Featured Review: Dan Stout’s Titan Shade

This novel — Stout’s first — takes us to a gritty fantasy other-world where 70’s era touchstones like 8-tracks and disco are still alive in the titular city of Titanshade, a northern oil boomtown surrounded by well-pocked tundra. Here we meet Carter, a down on his luck cop with a troubled past that demands he keep out of the limelight for the good of the Titanshade brass. Along with his new partner, a Mollencampi named Ajax, he is tasked with investigating the murder of a Squib in town to negotiate a new wind farm.

Who killed the southern frog man & why? These are the questions that drive this story.

We learn that squibs have cinnamon scented blood that send humans into fits of ultaviolent madness. We learn that special cops use magical divination to make the dead speak.

We meet a variety of human and non human species from Carter’s informant Simon, his do-gooder friend ______,, and his old partner now-nemesis, the crooked Flannigan. But let’s not forget Ambassador Paulus and his moving tattoos, her assiant Gellica. The Ambassador and her assistant are human, but there is something funny about them. Or is it just in our heads? What about Harlan—the Boss Hog of one of the old oil families. Surely one of these folks knows something about the murdered Squib, and it’s Carter’s job to find out who it is, so long as his big-mouth and bad-temper stay of his way.

I really loved the world building in this story. I am reminded of Blade Runner, or course, but also Jonathan Lethems’ Gun, With Occasional Music. We have a variety of humanoid species filling in for classic noir detective story characters. After establishing the world, the novel falls into typical detective novel tropes. City corruption reverberates through the story not unlike Chinatown and its water schemes or a slew of other stories.

Carter is a mostly likeable guy. I don’t feel as if I quite get why he is so messed up. I mean, it’s there, explained in backstory, but it didn’t quite feel deserved. That said, I enjoyed him and his hunches as he wanders through the city—from the subtropical Mount district and its warming the steam vents to the outer fringes where the ground is perpetually frozen and the poor hunker in hovels high on whatever they can get.

The end is climatic, taking a turn to what feels like a horror flick, as Squib blood gets used for nefarious purposes and the oil fields become the scene of a major showdown.

Did I like Titanshade? Yes, definitely. It’s a fun book that blends sci-fi and noir, humor and serious Earthly themes into a well crafted package. And the sequel is out in Spring 2020, so we have more Carter and Ajax to look forward to.

I give it. 4.25 stars.

More at pointblankpodcast.com Episode 42

TitanShade mixes the best of glossy pulp and grimy backstreet action. It's a sci-fi crime novel that calls to mind the best of Dragnet, Alien Nation, and City Confidential.

Dan Stout's gifted noir lovers a hard-nosed, sharp as a tack detective with a retro feel and narrative voice so strong you'll lose yourself in the action as the pages turn.

If you like your tech lo-fi, your sci-fi worlds unique, and your murders mysterious prepared to add a new series to your TBR because TitanShade is an unwavering look at an isolated, violent metropolis where you'll need to watch your back in.

I received a Finished Copy in conjunction with an author interview. With the expectation that any review would be my honest opinion of the book.

This really does remind me of Craig Johnson's Longmire books crossed with Jim Butcher's Dresden Files and somehow as odd as it sounds it works. It also brings to mind Netflix's Bright, though with a far dirtier western style setting. It felt like an old school mystery novel that happened to have magic and amphibious life and those books are the best kind of urban fantasy!

Wow, this book was pretty fantastic! I enjoyed the world so much, it was different and fascinating with the different species like Squibs and Mollenkampi, like the one figure on the cover. And that's just the backdrop to the whole murder case that Carter is investigating. Carter, who has to hide from the public eye.

Titanshade, while being the setting, was a pretty important piece of this book. Because of the oil fields that were the reason for it becoming an important town drying up, that's why the murder is such a big deal. Because they're trying to broker a deal with the Squibs. So there's plenty of politics, as well as how strange the town is, in the middle of ice fields and being heated by thermal vents.

