A while ago, Angry Robot posted a link to the cover art for City of Dreams and Nightmares. At the time, I was very impressed with the cover. I still am. But there’s an old saying that’s always sure to be tested – you can’t judge a book by its cover.

Or can you?

Ian Whates has offered up a solid story, with a neat little plot and a style which is fast looking like a confidant Angry Robot style. They’re certainly choosing their authors well enough to reflect their needs, I think.

Mister Whates has chosen a world which did remind me a little of Alistair Reynolds’ Terminal World. Certainly not for any nefarious reasons, though, I hasten to add. Simply that it is set in a large city with seemingly many levels. And that the city looms up high into the sky. And that there’s only a touch of the steampunk rather than a broad brush of it. And there’s angels. Who might be demons. We’re not sure yet.

Though there’s an aching similarity in visual elements, Mister Whates’ book is, I feel, the more confidant. It feels much more bound by its plot, rather than struggling all over the place to realise – well, I was never sure what Terminal World was realising. With Mister Whates, I am sure as I can be, and satisfyingly so.

He set his book mostly in the lower levels of his city, where the poor folk live. Poor folk make for great stories, I think, and Mister Whates chose to make a gang-infested city. Though where some gangs are yakuza-style adults, Mister Whates went with Borrible-style youngsters which he called street-nicks. An almost Victorian feel of street thuggery, and one which worked out rather well indeed.

Plotwise, it concerned one such street-nick with a gift for hiding who is witness to a murder. Framed for the murder, he escapes into the city below and begins a long journey back to his own gang where he hopes to be safe. Escorted by a tough lass who’s handy with knives (I love her, naturally), he’s being hunted not only by the elite Kite-Guard (guards who can fly with the aid of their special capes – Batman style, I thought)., but also by the personal assassin of the murderer himself. The murder is then backgrounded as it seems our young hero has been set-up to battle against a mysterious wave of steampunk-themed bio-robots who turn street-nicks into (pretty much) the walking dead. As you can see, there’s so much going on, and Mister Whates does a masterful job of juggling the plot with an elegant ease I found vaguely disturbing in someone rumoured to be human.

If I could pick one thing I found disappointing, it would only be the end. Many writers struggle with their final pages, I think, and I feel Mister Whates may have been one of them. For starters, the story seemed to get tied up far too neatly. The bow was just too perfect. I had begun to think this was a stand-alone novel, and had let the disappointment ooze into me. Then, almost like a hiccup, he picked it up again and twisted it to give it a bit of a set-up for the next book. It was the last few chapters which felt a little hesitant to me. Like Mister Whates was unsure if he should write the book as a lead into a sequel or not. Considering how confidant he had been in his narrative leading up to that point, I found the end a little bit disjointed.

My fears, though, were eased somewhat by the inclusion of the first two chapters of the sequel which offers a powerful look at where he’s going.

And that little knife-wielding Kat is back. I did like her character, and hope she’ll be used a lot more. I’ve always liked these kind of grumpy, stabby little assassins. They’re wonderful creatures. I think of all the character endings in the first book, hers was the one which was left tied up in a manner which was most satisfactory. Give me a knife-wielding assassin and I’m happy. As you know, it’s a subject very close to my heart.

I do look forward to the sequel, as I seem to be from most books coming from this oddly fascinating publisher. I assure you, they’re giving me no money for writing that. They don’t even give me any free books. I find them simply interesting because of all the publishers writing fantasy right now, they seem to be one of those rare ones doing something my site was always designed to search for – something a little bit different.