Zoo City

Zinzi has a Sloth on her back, a dirty 419 scam habit and a talent for finding lost things But when a little old lady turns up dead and the cops confiscate her last paycheck, she s forced to take on her least favourite kind of job missing persons.Being hired by reclusive music producer Odi Huron to find a teenybop pop star should be her ticket out of Zoo City, the festering slum where the criminal underclass and their animal companions live in the shadow of hell s undertow.Instead, it catapults Zinzi deeper into the maw of a city twisted by crime and magic, where she ll be forced to confront the dark secrets of former lives including her own. New Download Zoo City author Lauren Beukes For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr As seen on The ReadventurerJust when I think there is no urban fantasy in existence which breaks away from the formulaic and same old same old, I come across this gem, thanks to Guardian book podcast Hurray As with most of inventive and unorthodox genre deviations, describing Zoo City is a pain I m tempted to just call it a Paolo Bacigalupi The Golden Compass mix and leave it at that, but I m afraid I ll scare the readers away.So, Zoo city What is it It s a sort of ghetto area in modern day As seen on The ReadventurerJust when I think there is no urban...I hate it when I read a book that s beautifully written, but has a clumsy plot I was seduced by the writing while I was reading it, and it wasn t until after I finished that I started realizing how many problems I had with it In this alternate history SF world, people s guilt over their mistakes or crimes manifests as animals that are emotionally or psychically attached to them, sort of like having an albatross hung around your neck, except living and not so corpsey This was interesting to me I hate it when I read a book that s beautifully written, but has a clumsy plot I was seduced by the writing while I was reading it, and it wasn t until after I finished that I started realizing how many problems I had with it In this alternate history SF world, people s guilt over their mistakes or crimes manifests as animals that are emotionally or psychically attached to them, sort of like having an albatross hung around your neck, except living and not so corpsey This was interesting to me, since becoming a Zoo is all about feeling guilt and not about whether you re really culpable of whatever you feel guilty about Zinzi gained her Sloth because her brother died over something she did, which makes sense her whole background makes sense, even But she went to prison for it, convicted either of murder or manslaughter, and that doesn t fit at all with her memories of the event It bugged me that this was never explained, because it made her prison time an important part of how she s trea...One of the things I loved the most about Philip Pullman s His Dark Materials series was his rather brilliant twist on the concept of a witch s familiar that in that world, each person s soul manifests as a companion animal that is their other half It s not only because it s a cool idea it also is an interesting reflection of our ongoing weird relationship with nature the connection we feel to the creatures of the earth, though most of us live far removed from it in cities and suburbs And, One of the things I loved the most about Philip Pullman s His Dark Materials series was his rather brilliant twist on the concept of a witch s familiar that in that world, each person s soul manifests as a companion animal that is their other half It s not only because it s a cool idea it also is an interesting reflection of our ongoing weird relationship with nature the connection we feel to the creatures of the earth, though most of us live far removed from it in cities and suburbs And, you know, the idea of a little talking cat following me around is just fun Provided, of course, you get a good animal like a cat, since you can t pick According to the online daemon matcher they had on the Golden Compass movie website before it came out and failed, I would get a spider I would not appreciate that Other animals I would be happy with Peng...This is a particularly smooth genre meshing urban fantasy noir SF horror, and if you don t like my description, then go read it and figure out your best fit If you do, however, find that perfect descriptor, be sure to add all the little animas, the familiars that bad people get after murdering someone, and if you let your anima die, you get dragged to hell Or is the novel firmly set in modern day Johannesburg filled with scams, missing persons, and mystery Oh, wait, how about all the mutil This is a particularly smooth genre meshing urban fantasy noir SF horror, and if you don t like my description, then go read it and figure out your best fit If you do, however, find that perfect descriptor, be sure to add all the little animas, the familiars that bad people get after murdering someone, and if you let your anima die, you get dragged to hell Or is the novel firmly set in modern day Johannesburg filled with scams, missing persons, and mystery Oh, wait, how about all the mutilations and the sense of upwelling horror No Then why the hell do I get this sense that things have just gone near future high tech Well that s because the book refuses to sit still and be neatly defined Isn t that wonderful Our main character is a real spitfire, that s for certain, and I love reading about good scams as much as anyone, but that s just her favorite hobby...Wow.Zoo City is one of theoriginal, complicated