SHADOW CITY is one of the rare kind of books that I list under my “batshit insane post-apocalypse” genre list where not only has the apocalypse happened, but it has done so in a way that collides multiple other genres into the field. Elisa Hansen’s THE COMPANY OF DEATH where vampires, robots, and the Grim Reaper help a plucky zombie girl is one such example. So are the superheroes vs. zombies madness of Peter Cline’s EX-HEROES. Even the video game, FALLOUT, is a pretty good example with its 1950s science fiction parody that can sometimes include Lovecraftian sidequests.
This book starts with the protagonist, Colton, awakening, Rip Van Winkle style, to a world that has utterly gone to hell. Quite possibly literally. The sky is a different color, mindless mutants stalk the streets, vampires are humanity’s only protectors, and humanity is packed into a single community of hardened survivors that may be the only remaining group left. It’s a lot to take in and we soon find ourselves moving to other perspectives ranging from an extra-dimensional body snatcher to a beautiful but thoroughly evil vampire on the side of the invaders that are rarely interested in finishing their conquest.
Author, Anna Mocikat, has a history of working in video games and it’s easy to tell by the world-building she’s created that gives you a strong sense of exploration as part of the point. The closed off remains of Hollywood form a fascinating maze for our heroes to navigate and it is a society in bad need of a hero to rescue it. The locals are eager to make Colton into their messiah, but the fact is that even he doesn’t know who, where, or what about his past. He seems to be a nice guy but given he can fight a vampire in hand-to-hand combat and they’re superhumanly fast and strong, there’s more to him than meets the eye.
I think part of why I like it is not so much the realism, a healthy suspension of disbelief is needed to ask why there’s cyborgs and vampires working together but the simple enjoyability of each character. Their situation is insane, but I found their reactions always believable. The teenagers want to charge in and live their lives despite the fact they probably have no future while the adults have their relationships on mind more than their imminent doom. The religious fanatics on both sides get disdainful treatment by their associates despite the fact they’re the only people trying to get to the heart of the mystery of what had happened.
I rarely comment on action sequences in books, but this is a book where they stand out, being both fluid and exciting from start to finish. There's a smooth use of them with a real sense of kinetic weight to them that I often find lacking from my popcorn fiction. Our protagonists are frequently supernatural but that doesn't mean they're not feeling it when faced against something equally tough.
I've read both the ebook version as well as listened to the audiobook version and, of the two, I have to say I prefer the latter. The former is fine, but the dual narration of both David Reimer and Jessica Weyman stands out. If I had to recommend one of the two, I'd listen to it over reading but it’s the difference of a half star on a four-star book. It's a fun, dark post-apocalypse setting with several The Matrix-esque antiheroes as well as a surprising ray of hope.
Moment of cognitive dissonance. I saw the title and thought it was about this. https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/taran-khan-shadow-city-woman-walks-kabul/
Which is a very fine but very different book.
Worth mentioning because people often ask about duplicate titles. But they’re hard to avoid especially if you’re after a short snappy title.