Book Review: Rim City Blues by Elliott Scott
Genre(s): Science Fiction / Noir
Book Synopsis:
They want Felix Lasko to solve a murder while getting chased by coyotes, one-eyed assassins, and killer robots. He’d say no, but that’s not an option—since they’ll kill him outright if he refuses.
Felix had always dreamed of becoming a detective: just not at gunpoint. Besides the hot lead motivation, solving the murder of Jeff Hense will get him a ticket into Neotopia. It’s the last city on the planet with power, and he’s run hundreds of miles only to get stuck outside its blue forcefield dome.
He’ll need to get through a brothel-ship wedged into a cliffside, and a gang of violent criminals called the Mayors. All while avoiding instant death by a deadly piece of Tek known only as the Scream Ray.
Whatever the odds, he’s done running. He’ll get into Neotopia even if it kills him.
Review:
Rim City Blues paints a stark picture of a future where technology is scarce and often fought over, lawlessness is rampant, and yet there’s the promise of something “better,” if one gets accepted into the land known as Neotopia—but even that place seems to have a shady side. There’s some discussion of a past event that plunged the world into a sort of dark age, but remnants of technology from before can still be found and salvaged. One of the jobs the main character (Felix) has is salvaging and trading said Tek, which he does in exchange for assistance in gaining entrance to Neotopia.
But things never seem to work out quite how he plans… There were so many twists and turns in this story that I was never really sure where it was going to go next.
The worldbuilding was fairly extensive, and the story was filled with little details that really brought it to life. As the first book in its series, it did a good job of setting up more content to come, while simultaneously coming to a satisfying conclusion on its own.
While I liked the story, I wish the writing had been a bit more polished, particularly in the earlier chapters. That aside, I really enjoyed the concepts/worldbuilding presented. Rim City Blues creates a solid foundation for what I believe could be a very entertaining series of books.
Author website: elliottscottwrites.com
Amazon link: Rim City Blues
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