Not the browser
Jul. 8th, 2009 08:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
threemonkeysSo I like (amongst other things) science fiction, fantasy and crime books. There aren't all that many writers who try to combine all three. Rather to my surprise, it turns out that Liz Williams has had a go with her Inspector Chen novels. The first of which is Snake Agent. Set in a hi-tech near future where the gateways to Heaven and Hell are well known and open. Inspector Chen is a police officer assigned to cases of supernatural and mystical nature which means from time to time he has to take a literal trip to Hell. He has a demon counterpart, a dumb sidekick, a beautiful demon wife - and to be science fictional, he uses a nanotech computer system running on an organic neural network.
Its all there - it really is. It works pretty much too, although there is perhaps a bit too much coincidence and divine intervention in the story for a great story. But Williams' best strength is the way she evokes a strange non-human landscape. Setting half a book in Hell is a perfect match for her skills. So Hell is evil, hot, bureaucratic, spiteful, secretive and has opera. A perfect evocation.
Its all there - it really is. It works pretty much too, although there is perhaps a bit too much coincidence and divine intervention in the story for a great story. But Williams' best strength is the way she evokes a strange non-human landscape. Setting half a book in Hell is a perfect match for her skills. So Hell is evil, hot, bureaucratic, spiteful, secretive and has opera. A perfect evocation.