[DNF] The City's Son, by Tom Pollock

• Paperback: 422 pages
• Publisher: Jo Fletcher Books (6 Jun 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1780870094
• ISBN-13: 978-1780870090
• Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.8 x 3 c

"Running from her traitorous best friend and her estranged father, graffiti artist Beth Bradley is looking for sanctuary. What she finds is Urchin, the ragged and cocky crown prince of London’s mystical underworld. Urchin opens Beth’s eyes to the city she’s never truly seen-where vast spiders crawl telephone wires seeking voices to steal, railwraiths escape their tethers, and statues conceal an ancient priesthood robed in bronze.

But it all teeters on the brink of destruction. Amid rumors that Urchin’s goddess mother will soon return from her 15-year exile, Reach, a malign god of urban decay, wants the young prince dead. Helping Urchin raise an alleyway army to reclaim his skyscraper throne, Beth soon forgets her old life. But when her best friend is captured, Beth must choose between this wondrous existence and the life she left behind."-Goodreads

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My Thoughts:
I found this story during a reading slump, whilst surfing through The Book Zone's blog for reads. It was one if his favourites, and him generally having good tastes in literature, I decided to give it a read.

I can easily see why he would like it. Its imaginative, fresh, and "dusty"; but for some – simply too slow. I'm Halfway through the book as of now, and we haven't had the slightest hint of action promised by the blurb… and just to make you aware, that’s 240 pages in. Yeah, its 480 pages long.

"I like you as much as I like much prettier sane girl"

Its a common practise for writers to slowly build up tension, its beneficial even! But the first half of this story was a nostalgic tour through the city, before Reach inevitably annihilates it.

"Glas told me once that that's what people are, mostly: memories, the memories in their own heads, and the memories of them in other people's. And if memories are like a city, and we are our memories, then we are like cities too. I've always taken comfort in that."

On a completely different subject, I may have issues with the moral/theme of the novel, If I could only figure out its intent. In theory, The City’s son is an Urban personification of a big city’s aspects. Industrialism vs. the people who supposedly benefit from it. However I’ve noticed a slant in the narrative, leading me to consider that this “visualization” may be a preachy, one-sided, exhibition on how industrialism is evil. 

Again, I’m not sure of the authors intent, but I would be disappointed if the former were to be true. Don’t let my critique stop you from reading this though, If you have the patience, pick it up at your local library, and give it a whirl!

My Rating: 3/5

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