Rating: 
Summary: Has the marks of a first novel, but it is a good one.
Review: K. J. Bishop, The Etched City (Prime, 2003)Aussie author Bishop turns in her first novel, and what a first novel it is. The language in The Etched City demands to be savored, lingered over. It is beautiful to the point of astonishment. This is, basically, the fastest way to get a top review from me. The problem being that when held up against such masterpieces of perfect prose as Walker's The Secret Service, Mieville's Perdido Street Station (to which The Etched City is oft-compared), or McCarthy's Blood Meridian, The Etched City suffers in one respect: pace. The first half of the book, give or take, is told at a leisurely pace, to be kind. (It took me over three months to make it to the last half of the book.) Bishop takes her protagonists, the gunslinger Gwynn (who bears a striking resemblance to a more cynical, lighter-hearted Elric of Melnibone) and the doctor Raule, through a few episodes in another land before getting to the city at the heart of the book, Ashamoil. Once in Ashamoil, Bishop takes her time setting up character, setting, and theme before actually getting down to plot. A few subplots are begun, a few episodes spun out (and The Etched City is very much an episodic novel, contributing somewhat to its overall sense of languor), but the biggest ball doesn't get rolling until almost two hundred pages in. If you love language, though, it is doubtful you will care; the book can be put down and picked up at various times allowing the reader to go on to more pressing matters and return at leisure. Perhaps the oddest thing about the novel is that Raule, with whom the book begins, ends up being such a minor character in the general scheme of things. Once they get to Ashamoil, Gwynn quickly becomes the focus of the story, which cuts back to Raule now and again to ensure we remember she exists. Gwynn's main quests are involved in working for a tyrannical slaver, Elm, and trying to find (and considering what to do with) the artist of an etching Gwynn stumbles upon in the night market, an etching that contains him. When not hunting down sex or violence, he's usually involved in theological debate over dinner with a fallen priest, whose name we never know but who grows to be one of the book's most endearing characters. Bishop's ability to draw characters, especially minor characters, puts her into the realm of such authors as McCarthy and Stephen King, much of whose reputations are based upon their ability to create memorable characters. Bishop can certainly be added to this list. The reader will be hard-pressed to forget most of Gwynn's band of cronies, especially Sharp Jasper and Elbows. Lovely folks the both of them. Really. All in all, a good first novel that would have benefitted from better pacing at the beginning. Recommended for lovers of language and strong characters. *** ½
Rating:
Summary: An amazing debut
Review: Really four and a half stars...
K. J. Bishop has crafted a simply amazing debut novel. The characters in this book are remarkable and engaging, if not entirely likable. The settings are wonderfully crafted. The Copper Country is a wasteland of small towns and endless desert from which the characters must flee for their part in a failed revolution. Ashamoil, where the lion's share of the book takes place, is a giant and corrupt city state where life is cheap. While Ashamoil will draw inevitable comparisons to China Mieville's New Crobuzon, this book holds its own.
The story starts out at a lightning pace; I didn't want to put the book down even for a bathroom break through the first hundred or so pages. Bishop's creation does lag a bit in the middle, where I found the philosophical debates between Gwynn, a gunslinger of sorts, and his nemesis the reverend to be a bit much. (They are interesting, just excessive) The ending left me wholly satisfied and eagerly awaiting more work from this innovative new voice. Anyone who likes fantasy that goes beyond elves, towers, and rings must read this book!
Rating: 
Summary: Lyrical
Review: The Etched City is a complete surprise from a relatively unknown author, K.J. Bishop. Fans of Tanith Lee's Paradys series will feel instantly at home in the enigmatically beautiful and terrible world created by Bishop, where a lyrical weaving of details and unforgettable characters becomes far more important than an action packed plot. If you enjoy atmospheric tales written with a distinct literary style, you'll definitely fall in love with this book.
Rating:
Summary: I can't believe this is a first novel!
Review: The maturity of the writing in this book is not what you'd expect from a first-time novelist. I was completely enamoured by the world Bishop created for her characters Gwynn and Raule. The two couldn't be further apart on the moral spectrum, but circumstances keep moving them together. I routinely stayed up longer than I intended because I was having so much fun reading. This book is perfect for the reader who enjoys Jeffrey Ford, China Mieville, or Jeff VanderMeer. All of these writers, Bishop included, send the reader to wonderul, scary new worlds that you want to be real. This is the most stunning first novel I have read since A SCATTERING OF JADES. Don't miss out on being part of the first people who discover this writer.
