From the bestselling author of the Sandman Slim series, a
lush, dark, stand-alone fantasy built off the insurgent
tradition of China Mieville and M. John Harrison—a
subversive tale that immerses us in a world where the
extremes of bleakness and beauty exist together in dangerous
harmony in a city on the edge of civility and chaos.
The Great War is over. The city of Lower Proszawa celebrates
the peace with a decadence and carefree spirit as intense as
the war’s horrifying despair. But this newfound
hedonism—drugs and sex and endless parties—distracts from
strange realities of everyday life: Intelligent automata
taking jobs. Genetically engineered creatures that serve as
pets and beasts of war. A theater where gruesome murders
happen twice a day. And a new plague that even the ceaseless
euphoria can’t mask.
Unlike others who live strictly for fun, Largo is an addict
with ambitions. A bike messenger who grew up in the slums,
he knows the city’s streets and its secrets intimately. His
life seems set. He has a beautiful girlfriend, drugs, a
chance at a promotion—and maybe, an opportunity for complete
transformation: a contact among the elite who will set him
on the course to lift himself up out of the streets.
But dreams can be a dangerous thing in a city whose mood is
turning dark and inward. Others have a vision of life very
different from Largo’s, and they will use any methods to
secure control. And in behind it all, beyond the frivolity
and chaos, the threat of new war always looms.