Nightscape: Cynopolis
David W. Edwards
Imperiad Entertainment
October 4, 2015
Reviewed by Jess Landry
Detroit’s eastside has seen its share of horrors. Once-proud factories gutted for scrap. Whole neighborhoods burned out and boarded up. Nature drained of color. But nothing like this: a thought-virus that turns the city’s dogs feral and its underclass into jackal-headed beasts. The city erupts in chaos and nightmare violence. Communication in or out is impossible. The skies fill with lethal drone copters and airships bristling with heavy-duty cannon. Abandoned to their separate fates among hordes of monsters, the few surviving humans must find a way to elude the military blockade preventing their escape or defeat the virus at its source—before government forces sacrifice them all. Breakneck action, rogue science and deft portraiture combine for a grand and gripping tale of urban terror.
In author David W. Edwards’ novel, Nightscape: Cynopolis, the characters take front and centre. When all hell breaks loose in the slums of Detroit, people from all walks of life caught in the wrong place at the wrong time band together to try and stay alive. Every character introduced in Edwards’ sprawling novel (of which there are plenty) takes on a life of their own, be it from their distinct dialect to their mannerisms. Little things like this showcase the fact that Cynopolis is an ensemble piece.
The survivors find themselves emerged in rich scenic depictions that range from the gritty feel of a world-turned-apocalyptic-obstacle-course, all the way to the golden hues generally associated with ancient Egyptian times (the word ‘Cynopolis’ itself means city of the dog, and was the name of two Greek cities way back when). This wide array of scenarios, blended with undertones of current world issues like racism and poverty, keeps the story on point, and even in the beginning pages, the action never stops.
Well-paced, nicely written and downright unnerving, Nightscape: Cynopolis will leave you wanting more.
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