Rating: 
Summary: BORING!!!!!! and more of a western than a fantasy novel
Review: This book is boring. Yes the author writes well and uses an expansive vocabulary, but the story suffers. It is 400 pages long and it could have been only 50 pages. The character development could best be described as meandering and the author has each character speak withthe authors vocabulary. Every individual in this book uses very eloquent words to express themselves, that includes...ummm, everybody!!! Even drunken gangsters. If the author had not specified on each line who was speaking then one would never know the difference between the characters. The action is few and far between and I wish half as many words were used on describing the action as on the relationships and the characters philosophical whimsies. If I were a judge of a vocabulary aptitude test then I would rate this book very high. However the authors fails to entertain, enough said.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Fantasy Novel in Many Years
Review: This book is just brilliant from start to finish. It is totally different to what we think of as being fantasy. It's refreshing, new, exciting and deep - if you want an actioned paced yarn full of two dimensional characters who race through their scenes then stay away from this book. But if you want wonderful action scenes that actually work to reveal more about the characters' lives and you want some slow moody intriguing pieces that always lead you to wanting to know more, then you should buy this book. The character that got me was Gwynn, right from the start. He's the bad man, he does bad things, yet there is something noble about him at the same time - perhaps the angel of death, or like Shiva dancing, an almost godlike figure, understanding that creation and destruction go hand in hand - a character that you despise and respect at the same time. He might also be the anti-Buddha in some odd way, understanding the nature of life and choosing to embrace it with all its faults, rather than rejecting it for a life of retreat. The prose is excellent and dances across the page. Heavy ideas like those mentioned above are skilfully woven into a plot which turns at every corner. This is story full of mystery and imagination and just bursts with the vibrancy of life. There are no easy answers, but it's an exhilarating journey into another world.
Rating:
Summary: Never Become a Doctor
Review: This is a very fine tome indeed. It rates well with the literary outpourings of China Meiville and Jeff Vandermeer. What struck me is what an exciting life Gwynne has and what a boring miserable life Raule has. It seems being a gunslinger beats being a doctor any time. But this is a fantasy novel after all. In the real world Gwynne would have died around chapter 3.
It was also struck by the number of passages where Gwynne is tripping the light fantastic under the influence of strange drugs. The Author seems to have a wonderfullly immediate knowledge of drug induced halucagenic experiences.
Rating:
Summary: What A Breath of Fresh Air
Review: This is definitely something new. It's not about dragons. It's not about a beautiful heroine or a stunning hero. It's not about A King/Queen/Prince/Princess fighting for their kingdom or the right to rule their kingdom against evil wizards/monsters/curs.
Essentially, it's about regular people doing the best they can under sometimes extremely trying circumstances. And the world created in this book is extremely trying and more than a little weird and quite brutal. Sound familiar?
Anyway, this is beautfully written by a writer whose mind is following it's own path and it's own drummer and doing so with a very large heart and understanding (and forgiveness) of the human condition.
A wonderful book.....give it a chance.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic fiction
Review: This isn't just one of the best first novels that I've read this year, it's also one of the best novels. Baroque, digressive, and deeply strange, I thought it was compulsively readable and deeply satisfying as well. Something like M. John Harrison's Viriconium novels, something like Jeffrey Ford, or even Isak Dinesen's fables, it may not be to everyone's taste, but it was certainly to mine. Bantam is republishing this book sometime this year, I believe, but why wait?
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent writing, slow story
Review: Two drifters: a battlefield physician and an introspective gunslinger, are pursued from the deserts of the Copper Country to Ashamoil, ancient city of freaks, art and crime. That's the first three chapters, after which the story begins to explore many different paths. In those first chapters Bishop assembles an oddly old-west atmosphere (her protagonists bear six-shooters and shotguns), a compelling feel soon replaced by the cityscape of Ashamoil. There is beautiful and ambiguous writing throughout, and a perpetual sense that everywhere is hidden deeper meaning. The city is rife with symbols and enigmatic denizens. The dark gunfighter Gwynn, who is the book's main subject, involves himself in a wide range of activities with a cast of diverse characters, including protracted discussions on the nature of Salvation, a love affair with a questionably human woman, and fulfilling his duties as crime-lord heavy. Though all interesting, the various plot lines seemed, at times, to clamor for center stage while suffering from lack of attention. Bishop is a powerful wordsmith, and I look forward to her next work.
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