City of Saints and Madmen by Jeff VanderMeer

City of Saints and Madmen

Jeff VanderMeer

Teeming, teasing and thought-provoking? Or endless, disgusting and bewildering? The fantasy world of Ambergris will not leave you indifferent. Are you equal to the challenge?

Extract
Much as the sight intrigued him, the alley between the columbary and columbarium fascinated Dradin more, for the mushrooms that had crowded the crevices of the street and dotted the walls like the pox now proliferated beyond all imagining, the cobblestones thick with them in a hundred shades and hues. Down the right hand side of the alley, ten alcoves had been carved, complete with iron gates, a hundred hardened cherubim and devils alike caught in the metalwork. The gate of the nearest alcove stood open and from within spilled lichen, creepers, and mushroom dwellers, their red flags droopy. Surrounded by the vines, the mushroom dwellers resembled human headstones or dreamy, drowning swimmers in a green sea.
Parallels
  • Titus Alone by Mervyn Peake
  • Grimus by Salman Rushdie
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Violence
Explicit sexual content