Review: Silent City by G.R. Matthews

Another book that’s been on my radar (and kindle- god help me it’s so full) for ages that I’m just getting around to now.

I’ve heard good things about it but this is truly one of those books that I got intrigued by based solely on the cover. Look at it! LOOOOK!

I have a thing about eyes. Glowing eyes or… in this case mechanical eyes… yeah. Those make me curious. I want to read about your crazy eyes. So off I went on my underwater adventure!

In the Corporation owned cities life is tough. All Hayes wants is money and a bar to spend it in. He is about to learn that some jobs in the abyss can be killers. For a man who has lost everything, is life even worth fighting for?

There is no law in the cities except that which the corporations pay for, and impose. If they can pay for it, they can break it, and they did. The idea of a fair society had drowned a long time ago.

This one has a really cool world. It’s our world only… well, post apocalyptic, which I don’t love and I don’t hate… it depends entirely on what kind of post apocalyptic we’re talking about here. This one is underwater. Think something like Waterworld… only the air on the surface is poisoned too, so the world is covered in water, and everyone lives under it. That is a cool as fuck premise when it’s done right, and it’s done right here.

Enter our hero, Corin Hayes, who is a freelance specialized diver. Their main skill is using what are known as Fish-Suits, which are like diving suits with a higher degree of stealth, and more flexibility for use in technical jobs. It takes a special kind of person to be able to use a Fish-Suit without puking, drowning, or just generally freaking the fuck out, because it’s filled with a sort of breathable gel that is apparently not fun to get used to because you’re not drowning, but it always kind of feels like you are. I imagined this to be something along the lines of the LCL that the pilots in Evangelion use to breathe, though there are a few other examples of breathable liquid that I can think of from fiction. Either way, the idea itself and how it would play out in real life (especially the description of purging this gel from your lungs after you’re out of the suit) was really well executed here.

This is a short novel, but it’s full of excitement. There are some really well thought out technical details that add a level of realness to the story. It had plenty of twists and turns, and I was on the edge of my submarine pilot seat once or twice. The ending left lots of room for more adventure, but wrapped up this particular part of the tale. It was very well done. I like Corin’s sense of humour too, so that was a plus.

This was a really unique underwater sci-fi adventure. I’ll definitely continue on with Corin’s story with the next volume!~ 4/5 stars!

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