Carter is basically a pariah with the other cops and it's because of an unfortunate incident that happened when he was a rookie. He's an excellent detective but without the patience to be politic. I really enjoyed the way that his mind worked! And his partnership with Ajax, that was so great because Ajax is a rookie and new to town, and they had an interesting and fun to read about dynamic!

There were a few cases going on that were pretty interesting. They were both pretty brutal murders, but they were are different spectrum of victims, the first was high profile, while the other was devastating, didn't have potential city-wide ramifications. And when they were solved, man, that was interesting and that ending is going to change the world and I can't wait for more!

Besides the different races, there were also things like manna, a magical substance that they've pretty much run out of, that I hope we'll learn more of. And there's this one lady that we met, and her superior, that I really hope we'll see more of because yeah, they were really fascinating and a bit scary!

There are many strange and wondrous things in this world and I can't wait to explore them in future books!

The first book I want to talk about this week is Titanshade, by Dan Stout. It is a fantasy buddy cop book and one of our dark horse selections for this year. I was eager to tear into it for a number of reasons, the simplest being “can it do a better job at a fantasy buddy cop story than the train wreck that was Netflix’s Bright from last year”. The short answer is yes, it is much better, but that bar was extremely low and there is a lot of space between “terrible” and “amazing”.

As mentioned, Titanshade is a fantasy buddy cop book. The plot is fairly straightforward: Our lead cop protagonist, Carter, is an excellent but unconventional cop with a troubled past that has mired his career in the cases that no one else will touch. He lives and works in the city of Titanshade, a Siberian industrial city that holds high esteem in the world because it produces most of the known supply of oil. The city sits nestled in a northern icy wasteland next to a mountain that contains a chained god who is constantly being tortured by devils (we don’t really know why). The god’s agony produces a massive amount of heat, warming the area and allowing workers to live in the shade of the titan. Unfortunately, Titanshade is running out of oil. The wells are running dry and the city needs to find a new source of income and power to remain relevant in the world. So when Carter stumbles onto a murder case that threatens upcoming talks to transform the cities industries he is assigned a young plucky non-humanoid partner to work the case and keep the city from metaphorically dying.

The murder investigation is fun and interesting, but if you are familiar with a cop or detective dramas the story isn’t really something you haven’t seen a million times before. Carter is assigned a young partner named Ajax, an adorable yet effective cop who serves as a good foil to Carter. He is this strange bug humanoid creature, and while he and Carter have a ton of friction at first they unsurprisingly come to trust and like one another over the course of the book. Titanshade’s plot doesn’t really stand out and does nothing to reinvent genre cliches that I personally find extremely tired. If you are hoping that this would be the new frontier of cop stories then you might be disappointed. However, this book still has a ton to offer readers if they have the right expectations.

In my opinion, the target audience of Titanshade is for people who like both cop shows and fantasy, and are looking for something that bridges the gap. While the plot isn’t innovative, the characters are extremely enjoyable and the worldbuilding is fantastic. Carter and Ajax are just fun to read about and it’s hard not to find yourself enjoying their relationship even though you know where it is going from page one. Originally I was going to say that the worldbuilding is simplistic, but a more accurate adjective would be to say that it is streamlined. Titanshade’s fantastical elements are fairly subdued. There are a ton of different fantasy races, all cool and original, but all of them are essentially humans with very different physiology. There aren’t tons of psychological or cultural differences between the species. Additionally, although there are magic and fantastical things – they are incorporated to accomplish things that we already have in the modern world through the use of technology. Dan Stout has essentially taken our existing world, and stripped a bunch of the tech, and then replaced it with things that are powered by magic. The result is a world that feels both extremely familiar, yet exciting and fun to explore. It is a really cathartic read, giving you a tried and true plot that you are sure to enjoy – in an original setting that enhances instead of distracting from the plot. My only complaint with the worldbuilding is that there were still some pretty big questions left unanswered from book one, that I can only assume Stout will answer in later books.

