Memory may be Transient City's path to permanenece
Transient City
by Al Onia
Diamond Book Distributors/Bundoran Press Publishing
Sci Fi & Fantasy
Pub Date: May 17, 2016
Review
Diamond Book Distributors are best known for their graphic novels. Transient City is not a graphic novel per se, but a novel whose language evokes startling images of a world where industrial production dominates and defines individual life. For those with value to Agamemnon, the corporation who owns the planet of Lodan, there is food and shelter, luxuries distributed according to your role and hierarchical position. Humans are commodities transferred according to skill needs rather than individual desires. Cities are vast moving platforms which excavate mineral deposits as they go. For the unusual or the unique there is no place in the city.
Victor Stromboli is unique, a professional crime witness with an uncanny ability to remember minute details long after perception. His talent barely allows him to eke out a living. Everything changes when a man goes missing, and his wife puts pressure on the Security Division. Without enough manpower to devote to the case, Chief Gruber assigns Strom. The widow happens to be the girl he fell in love with long ago. Strom has never investigated a case before, but his efforts to find the missing executive bring him to the attention of dangerous and powerful people. Without his realizing it, the fate of Transient City lies in Strom’s hands. His ability to remember the past and put together the pieces makes him a threat to those who wish to retain power. When the past can be remembered, the future can be changed.
Transient City, like any great piece of science fiction, stimulates the imagination. Stromboli is an underdog, an unexpected but tenacious hero - a perfect lead for this style of novel. Chilly and Blaze, the assassins for hire were truly disturbing individuals. Their interplay, along with their love of killing brought to mind the pair of assassins from the early Bond film Diamonds are Forever - very scary.
I was intrigued by the idea that economic freedom can anesthetize people. In the efforts to procure more, people forget greater ideals. In our world, vast corporations, through their power to employ the masses and invest in politics have immense control. In the world of Transient City, it goes a step further to being the corporation being the government. Self-control, self-government is not in the economic interest of Agamemnon, the company exploiting Lodan and it’s people.
Transient City is a provocative, imaginative piece of speculative fiction. This novel is certain to please fans of classic sci-fi.
5/5
Transient City is available for preorder and will be released May 17, 2016.
I received a copy of Transient City from the publisher and netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.
—Crittermom
Description
On a distant mining colony at the far reaches of a galactic empire, vast cities crawl across the surface of desolate planet looking for valuable minerals while their citizens struggle to survive. Victor Stromboli, a professional crime scene witness is nearly crippled by the brutal memories he can't control or forget. Now, he has to solve the mystery of a missing corporate executive. The only trouble is: the man is the husband of the love of his life. Stromboli has to overcome rogue miners, corporate intrigue and a pair of vicious psychopaths. Or die trying.
