The City of the Gods: Gold

This book is “dense,” I wouldn’t know how else to describe it. There’s worldbuilding for an entire saga, and, to my delight, it’s all remarkably coherent. There’s a world, three generations, a mystery, and a molecular-level deconstruction of the psychology of a superheroine who no longer knows who she is without someone to kill.

I imagine The City of the Gods: Gold as an homage to the radio serials of the Golden Age, pulp detective stories, and superhero comics when they were still naive and beautiful. Zach Erwin loves this historical period, and it shows in every detail: the slang, the chrome-plated cars, which made me want to change mine, the segregation, and an America that still believes in progress but is beginning to see the cracks.

The central plot revolves around a MacGuffin that serves to explore something far more interesting: what happens to vigilantes when the world no longer needs them. Theodora Connor, the Scarlet Sparrow, is a woman who literally built half the city with her powers, and now drinks whiskey sours while waiting for her husband to stop cheating on her. Detective Gibson and his partner form a classic noir duo, with the young, troubled one and the old, cynical one, and they work brilliantly together.

As for flaws, maybe they are subjective. First of all, the book is ridiculously long. The storyline with the children has WOW moments, but it slows the pace. The section on the moon is DOUBLE WOW, but it doesn’t really fit the noir tone of the rest. And the ending, while poetic, leaves too many storylines open, so it feels more like a setup for the sequel than a satisfying conclusion.

As I said, these flaws may be subjective. They are certainly flaws of ambition, not of incompetence. Zach Erwin has built something genuine from something he loves. Wow.