If you like cop shows and fantasy books, you will almost certainly like Titanshade. Although it doesn’t break a lot of new ground, the book is a wonderful reskinning of popular cop tropes with a lovable cast. Thank you Dan Stout for giving me an absolutely perfect beach read, and I can’t wait to check out what is next for Carter and Ajax. Go check out this debut book when you get a chance.

Rating: Titanshade – 7.5/10
-Andrew

Oxford English Dictionary defines “noir” as “a genre of crime film or fiction characterized by cynicism, fatalism, and moral ambiguity.” Noir is the perfect was to describe Dan Stout’s debut novel, Titanshade.

One of the remarkable aspects of Stout’s novel is the characterization and feel of the city, Titanshade, in which the story takes place. Titanshade is its own character with a very defined feeling, bleak and dark and full of moral ambiguity. It also has such a unique setting and atmosphere, that you can almost feel the cold air that seeps into your bones and requires layers and thick clothing for everyone, except the super-rich.

And we get a chance to see and learn about Titanshade through the eyes of our main character, a detective with a complicated, checkered past who is good at his job but struggling to survive. And despite statements to the contrary, he cares about his city and the people within his city. He’s taken the time to learn the city and its people, the down-trodden especially.

Titanshade can be a hard novel to get into because it feels so unfamiliar. There are multiple species of humanoid beings living amongst each other. It takes a while to get to learn these beings and their characteristics. The frog-like Squibs whose blood has a cinnamon scent and can force humans into uncomfortable, frenzied manners and the Mollenkampi with face mandibles and melodic speech all live side-by-side in this world.

And even though the city runs on oil but needs to transition out of oil (something familiar to our own earth), it still feels strange. Perhaps that’s because I’ve never lived in an oil town? Are sulfur smells and vented heat normal in areas of oil production? The world is still familiar, but in a historical way (to those of a certain age of course). Eight-tracks, disco, and curly-corded telephones are prevalent.

Once the particulars of the world settle into place, the plot picks up and doesn’t stop. The politically charged murder mystery (or three) drive the pace and the fuel the characters. The relationship and the dialogue are powerful and are juxtaposed perfectly against each other. Religion, politics, environmentalism, prejudices, and more are all a part of this tale. And it’s brilliantly done.

Do yourself a favor and pick up this dark, noir, murder mystery. There’s blood and grit, but it doesn’t feel grim-dark. There’s a hi

This sorta urban fantasy is more than a few degrees off from our world. Some things are like us but then there are several other races living with humans. There is disco and 8 track players and magic users that use a substance called manna to power their spells. Manna has run dry and the old in Titanshade is also running out. Wind power is coming thanks to the Squibs investment but not everyone wants to give up on the oil fields. Carter is cop that isn’t held to the highest regard in the department even if he can close cases. He is dispatched to a murder scene in a hotel that the victim is a diplomat with the Squib contingent negotiating wind power generation. Carter is partnered with a rookie detective to keep him out of trouble and the press’ eye. Ajax is a Mollenkampi who can’t be any different than Carter, he is a college graduate and doesn’t have a world weary view. The rest of the book has them working together as Cater goes to trust his new partner. The rest of the plot is a typical buddy cop mystery and I enjoyed it very much. The ending has major consequences to this story universe and I’m interested to see where it goes.


Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley

Titanshade by Dan Stout is his debut novel, which is a sci-fi/fantasy/noir thriller. We meet Carter, our hero, at the start, when he is called to a horrific murder scene; of a Squib diplomat (one of the different species in this sci-fi/fantasy noir). Carter is a veteran detective in Titanshade, as well as one of the best; but his past history forces police management to keep him away from the media.

Carter, who is human, is forced to partner with Jax, another species, and together they must try to solve a complicated case that changes constantly; especially with corruption within the political side, the squibs, the rich oil magnets, scientists & prostitutes. There are so many twists & turns that make this is an impossible and difficult case for Carter and Jax.

