Lauren Beukes

Zinzi has a talent for finding lost things. Being hired by famously reclusive music producer Odi Huron to find a teenybop pop star should be her ticket out of Zoo City, the festering slum of the criminal underclass. Set in a wildly re-imagined Johannesburg, it mixes refugees, crime, the music industry, African magic and the nature of sin.

Zoo City

Sarah Escorsa

Okay, so the premise for this book is pretty cool: in this world, puny humans who are guilty of crimes find themselves "animalled," meaning they're mysteriously and irrevocably bound to, err, well, you know, animals and stuff. Not only that, if they get physically separated from their animal, or if the animal dies, they very promptly get very dead. Now if that isn't one of the most originally creative and creatively original ideas ever, I don't know what is. 

Being quite the fauna enthusiast myself (as my former profession might attest to), I was slightly a little excited when I started reading the book and was introduced to a most delicious array of lovely pets. The heroine, Zinzi, is literary saddled with a sloth named Sloth. 



Yep, that's the guy. Life of the party and all that.

Her boyfriend's other half is a mongoose. (Which I thought was Super Extra Scrumptious—SEC™— because Barabas and stuff.) There's also a marabou stork, a sparrow, a bear, a spoiler spoiler spoiler (a very rare species, that) and a whole bunch of other fluffy beasts. But you know what the revolting thing about this book is? THERE IS NOT A SINGLE CRUSTACEAN IN SIGHT! NOT. A. ONE. I mean, come on, there's a bloody shrimping Maltese poodle, but NOT A SINGLE CRUSTACEAN? You have to be kidding me. A Maltese poodle, for shrimp's sake! And not even the tiniest of barnacles! Or the littlest of krill! This is a complete rip-off! I want my money back this instant, Lauren Beukes!



Oh yeah, Bernie's definitely with me on that one. He was slightly pissed off when he read the book and realized there wasn't a dino in sight, either.

I briefly considered unleashing my murderous children on the author in retaliation, but I'm currently busy working on Utter Domination *waves at Gar the Pitiless* and have bigger fish puny humans to fry right now. But anyway, moving on and stuff.

The setting of this story is one of the most refreshing ever. Eurocentrism begone! Hello Johannesburg, South Africa! 🤗🤗 With a narrative thoroughly anchored in the African continent—with its myriad cultures and histories—and a mostly (as in 98.2356%) black cast of characters, this story was a much-needed breath of fresh air water for my tiny little lungs gills! And I may not be a fan of the book, but I'd still recommend it based on the setting alone. I kid you not.

I have to admit that, disgusting lack of crustaceans notwithstanding, the premise and setting alone justify a 4-star rating. Or maybe even a 4.5-star rating when you consider the fact that this a standalone UF. Now you might not be familiar with this particular animal—it is endangered and nearing extinction as we speak—but the simple fact that it exists calls for a higher rating. And for a little celebratory dance, too (view spoiler)[
  

  

  
 (hide spoiler)].

So this is all very good and fascinating (a little self-praise never hurt anyone, right? Right), but at this point you might perhaps maybe find yourself wondering why the shrimp I gave this book such a despicable rating. Well. First, most of the characters in the story are unlikeable as shrimp. Which is a shame because they're all deliciously complex and very well-written. Zinzi, our MC, is the antichrist of professional Mary Sues (view spoiler)[
  

  

  
 (hide spoiler)]. Saying that her moral compass is ever-so-slightly fished up would be putting it very mildly indeed. This is exactly the kind of scrumptious stuff that usually ends up with me kidnapping adopting characters and locking them up offering them free board in my High Security Harem. The problem here is that I couldn't give a fish about Zinzi. Or any of the other characters, for that matter. Why, you ask? I have no bloody shrimping idea. (Which bugs the fish out of me, just so you know.)

Then we have the plot. I have to say I am not a huge fan of missing persons-type mystery thingies—unless my boyfriends Danny Faust and Garrett are doing the investigating, obviously—so that was a meh from the start. The development of the plot is kind of a confusing mess. The whole thing is pretty much all over the place, actually. But I guess my main issue here is that it kind of feels the plot is there for decorative purposes only, and that the author uses it as an excuse to develop the world. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I mean, the world is pretty great after all, and this trick definitely would have worked, had the plot been both better constructed and more intriguing. But it wasn't and it wasn't so it didn't.



Right you are, Grumpy. Oh, and by the way, RIP and stuff. Here's hoping you're having a blast in Evil Feline Purgatory.

➽ Nefarious Last Words (NLW™): this is a darkly delicious and deliciously dark tale. And our Lord Shrimp knows how much I 💕lurves 💕 darkly delicious tales. But there's a difference between darkly delicious and depressing as fish. And as withered, cold and black as my heart might be, there's only so much bleakness I can take. So there you have it and stuff.



[Pre-review nonsense]

And here we go again with the Deadly Meh Stuff (DMS™).



Review to come and stuff.

Nat Welch

Eh, interesting premise, but pretty bad writing.

Ben Nathan

The world was great and the writing was brilliant. I really can't say enough about Beukes as a writer. She doesn't write much, but when she does, it's an absolute Home Run. Every character was nuanced and the type of person I'd find myself being very interested in knowing more about.

Darren Olivier

Greg Copeland

Ipek

Dean Sas

Andrea

Janice Hopper

Science fiction thriller. Johannesburg in the future. Apartheid still exists only now it is targeted at criminals who are magically bonded to animals. Zinzi is one such criminal with a talent for finding lost things, a talent that will proof usefull when someone goes missing

Magnus Dahl

Alfredo santos

Kayleigh hughes

Ben Cardy

Robyn Campbell

Samiha Tasnim

Colin O'Brien

André Nóbrega

"Zinzi has a talent for finding lost things. To save herself, she has to find the hardest thing of all - the truth. Zinzi has a Sloth on her back, a dirty 419 scam habit and a talent for finding lost things. But when a client turns up dead and the cops confiscate her last paycheck, she's forced to take on her least favourite kind of job - missing persons. Being hired by famously reclusive music producer Odi Huron to find a teenybop pop star should be her ticket out of Zoo City, the festering slum where the criminal underclass, marked by their animals, live in the shadow of the undertow. Instead, it catapults Zinzi deeper into the underbelly of a city twisted by crime and magic, where she'll be forced to confront the dark secrets of former lives - including her own. Set in a wildly re-imagined Johannesburg, it swirls refugees, crime, the music industry, African magic and the nature of sin together into a heady brew"--Bookseller's website.

Lea de Sousa

A new paperback edition of Lauren Beukes's Arthur C Clarke Award-winning novel set in a world where murderers and other criminals acquire magical animals that are mystically bonded to them. Zinzi has a Sloth on her back, a dirty 419 scam habit, and a talent for finding lost things. When a little old lady turns up dead and the cops confiscate her last paycheck, Zinzi's forced to take on her least favorite kind of job--missing persons. Being hired by reclusive music producer Odi Huron to find a teenybop pop star should be her ticket out of Zoo City, the festering slum where the criminal underclass and their animal companions live in the shadow of hell's undertow. Instead, it catapults Zinzi deeper into the maw of a city twisted by crime and magic, where she'll be forced to confront the dark secrets of former lives--including her own.

Zoo City

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