Reviewer Praise for CITY OF CORPSES
This is from the Amazon customer review:
This Series Just Keeps Getting Better
Wright’s Moth and Cobweb series is a fascinating glimpse into a “Twilight World,” which lies in, around, and beyond the world of bewitched humanity, who go about their lives in the Day world dazzled by fallen elven magic into not realizing the full scope of reality. In this world the Church has always stood against the forces of the Night world and other hidden evils even as most men could not perceive them, and in this series Wright pulls back the curtain and allows us to follow those born with enough magic in their blood to live in both worlds, who see the power of the darkness which hides itself from men but can choose whether to serve it or the Light which will one day banish the shadows of both Twilight and Night together, forever.
The previous 3 books dealt with a young boy’s discovery of this twilight world, his Moth heritage, and subsequent journey into Arthurian knighthood as a warrior of the light. Our heroine in this trilogy is Yumiko Ume Moth, a twilight girl of Japanese ancestry who wakes up with no memory of who she is or her past, and skirts the edges of darkness seeking her past, herself, and perhaps her salvation.
In the previous book, Daughter of Danger, she is introduced only to be immediately thrown into action-packed conflict with the anarchists, unnatural creatures hell-bent on overthrowing human and elven authority alike. By the end she had found her name, and an enchanted kitsune costume which allows her to fight against her adversaries, but not yet discovered her past. Rejected by her former master, she is alone and without honor. In this book, she makes the tough decision to infiltrate the seedy Cobbler Club as a showgirl. The club serves as a sort of DMZ for the Twilight world, a gentlemen’s establishment run by a mysterious figurehead that permits Moths, their enemies the Cobwebs, and anyone else to meet and be entertained on equal ground… or so it seems.
Wright’s story-telling in this particular format has improved steadily throughout the series, and the plot flows smoothly with fewer intruding stylistic shifts. His inimitable prose draws you immediately into Yumiko’s struggles to succeed at the club (thus the book’s cover art) while carefully hiding her identity, as she uncovers vital information about the twilight world and the darker purposes of the club itself. By the end, having earned her employer’s trust, she is given the perilous assignment to accompany an ancient, powerful, and capricious elf-witch who has decided to go see the modern human world for herself. (With echoes of Jadis in London, for any Narnia fans)
I devoured this new installment at regrettable speed, and my only complaint is that the series gives us a sense of a larger conspiracy and plot at the same time as it slows down to focus on Yumiko and her efforts. Yet the story does not disappoint; old friends from previous books turn up as comforting warriors of light in this benighted setting, the club owner is revealed to be more dangerous and evil than he had seemed, and the story is woven skillfully into the larger world of the series even as events from the past book are not fully explained yet. The titular city also remains an ominous threat which is not yet explored, though it drives the demonic secrets behind the club which Yumiko is forced to confront and elude ancient evils to discover, before discovering secrets from her own past which connect her story to the Light in ways she had never imagined.
The first three books of the series, the Green Knight’s squire trilogy, were a sumptuous feast of heraldic imagery and fallen elves woven into a backdrop for a coming-of-age story for a boy and his dog, winning his spurs and much more in epic quests which were charming and ennobling by turns. The Yumiko story is not the story of an honest squire questing to become a knight by tackling any obstacle in his path head on, but rather a resourceful ninja masquerading as a showgirl to regain her memories and her mission by stealth and competence. It’s a good counterbalance to the previous trilogy, and I highly recommend the entire series to anyone who enjoys “baptized fantasy” in the vein of George MacDonald, G.K.Chesterton, inklings like Tolkien and Lewis, and now John C. Wright.
Here is the announcement of the book, for those of you eager to buy:
Yumiko Moth has discovered her name, but she still does not know who, or what, she is. What she has learned is that her mother is dead, her master has disowned her, and her beloved has vanished. And she also knows that the Day world is a very dangerous place for a Twilight girl, especially when the dark forces of Night are hunting her.
To discover the truth she seeks, she must infiltrate the enemy’s citadel. In New York City, that is The Cobbler’s Club, home to the world-famous Peach Cobbler Girls. But how can a girl who stalks the shadows hide herself in the bright lights of the stage?
CITY OF CORPSES is the fifth book of MOTH & COBWEB, an astonishingly inventive series about magical worlds of Day, Night, and Twilight by John C. Wright.
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
