Low Town

A Novel

By: Daniel Polansky

Narrated by: Rob Shapiro

Drug dealers, hustlers, brothels, dirty politics, corrupt cops . . . and sorcery. Welcome to Low Town.

In the forgotten back alleys and flophouses that lie in the shadows of Rigus, the finest city of the Thirteen Lands, you will find Low Town. It is an ugly place, and its cham­pion is an ugly man. Disgraced intelligence agent. Forgotten war hero. Independent drug dealer. After a fall from grace five years ago, a man known as the Warden leads a life of crime, addicted to cheap violence and expensive drugs. Every day is a constant hustle to find new customers and protect his turf from low-life competition like Tancred the Harelip and Ling Chi, the enigmatic crime lord of the heathens.

The Warden’s life of drugged iniquity is shaken by his dis­covery of a murdered child down a dead-end street . . . set­ting him on a collision course with the life he left behind. As a former agent with Black House—the secret police—he knows better than anyone that murder in Low Town is an everyday thing, the kind of crime that doesn’t get investi­gated. To protect his home, he will take part in a dangerous game of deception between underworld bosses and the psy­chotic head of Black House, but the truth is far darker than he imagines. In Low Town, no one can be trusted.

Daniel Polansky has crafted a thrilling novel steeped in noir sensibilities and relentless action, and set in an original world of stunning imagination, leading to a gut-wrenching, unforeseeable conclusion. Low Town is an attention-grabbing debut that will leave readers riveted . . . and hun­gry for more.

Critic reviews

“For a first-time author, Polansky has managed to craft an assured, roaring, and rollicking hybrid, a cross-genre free-for-all that relishes its tropes while spitting out their bones. And he does it all while spinning one hell of a gripping mystery. Much like its grim, perversely charismatic antihero, Low Town stakes a narrow turf—then completely owns every inch of it.” The A.V. Club (The Onion)

“Festooned with sorcerers and demons in a pre-industrial otherworld setting, Low Town…is a fantasy-crime hybrid with serious noir chops…Gritty, cryptically funny and relentlessly inventive.” – Winnipeg Free Press

“Low Town is a strong, confident debut that should go down well with readers who enjoy their fantasy on the noir side. It’s a novel you can enjoy for its atmosphere as well as its story, full as it is of well-drawn scenes from the city’s underbelly.…Low Town delivers a fast, entertaining story in less pages than it takes some major epics to get out of the realm of basic exposition. I had a blast with Low Town, and I’m definitely keeping an eye out for whatever Daniel Polansky comes up with next.”--Tor.com

“If you like noir and hard-boiled mysteries, you might want to give Low Town a chance. You’ll definitely find it darkly rewarding.” New York Journal of Books

"Polansky hits all the right notes in his intelligent first novel, a blend of dystopian fantasy and hard-boiled crime....Sharp, noir-tinged dialogue and astute insights into class struggle mark Polansky as a writer with a future." -- Publishers Weekly

"A strong debut novel with a hero who doesn’t waste time worrying about the moral implications of cutting someone’s throat." -- Kirkus

"Polansky's writing is confident and punchy from the offset. The action rips along at a brilliant pace allowing us to experience this gritty world through the eyes of a thrilling, dangerous, flawed, yet strangely endearing protagonist. This is modern, dark fantasy at its best and a debut to be envied." -- British Fantasy Society

"Quite brilliant...[Low Town] is as good a debut as I've read in along time. [It] has it all - and as the name suggests, it is sharp, steely and viciously bloody. Highly recommended." --John Berlyne, SF Revu

great story!

great story with a great narration by Rob! I'm looking forward to reading more by Daniel!

Great Listening Experience

This is one of those books that was made even better as an audiobook. An excellent narrator choice really made for a great listening experience.
The writing of the world and characters also made for a gritty noir detective novel.
I see there's 2 more books in this series, I wish they would release them in audiobook soon!