fantasy books that I ve read this year I m not even sure how to tag it, that s how many elements come into play Urban fantasy Johannesburg is a major city, after all, and the animal angle is clearly unreal Dystopia Almost, but not quite despite the animals, this is a current version of Johannesburg and African politics Mystery noir After all, there s a missing person and an investigator of questionable character Horror A little witc Wow.Zoo City is one of theoriginal, complicated fantasy books that I ve read this year I m not even sure how to tag it, that s how many elements come into play Urban fantasy Johannesburg is a major city, after all, and the animal angle is clearly unreal Dystopia Almost, but not quite despite the animals, this is a current version of Johannesburg and African politics Mystery noir After all, there s a missing person and an investigator of questionable character Horror A little witchcraft, a little...Lauren Beukes The Shining Girls fascinated me with her style and imagination, I thought it was a flawed gem but it put me on board forBeukeses The next logical book for me from the Beukes bibliography is 2011 Arthur C Clarke Award winner Zoo City.Set in an alternate reality where some people are suddenly paired with an animal as a consequence of something heinous they have done or perhaps think they have done Basically, if you are bearing some major guilt chanc...I read this directly after finishing Moxyland and my wild enthusiasm for Lauren Beukes is not abating The setting is present day Johannesburg, but in this alternate reality, a couple of decades ago, something strange started happening Those who were guilty of terrible crimes were suddenly, magically saddled with an animal familiar reminiscent of the burden of the Ancient Mariner s albatross, but, well, alive The animalled are also unable, it seems, to help liking and feeling affection I read this dir...Before I read this, I would have said there was nothing new you could do with the magical companion animals trope I would have been wrong.I enjoyed this for the concept, for the characters, for the setting I was all set to give it four stars And then the ending happened view spoiler And it s not that it s a tragedy that bothers me I actually appreciate the author s chutzpah in having the twins die, in having the bad guys escape I less appreciate the bad guys over the top characterizati Before I read this, I would have said there was nothing new you could do with the magical companion animals trope I would have been wrong.I enjoyed this for the concept, for the characters, for the setting I was all set to give it four stars And then the ending happened view spoiler And it s not that it s a tragedy that bothers me I actually appreciate the author s chutzpah in having the twins die, in having the bad guys escape I less appreciate the bad guys over the top characterization as psychopaths, but you take what you can get It s the fact that the protagonist s presence at the climactic scene had no effect, good, bad, or indifferent, on anything that occurred She disables Mark and not only does it turn out he s entirely unnecessary to the ceremony, his compatriots in crime don t even go looking for him She brings Benoit, whose magical power is the opposite of Mark s canceling magic, rather than en...I loved it I was over the moon when Zoo City was chosen to be one of the SciFi and Fantasy Book Club reads for November A book set in a version of my home city with an interesting premise and great reviews Yes please In my excitement I emailed Lauren Beukes and asked if she d do a QA with our group and she said yes As you can imagine I was bouncing off walls It occurred to me mid bounce that this would be an awesome opportunity for Sod you may know him as Murphy to rear his ugly h I loved it I was over the moon when Zoo City was chosen to be one of the SciFi and Fantasy Book Club reads for November A book set in a version of my home city with an interesting premise and great reviews Yes please In my excitement I emailed Lauren Beukes and asked if she d do a QA with our group and she said yes As you can imagine I was bouncing off walls It occurred to me mid bounce that this would be an awesome opportunity for Sod you may know him as Murphy to rear his ugly head and twist my mind into not liking Zoo City Fortunately not even Sod and his silly Law could manage it The thing I loved most about this novel was how well Lauren captured Johannes...3.5 stars sheesh, here we go again with Goodreads sucking up my reviews.twice Gonna keep this short I was very impressed with my first encounter with Lauren Beukes imaginative stylings not unlike those of China Mi villeZoo City, impossible to pigeon hole is it science fiction dystopia thriller social commentary good old fashioned magical murder mystery kinda yes to all is a bizarre, alternate universe d, present day reimagining of Johannesburg, South Africa, one where crim 3.5 stars sheesh, here we go again with Goodreads sucking up my reviews.twice Gonna keep this short I was very impressed with my first encounter with Lauren Beukes imaginative stylings not unlike those of China Mi villeZoo City, impossible to pigeon hole is it science fiction dystopia thriller social commentary good old fashioned magical murder mystery kinda yes to all is a bizarre, alternate universe d, present day reimagining of Johannesburg, South Africa, one where criminals are required to have an...

• English
• 17 February 2017
Lauren Beukes
• Paperback
• 416 pages
• 0007327684
• Lauren Beukes
• Zoo City