When a book’s premise is basically “freaky murders happen in a Japan-like country dealing with a Kaiju problem, and the murders need to be solved by an uber-intelligent shut-in and her magically altered assistant”, you’re going to pique my interest. And this book delivered its premise in all the best ways.
In the world of Daretana, there are walls built to keep the Kaiju from invading, where there blood can work strange magical changes and contagions are rampant. In one of the elite mansions, a High Imperial officer lies dead, with a tree growing out of his body. Well, when you have an impossible murder, you need an impossible detective.
Ana Dolabra, that detective, is weird in all the best ways. She’s like a female Nero Wolfe or Mycroft Holmes, if they were thin, drug addicted and had the vocabulary of sailors. Or maybe if they had a love child with Jillian Holtzmann from Ghostbusters. Her new assistant, Dinos Kol, main character and narrator of the book, is genetically modified to be basically a walking tape recorder, he is her eyes and ears out in the world that Ana has determined will only interfere with her intellect. He is also out of his element dealing with her and the fact that this investigation will take them closer to the capital and into the higher echelons of society. Can he help Ana solve the case while keeping a large secret from his past from her?
I can not recommend this book any higher. It’s got profanity, it’s got drug use, it’s got monsters, it has copious amounts of tea being consumed. It has weird genetic modifications, it has a really well written story. It has a sequel I need to buy!
It has this quote:
“That’s the problem with figuring shit out—eventually you run into someone who’d prefer all their shit remained thoroughly unfigured.”
Tell me that alone doesn’t make you want to read it.
