEAVY worldbuilding and infodumping. Fair warning to all who decide to try this book. But I should have expected that when, even before chapter one, there are three – yes three – glossaries. I flicked through them thinking, I’m not going to remember all this so I hope the book makes all this clear.
So yes, it does take a little while for the action here to really begin and I will admit to a bit of eye-crossing at the descriptions of Neuwien-Grunstadt – the new green city in which all the action takes place – before getting to the action. But by about the third chapter, I was all in. There is something going on and I wanted to know what.
The story really is a noir mystery/thriller with a hard bitten private investigator who goes it alone but who has contacts and, it turns out, morals. Skotch thinks the fee he’s offered to find one lousy mouse is too good and it doesn’t take long before he’s wondering what fresh hell he’s got himself into and realizes he has more questions than when he started. There are sides, there are factions, there are deals being done, and tenuous alliances being made. What isn’t happening is Skotch being told what this is all about.
Who is on Skotch’s side? Who wants this mouse? And what dangerous secret does Doctor Meece hold that has got the movers, the shakers, and the revolutionaries all in an uproar?
“Lapdog of the human institution.” Gray puts in, not to be outdone.
“We should—” they both get out, then glower, each determined to out-revolutionary the other.
“Ain’t nobody getting offed,” says Wizzo the rat, not looking up from his clockwork.
I guessed what Meece’s knowledge is and yes, given the social commentary that is woven through the story, it is incendiary. For some it will be wonderful. For others it could spell ruin or disaster. Skotch has to think a while before deciding what to do once he finally knows what has cost the lives of some of his friends and associates.
It’s news to Skotch, honestly. He isn’t really sure what Lulu is, but pain in his raccoon ass is probably closer to the mark. Here she is, though, apparently in the belief she can defend him.
The book is packed with characters but they are drawn and described so well that I quickly “knew” them. Most are the ones living in the dives of the city, just trying to get by. But they aren’t caricatures. We see the thoughts and emotions of many. There are some I wasn’t sure about. Should I root for the hired killer cat or the anarchist rat? When Lulu pipes up again at top volume is she just being volubly excited Lulu or is she being a decoy? Whose side is the gangster rat boss on and is Maria going to take her anger out on Skotch or the slippery stoatweasel enforcer with the resting killer face?
I think that readers who enjoy a deep dive into worldbuilding will adore this one. Me, I was there for the action and once it got going, I became a happy camper. The final battle is taut but subtly threaded throughout the background of the book is the question of who has, who has not, and what could be done about it. The start was a slog but by the end this became a B+
~Jayne
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I read your review with some trepidation because this is one of my highly-anticipated reads. Whew. Tchaikovsky doesn’t usually disappoint — I loved his SERVICE MODEL — but your opinion is always well thought out and I’m delighted to know this worked for you. Thanks!
@Darlynne: To be honest, I thought I’d given up on Tchaikovsky after I stopped reading “Service Model” by chapter 5 but I just couldn’t pass on a raccoon PI. Hope you enjoy it.