Nekropolis (Angry Robot Books, August 2009, 416 pp, ISBN 978-0007323869) is the first in a series of novels featuring PI Matt Richter, with a stunning cover by award-winning artist Vinnie Chong.
Tim Waggoner
Matt Richter is a dead man. Literally. He's an ex-cop now working as a freelance PI in Nekropolis, an alternate dimensional City of the Dead. Richter is good at doing favors for those who can help him, and good at finding things out and making people talk. He's also very, very dead. As the only free-willed zombie in the alternate dimensional haven city of Nekropolis, he's odd even compared to the weird, dangerous, and creepy citizens of the city.
Nekropolis was founded about three hundred years earlier to give vampires, werewolves, witches, and demons a sanctuary from the ever burgeoning presence of humanity. After a bar-room brawl he meets leather-clad blond half-human, half-vampire Devona, who begs him to help her find the Dawnstone.
Devona is the keeper of Dark Lord Galm's treasury, a vast collection of powerful and dangerous artifacts and spells. The deadliest of those artifacts has been stolen, and Devona comes to Matt for help in tracking it down. The two of them must find the artifact and who's responsible for stealing it before something terrible happens during the renewal ceremony for the spells maintaining Nekropolis. And Matt's got some pretty serious problems of his own to deal with as well – the magic keeping him together is losing its potency. They must journey through the environs of Nekropolis and Matt's past, which embroils them in a plot to destroy the city itself.
Role Playing Games
In a fascinating afterword, Waggoner traces the novel's origins to his early days as a writer. Once Waggoner reveals that Necropolis (note the alternate and more conventional spelling) was devised as part of a role playing game, while I've played D&D (Dungeons and Dragons) and such before, I've never gamesmastered before [p.406] much of the novels' structure becomes clear. For much of the novel Richter and Devona criss-cross the city, hunting the MacGuffin that will take them to the next level. Worldbuilding is no longer limited to SF – fantasy and horror settings such as Discworld and Nekropolis alike are as inventive, detailed and internally consistent as say, Dune or Ringworld.
Nekropolis
Richter is a sympathetic protagonist and Devona a sexy heroine, while Nekropolis is packed full of characters. It seems churlish to have reservations about a novel that tries so hard to be likeable...
Part of the problem with Nekropolis is that episodic structure whereby Matt and Devona run around a lot to no great effect, part is the sheer variety of characters, none of whom are more than paper-deep, and part is the fact that the reader knows that Nekropolis has a sequel, Mean Streets, which effectively neuters any sense of suspense. It's a fun read, but it's a little like eating a chocolate. The taste is nice while it lasts, but it doesn't last for very long.
That said, it's a sweet ending that no one would begrudge Matt Richter.
Colin Harvey - Author six novels, and editor of four anthologies; professional reviewer since 2003, including six years at Strange Horizons. Member of ...