This is a very difficult review to write, as you really need to read this book to fully understand this different and complicated world. Titanshade is a gritty, fast paced, suspenseful, action packed adventure, which has a lot of world-building. I thought Titanshade was very well written by Dan Stout, especially since it’s his debut novel. I have to say that fantasy noir is not really my type of read, and it took me awhile to finish this. However, if you enjoy this noir fantasy, then you should read Titanshade.

What do you get when you mix alien murder, dark world building, a retro 70’s aesthetic and elements of magic and science fiction? If you are lucky, you will be reading “Titanshade”, Dan Stout’s entertaining debut novel which combines politics, murder, aliens, magic and a charging plot in a boomtown city on the edge of catastrophe. It’s a mix of cop cars and dying magic, disco music and necromancy. And a great portrait of a cop who lives for the hunt and solving crimes. Stout’s gritty hero is Carter, a homicide cop, who is always in trouble with the brass, but finds the investigation of the murder of a Squib diplomat has far reaching consequences for his city and the people who live there. Stout’s writing is spot on and the noir detective story with magic and modern technology works really well.

The Squibs are an alien amphibian race who live and work in Titanshade, a boomtown, which has been awash in a sea of greenbacks from the discovery and oil drilling. But what happens when the oil runs out. Cities try to get a new investment and reinvent themselves. Titanshade is deep in negotiations with a Squib delegation, who are interested in making a new investment in Titanshade by turning the oil fields into wind farms, when one of the members turns up dead in a sleazy hotel. This is not a novel for the squeamish, as the victim seems to have been involved heavily with human and other alien prostitutes.

Carter has been joined on the case by Ajax, a young Mollenkampi, another alien race that made its home in Titanshade. As part of the investigation, Carter calls on the services of DO Guyer, a magic user, who can, with the use of manna, examine the entrails of a dead person or even call up the dead through a type of necromancy. Manna, a magical substance used to power spells, that once was abundant in Titanshade, is also disappearing from the city, making all magical spells much more expensive. As a reader, unless you are in a world of total magic, the less magic that is used in a world the more believable the world becomes. Magic is like having a superhero run rampant through your story. So Stout’s limited use of magic in the story increases the velocity of the cop elements of the story by focusing it on investigation and not miraculous cures.

The Titanshade elites want the investigation wrapped up quickly, but Carter will not be pushed into arresting the wrong perp. And there are a lot of crimes going on. An entire family is murdered. Is it connected? The elites want it to be. And there are a lot of power players. Ambassador Paulus, a leader, and prime magic user in the government and her assistant, the diplomatic envoy Gellica, who has her own secrets, soon reveal themselves to be involved in some way. Harlan Cedrow, the current head of one of the old oil families, who has the most to lose from the oil field devastation, and there is Flanagan, a disgraced ex-cop, who has fallen in with a religious cult. Carter takes a flame thrower approach, everyone who touches the investigation is burned.

Stout mixes all of the elements well and sets his bulldog investigator to follow the clues to the killer. It’s a complex investigation, but Carter is not going to walk away.

This is what we as readers want in a cop story set in an alien landscape peopled with interesting characters and situations.

It is a find. Go discover it.

Rating: ★★★★★

Synopsis:

Carter’s a homicide cop in Titanshade, an oil boomtown where 8-tracks are state of the art, disco rules the radio, and all the best sorcerers wear designer labels. It’s also a metropolis teetering on the edge of disaster. As its oil reserves run dry, the city’s future hangs on a possible investment from the reclusive amphibians known as Squibs.

But now negotiations have been derailed by the horrific murder of a Squib diplomat. The pressure’s never been higher to make a quick arrest, even as Carter’s investigation leads him into conflict with the city’s elite. Undermined by corrupt coworkers and falsified evidence, and with a suspect list that includes power-hungry politicians, oil magnates, and mad scientists, Carter must find the killer before the investigation turns into a witch-hunt and those closest to him pay the ultimate price on the filthy streets of Titanshade.

Review:

Thanks to DAW Books and the author for an advanced reading copy of Titanshade (The Carter Archives Book 1) in exchange for an honest review. Receiving this ARC did not influence my thoughts or opinions on the novel.