Good characters. Solid story. A little predictable

One of those books that you wonder if you would have figured out if it wasn’t an audible. Really liked the protagonist and the support characters. Unfortunately once the mystery was broadcast
halfway through the book the excitement was gone.

Good blend of detective noir and grim dark

This novel was a good break from the usual fantasy with multiple perspectives. Polansky adds a taste of the modern urban reminiscent of the afro samurai. Polansky also explores the moral code of the professional criminal. I'm eager to listen to more of the series. Audible, It's time to record more Polansky!

Very good book.

The main character was realistic, the story was fast pace and engaging, the narrator was good and it didn't jump between 5 different POV's. I loved it. It feels like a long time since I listened to something that didn't make me cringe and think "oh my god that's so fucking stupid" every other chapter. The book is pretty dark and definitely not family friendly but again, I loved it. I will definitely be reading more of Daniel Polanski's work.

detective book with a hint of magic

it was a good listen thoroughly enjoyed it of you like magic and a good old mistery low town is for you

Low town is an excellent new world! Good Job!

I really liked this book...I can't wait to start the second one in the series!

No buyer's remorse for me on this one.

Now that was a good yarn and a nice job of telling it. No whiney or too dense to survive in a world where natural selection a la Darwin exists or know it all kids or super unfunny snarks, those being the kinds of characters that irritate me to such a degree it makes me want to don a many pointed hydra hat grab a hefty stick with both hands and behave like a famous puppet who is shouty, violent and misogynist. No I mean the hand puppet not the ex president. Aw, sorry, I just could not resist, that would be like Cinderella refusing the glass slipper. So anyway the blessed lack of popular tropes I can't stand, main character is a fallen from grace into the shady life flawed dude but not in a smarmy boo hoo way, mystery is interesting, magic but not a huge potpourri and the writing is solid, nice turn of phrase and true that observations here and there and one about teenagers that made me laugh out loud though this is not a book that is trying to be clever. I am not saying this is great literature and you must read it because if not when you die and go to Bloomsbury Virginia and Leonard Woolf, Lytton Strachey and the rest of the gang will snub you and telegram Alice and Gertrude in France so by the time you get there no post mortem salon will welcome you, it's not that. But if you want an engaging tale that won't give you buyers remorse measured in credits, yes. I probably could have just said pretend I am Siskel and Ebert, I mean their taste as critics, right, you know their general taste and the degree to which you can agree with them or not, right? Okay so pretend I am them. Two thumbs up. I also enjoyed Red Rabbit but forgot to leave a review. But the best fiction I have read in the past couple years is The Wolf and the Watchman. That was excellent. We the Drowned also excellent. So that you have a frame of reference for my taste. Oh! Also the detective story written by the guy who did Motherless Brooklyn was really good, too. Highly recommend, sorry about the senior moment for title. Man what a long player here but hey you got 5 solid recommendations so if you are digging around for a read/listen and made it through you hit pay dirt Cheers!

Noir and fantasy walk into a bar...

Would you listen to Low Town again? Why?

I've listened to it twice already. I think you discover something new each time.

Who was your favorite character and why?

It's hard to like anyone in Low Town, but Yancey sticks out as an OK dude.

Which character – as performed by Rob Shapiro – was your favorite?

Warden. Mr. Shapiro captured his voice perfectly.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Oh god. No executive would ever touch this. "So get this, a fantasy drug dealer, who is also a veteran, gets involved with a series of wizard murders by demon. There's some racism, some poverty, and a lot of social commentary, and it ends with murder, murder, murder, and demons." No thanks.

Any additional comments?

It saddens me that Mr. Polansky's publishers will not produce audiobooks of the remainder of the trilogy. This is truly an outstanding work of modern fiction, and it's been buried. That's a crime greater than any Warden ever did.

Good book, slow narrator

Good book, interesting storyline. Narrator takes about 1 second pause between each sentence. Best to listen to this at 1.35x speed.