A unique and dark blend of sci-fi and fantasy, Things They Buried is a weird, wild adventure. Full of truly original world building, it’s a novel that demands attention both in its details and it’s unwavering content.
Based in the port city of Dockhaven, on an alien world, children have been going missing. For many of it’s residents, it’s not that unusual; the city is complex place where poverty and crime rub shoulders with the rich and scientifically advanced. But, for Sylandair and Aliara, it can only mean one thing – the return of their evil master; a man who bought them as child slaves and abused them for years during his experiments to discover the key to immortality.
The themes are tough to consider, and yet it sets up a tale of unlikely heroes bent on revenge. Though they’d escaped the terrible scientist decades before, the idea that he is continuing his experiments steels them to find a way to stop the man once and for all. Not only to save the children, but, also, to put a halt to the foul mechanics and mythological research he pursued. It takes them on a journey into the darkest depths of Dockhaven, beneath the city and it’s sewers, and to its highest political offices.
It’s here that the true breadth of the novel comes to light. A vast array of species and cultures mingle in the alien city along with a complex social system of scientists, politicians, crime syndicates and royalty. The details are staggering and, whilst that makes for a slow read, it’s worth concentrating. Intricately crafted and lavishly rendered, Things They Buried builds and builds until it ruptures into action.
Vile things lurk in the dark pits beneath the scientist’s abandoned mansion, and worse still scurry the secret passageways. The blend of horror and sci-fi- fantasy is truly unique and, along with the very unlikely set of heroes – each as damaged and morally grey as the next – it creates a novel that stands apart. Reviewing it, I thought about likening it to a mix of things but it deserves more than that; it is different but especially so and in that sense stands outside of comparisons.
Vastly original, this is something entirely new. Grim, dark adventure in a sci-fi- fantasy world of epic proportions, Things They Buried is, like it’s main characters Syl and Aliara, brutal, strange, heartfelt, unique and intriguingly inventive.
Review copy
Published by Ismae Books
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