Early Review – The City of Lost Fortunes (Crescent City, Book 1) by Bryan Camp (3.5/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Length: 384 pages
Publisher: John Joseph Adams/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Release Date: April 17, 2018
ISBN-13: 978-1328810793
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Crescent City series
Source: ARC from Amazon Vine
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
“The post–Katrina New Orleans of The City of Lost Fortunes is a place haunted by its history and by the hurricane’s destruction, a place that is hoping to survive the rebuilding of its present long enough to ensure that it has a future. Street magician Jude Dubuisson is likewise burdened by his past and by the consequences of the storm, because he has a secret: the magical ability to find lost things, a gift passed down to him by the father he has never known—a father who just happens to be more than human.
Jude has been lying low since the storm, which caused so many things to be lost that it played havoc with his magic, and he is hiding from his own power, his divine former employer, and a debt owed to the Fortune god of New Orleans. But his six-year retirement ends abruptly when the Fortune god is murdered and Jude is drawn back into the world he tried so desperately to leave behind. A world full of magic, monsters, and miracles. A world where he must find out who is responsible for the Fortune god’s death, uncover the plot that threatens the city’s soul, and discover what his talent for lost things has always been trying to show him: what it means to be his father’s son.”
I got this book through the Amazon Vine program to review. This was an interesting read. It started out pretty slow for me. The writing style really wasn’t my thing; lots of run on sentences and ambiguous starts to chapters.
However, as I continued to read I found the whole idea of Gods of different religions (different Tricksters) coming together interesting. I also enjoyed how the poker game and tarot cards played into the whole story.
The style of the story reminds a bit of Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey. It’s got that same kind of gritty, dark feel to it and the main hero is more of an anti-hero. However, this book is not nearly as gritty, edgy, and dark as the Sandman Slim series and I didn’t like it nearly as much.
Overall this was an okay read. It was a clever story, but as I said, the writing style was hard to read and I struggled with it some. I don’t plan on continuing with the series.
This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– New Release Reading Challenge
– Goodreads Reading Challenge
