The Last Smile in Sunder City (The Fetch Phillips Novels Book 1)

A wonderful debut! The world-building is excellent and the characters are well-drawn. I will read the other books in the series.

Sunder City is part of a world that has to rebuild itself once the magic is killed by humans. Gnomes, elves, sirens, vampires, witches, and all kinds of magical folk now find themselves adjusting to the loss of power, immortality and optimism. When Fetch Phillips is hired to find an elder vampire by the bloodsucker's boss at the school in which he works, we are taken through this dismal world where everyone seems to want to rip the sleuth, Fetch in half and set him ablaze.There are a lot of ideas in this story I liked, and a few that didn't feel fully developed. Fetch is a pretty prickly human being that everyone in Sunder City is justified to hate. He's sarcastic, smart, capable, but he's made some serious mistakes that make his quest for redemption difficult. I would have liked to better understand his life prior to Sunder because I think it would give the reader more opportunity to connect with his flaws rather than solely hate him for them.The main plot is a classic missing person sleuth story that could have been really interesting, but always seemed distant. There would be times when I almost forgot we were supposed to be invested in this mysterious disappearance of Edmund.Arnold does a great job of incorporating a diverse group of characters, but as soon as I would start to lose myself in one of them, the subject changed. There wasn't enough depth of character to completely connect with.This world Arnold creates is dreary and devoid of much hope for a better future. We get short glimpses of the mystical that came before through Fetch's flashbacks. I was constantly left wanting more. That's good and bad. I was hoping for just one flashback where the imagery would be vivid and show how much more beautiful the world was with magic because that would have added so much contrast to the current day.Women in the story were very background characters where you could tell Arnold wanted them to come off strong-willed and capable, but they all ended up damsels against their own wills, needing Fetch to save them.I think it could have helped to have the flashbacks start a little earlier, helping the reader gain a better comprehension of why Fetch is the wretch that he is and why the world is so bleak.All of this to say, this story has a lot of interesting ideas and potential, and I hope it taps into both more for the next book in the series.Something like Sin City meets Bright.

Parts of this story I loved and parts of it I liked. It is a hard review to write. I think it borders between 3.5 stars to 4. On one hand we have the main character, Fetch. He's a typical noir detective who is very cynical, drinks too much and takes on cases with no bearing. Although he cracked me up sometimes and I loved his overflowing description of things, he also became a bit tiring. Too cynical and too much self-loathing. He kept talking about making amends but didn't seem to be trying very hard throughout the book. I would've liked to see more growth on his part. Now, on the other hand, we have the story of Sunder City. That part was amazing. We have all types of magical creatures... vampires, dragons, elves... everything! The only problem is humans took away their magic. The once thriving city now is full of non-magical creatures, that have be magic, trying to find their way in life. The ones who are immortal are now dying, the ones that survived on magic struggle to find their place in the world and ones who could fly now find heavy wings a burden.I would love to read more about this city and hope to find the detective a little more likable.

Wow.I snatched up this book and its sequel the moment I found out the author was the amazingly talented actor behind Black Sails' John Silver and told myself if he was even half as good a writer as he was an actor, it would be brilliant.It was PHENOMENAL. I am seriously so glad I had the forethought to buy the sequel at the same time.It was such a good read I couldn't stop turning the pages! The world is fascinating, the characters are endearing, and the journey was thrilling from beginning to end. I really enjoyed seeing how neatly he pulled everything together and experienced plenty of moments that had me actively engaging with the story (apologies to my sister for the multiple outbursts). The story and writing draw you in so completely and fully!I can't get over how much I've come to love ol' Fetch Phillips and I can't wait to read more of his antics. Definitely interested in reading more from author Luke Arnold as well, who has proven without a doubt that John Silver's storytelling talents didn't just belong to the character.The book arrived in perfect condition and in a short amount of time, so kudos to Amazon for their prompt delivery and care.

The Last Smile in Sunder City is a fusion of the hard-boiled detective and dystopian fantasy genres and does a fair job of it. Better than fair when compared to other authors I've read who try but produce mundane dreck. The hard part for the author is that the muscular prose of the noir genre gets lost in the explanation needed to reveal a created world to the reader. The book feels so weighed down with description and Fetch spending half the story in the land of retrospective regret. Maybe the author's intention is to leave the reader with a hopeless feeling. When I compare the writing to Raymond Chandler's Phil Marlowe, the thing that stands out is that even with hopelessness and failure, the language and writing are so beautiful, the reader feels elevated. I hope that Luke continues to write and continues to embrace the noir sensibility.

Read for a book club.A noir PI set in a fantasy world - murder mystery, kidnapping, disappearance, thugs, gang war, solider remembrances. Very much in the manner of Glen Cook's Garrett Files, only this time the world isn't magic anymore - the magic has been frozen and those that can have to live beyond it.Wonderful noir wording. A real gem.

Este é o primeiro livro no qual se pode acompanhar Fetch Philips, um investigador particular, a resolver casos incomuns, como o desaparecimento de um Professor vampiro.O que mais gosto de livros narrados na primeira pessoa é o modo como o leitor pode ser levado a sentir seus próprios sentimentos emergirem, junto com os da personagem. Através dos olhos melancólicos, desesperançosos e ébrios de Fetch Philips, é possível se sentir desconfortável em sua própria pele, devido à rica descrição de detalhes que o autor impregna nas cenas. Enquanto Philips investiga o desaparecimento do Professor vampiro é também revelado como e o porquê de não haver mais mágica no mundo em que vive. Luke Arnold sem dúvida alguma dá o melhor de si, tanto como ator quanto escritor. É notadamente impressionante como cenas, cenários, diálogos e emoções formam uma intrincada rede nesta sua primeira história. “The Last Smile in Sunder City” não se parece, de modo algum, com um debut.Altamente recomendado para quem gosta de singelas e marcantes porções de fantasia, mistério, construção de mundo e (sinto muito!) nem um pouco de mágica.

It took a while to get into this book, it is very hard to like the main character and that perhaps made it harder to get into the story. There seemed to be a hesitancy in the narrative that was quite jarring in places and perhaps a bit awkward. The self hatred infecting the protagonist is a difficult thing to read or find empathy for. However, if you persevere with it, there a lot of good things to find. The metaphors and similes are very colourful and downright clever in places and the story is a quite different from the usual detective/fantasy genre. Definitely worth a read and worth trying the next offering from the author.

The Last Smile in Sunder City felt like it was written for the big screen. I could see it in my head. Luke Arnold brought Fetch to life. The world was great, Fetch's history was woven really well throughout, never feeling like an info drop.n gritty, dark, magical read.

A brilliantly written, gritty fantasy novel that I couldn’t put down. Such an original story line with unique characters. Worth a read- can’t wait for the next book!

This is without a doubt the best book I have read in ages! Looking forward to reading more from this writer.. He's my new favourite!