The book isn't bad in the grand scheme of things, but the story is a little hard to wrap my head around so I'll need to read through it again just to look at everything and get the underlying details,there are points where I did have to force myself through it, and I didn't really relate to any of the characters. I'm trying not to fault it for that last bit, but overall I think the book is a solid 3.5.It's fine if you want something low fantasy to read and are willing to take the time to try and understand it. In The Drowing City everything that should have been good was a mess. Instead of just one interesting setting there were three. Instead of one character with an interesting magic system there were three. Instead of one interesting plot line with lots of moral and emotional ambiguity there were -you guessed it- three. It was a lot to pack into a 350 page novel. On top of that Downum set a really steep learning curve that never explained anything, had world specific words, and only featured an overly simplified map. There were dozens of sub characters and not a single one had a distinctive trait that set them apart. Once again a glossary would have been awesome but none were provided. I do give Downum kudos for having multiple female characters. Sadly I didn't understand any of them well enough to actually invest in them until two thirds of the way through the book. Each had her own plotline that was only tangentially related to the others so no viewpoint did double duty. I'm also fairly sure that two of the three characters won't be continuing in the series, which means that I would have to start all over again. Yay.I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone and I'm not reading the rest of the series.
What do You think about La Cité Des Eaux (2011)?
Well written and laced with imagination. The book lacks a good sense of character development.
—vitty
Excellently constructed high-magic fantasy. The main character takes a bit to grow on you.
—kimelime
Pretty good... Asheris was a big surprise! : )
—frufru
