Book Review: City of Corpses

John C. Wright’s City of Corpses: The Dark Avenger’s Sidekick Book Two (Moth & Cobweb 5) continues the adventures of Yumiko Moth begun in Daughter of Danger, reviewed here. Yumiko, having learned her name and her role as the sidekick of Winged Vengeance, has been rejected and cursed by her master because of a magic ring she defied him to steal. She remembers nothing before her awakening in a hospital bed at the beginning of the first book, not how she came to have the ring, who her parents are, who killed her mother (although she is certain she is dead) and who is her beloved whom she was told in a vision to save.

Her only friend Elfine Moth, ditzy yet helpful, has been captured. Yumiko must find a way to save a beloved she cannot remember, avenge her mother’s murder, rescue Elfine – and not get captured or killed by a seemingly endless stream of werewolves and ghouls out to get her and her ring. All in a world under a dark spell that permits the elfs to herd people about like cattle and do all manner of mischief to us.

Short and sweet: Well? When is book 6 coming out? I gotta know how it ends!!! So, yea, it’s good – get all 5 Moth & Cobweb books, read them, read them to your kids or random children you meet. We need these stories to counteract all the nihilism and despair and ignorance that kids of all ages marinate in these days.

In this middle book, Yumiko has largely realized her powers as the sidekick to Winged Vengeance, powers she used instinctively and furtively in her near-total amnesia in Book 4. In this book, she’s a magical ninja maiden with a set of weapons and gadgets both mundane and magical to put any superhero to shame. Yet she remains a 100 lbs woman, and so must fight with great cunning and skill to avoid the massive physical advantages of the much larger creatures who hunt her. A large part of the story’s charms lies in Wright deft handling of the challenges Yumiko faces – she’ll outsmart one, clobber the next, use the enemy’s strength against him in the next. She kicks hiney in believable (well, given the context) ways.

Yumiko decides that the only way to get to the bottom of what is going on is to infiltrate the Cobbler’s Club, which looks like a swank nightclub but is also neutral ground for the races of Night, Day and Twilight – elves and their ilk, men, and mixed breeds such as the Moth family to which Yumiko belongs. Here lurk the creatures out to kill her. Yet she disguises herself and gets a job as a Cobbler Girl – sort of a Rockette who also waits tables. She must somehow hide her gear and her ring, avoid raising suspicions, and still snoop around enough to figure out what’s going on. And save her friend and discover her lost love.

Adventures ensue. Epic, fun adventures. Check it out! Can’t wait for book 6!