Kadrey can do hard-boiled like nobody’s business, like a Tom Waits ballad in novel form. And you know that he can do plot like hell, a fast-burning, violent and relentless storytelling mode that propels his gentleman loser antiheroes along with great energy, in the face of adversity, beatings and impossible odds. The Grand Dark is a miracle of the old and the new: a tale of Weimar decadence that is also a parable for our New Gilded Age, where war is inequality’s handmaiden, an incinerator that neatly removes the unnecessariat and fattens the purses of their social betters. It’s a fun and terrifying ride, gritty and relentless, burning with true love and revolutionary fervor.
Rather than lean, mean, and hardboiled, Kadrey's new standalone novel is a sprawl of ornately arranged speculative fiction that ups the ante for urban-set fantasy. And yes, as its title loudly advertises, the book retains every inky ounce of Kadrey's trademark darkness ... The Grand Dark's plot is sturdy, but it mostly serves as a solid framework on which Kadrey drapes his sumptuous setting ... Kadrey's triumph is keeping The Grand Dark's bleakness in check, channeling it into wondrous forms instead of letting it overwhelm the story. Lower Proszawa may be a gray place, but it's brightened by Largo's and Remy's mutual devotion, a lower-class romance right out of The Threepenny Opera ... The Grand Dark is more than just another reliably strong outing from a veteran writer. It's the work of a major science fiction/fantasy creator going way out in a limb in the effort to wholly redefine himself, all while crystallizing what's made him great.
Richard Kadrey’s The Grand Dark takes its time. Indeed, for the first third of the book it is unclear exactly what plot Largo Moorden is blindly walking into. Kadrey reveals Lower Proszawa almost as though by candlelight, showing readers just enough at any one time for them to see a few vibrant figures of a city under immense strain. Beyond that, the dark outlines of the threatening world are present but obscured and muted. Despite its lack of cliffhangers and action scenes, the subtle but constant pressure from that insidious outside world makes The Grand Dark an unexpected page-turner. With secret police and anarchist groups seemingly everywhere, it feels like a conspiracy in book form. Around every corner is a potential mystery, although it is sometimes unclear which mysteries are important and which aren’t. But when the central conflict of the book is finally revealed, it is both wholly unexpected in the moment and perfectly obvious in retrospect ... Kadrey successfully weaves the ultra-realistic with the nearly possible into a beautiful and morbid tapestry that fascinates as much as it entertains. The result is a fantastically written book for suspense or fantasy fans looking for a bit of gloom to fight the summer heat.
The Grand Dark is set in an intriguing new world, unlike anything Kadrey has written before. The setting is almost relentlessly grim ... Themes of oppression, choice, and coercion are rich soil for someone with Kadrey’s creativity and insight to work with, and it’s genuinely intriguing to see a rebellious spirit take on the actual concept of rebellion. The novel feels almost China Mieville-esque in its tone and themes ... The elements never entirely coalesce into a single whole, but the ingredients add loads of intrigue and mystery to a peculiar conspiracy narrative.
... an ambitious feat of world building ... The Grand Dark is a thematic buffet. Wealth, addiction, and censorship are only a few of its social and political layers. Foremost among its concerns are mankind’s relationship to technology, the treatment of veterans, and how a society handles its 'undesirables.' The Grand Dark is a fast-paced fantasy read filled with contemporary resonance that new readers and loyal fans of Sandman Slim will enjoy.
As usual, Kadrey writes strongly from a punk perspective: drugs, sex, and a bleak city in the period between two wars leave the characters low-energy and just this side of clinically depressed. Largo, the protagonist, rises above this a bit: his job as a messenger has taught him all the ways to get around the city, and he actually manages to want several things during the course of the book. Of course, this being a punk novel, he loses each of them, sometimes in spectacular ways but more often through no fault of his own ... The bleakness and despair of the city is not overblown – even at its most gruesome, Largo acts more as a witness than as a participant, so I was never overwhelmed by the gore. And the characters all act believably in their extreme circumstances. This book is being compared in several places to China Miéville’s Perdido Street Station, and it’s an apt comparison. Where Miéville transcends his setting with an amazing Big Bad, however, Kadrey concentrates on the venality of human evil. It’s still a satisfying read.
Kadrey’s initial slow pace lulls readers into a false belief that the obvious dangers...are the only ones ... plot elements assembled with such devious cunning that they seem obvious only after Largo is trapped. A constant underlying tension makes the city’s powder-keg agitation visceral, and the individual neighborhoods and their residents are well wrought. Any fan of convoluted science fiction will appreciate the sharp twists Largo has to navigate if he and those he loves are going to survive.
...a stand-alone heavy hitter ... In Blade Runner–esque fashion, there’s everything but the kitchen sink ... Kadrey has also infused his saga with a terrific cast of characters ... the odd mix of debauchery and desperation starts to gel into a stark and compelling vision. Wildly ambitious and inventive fantasy from an author who’s punching above his weight in terms of worldbuilding—and winning.