First impressions of Titanshade: OMG, BECKY. LOOK AT THAT COVER!

Really though, in all seriousness, it resembles a classic, gritty episode of Law and Order: SVU, but instead of a straight-shooter detective like Olivia Benson, you are left with (what appears to be) Nick Sax from Happy! in a city on the brink of collapse. Not to mention that said city is full of humans and monsters alike; some with nasty, big, pointy mandibles that, every so often, need to be hankied.

But it is much more than that. Titanshade was easy to get drawn into because the city is eerily similar to some of our own metropolitan areas, though with a dose of magic and some serious mandibles (as you can tell, they are hard to get out of your mind… or from around your neck). It has the vibe of Frank Miller’s ‘Sin City’ graphic novel, a city that never sleeps with trouble around every corner.

Carter is a character I could really get behind and stand by through the thick of it. Even though his “troubled” past and drinking habits tend to get the better of him, he is out to do the right thing no matter who he pisses off. I also enjoyed the witty banter, and injected wisdom, from his rookie partner/babysitter, Ajax. I was pleasantly surprised how fleshed out Stout’s characters were, and how great the dialogue was between them, considering this was his debut. Quite impressive to say the least.

All in all, I absolutely loved Titanshade and cannot wait to be offered my next ride-along. It is sci-fi noir at its finest WITH MANDIBLES. I just hope the smell of cinnamon dissipates before I get there.

The below 4.5 star review was posted to Every Day Should Be Tuesday, Amazon, and Goodreads on 3/12/19:

Titanshade is a Meaty, Inventive Fantasy Noir

For a book set in a wildly inventive fantasy world, Titanshade feels damn real. And not just because they have 8-track players. Most of the characters fit into well-worn roles—jaded veteran cop, earnest rookie cop, angry police captain, dirty ex-cop, conniving politician, religious, charismatic, and villainous oil baron—but none are caricatures or cardboard cutouts. Stout makes them all feel real, people you could imagine interacting with in real life (sans mandibles) despite the outlandish setting. Stout keeps the setting grounded too.

“There was a daily chaotic madness to my town, a blue-collar work ethic still visible regardless of how many coats of oil money had been slapped over it the last fifty years.”

Paired with a meaty, satisfying mystery, it makes for one hell of a fantasy noir.

Titanshade mashes a few genres together. It is an urban fantasy, a second-world fantasy, a buddy cop story, a fantasy noir, a mystery.

Carter is a jaded old cop. He’s got one bad shoot and one dead wife that left him personally broken and professionally spinning his wheels. But he isn’t quite antihero. His earnest young partner, Ajax, has Carter’s measure:
“You get in trouble. You act like you don’t care about any of your cases, but when you latch on to one you’ll obsess on it until your health breaks. You’ve got a temper, and you’re a smartass. And you’re honest.”

Ajax, by the way, is a Mollenkampi, a humanoid race with head plates and mandibles. I mostly thought of the Predator when I thought of the Mollenkampi, but there are obvious shades of Bright. The Mollenkampi aren’t the only intelligent, non-human race in Titanshade. The mystery gets kicked off by the brutal murder of a member of a “Squib” delegation to the city. The Squibs are looking to bring wind farms to the ice plains around Titanshade to replace the depleted oil derricks that built Titanshade’s wealth. It is a deal that everyone allegedly wants to happen, and the political implications of the murder and its investigation are immense.

Titanshade itself is a city of five million crowded into the shade of a mountain, heated by geothermal vents (courtesy of what may or may not be a god trapped under the mountain), and built on oil wealth from the surrounding ice plains. Sorcery exists, but has become very rare after the extinction of the whales that provided the manna that fuels it. (That same manna fueled the world’s first industrial revolution.)

I’ve talked before about why I love 70s cinema. Part of the reason I love it is because it was the last decade Hollywood cared about the working class. It predated a massive economic boom that introduced a giant gulf between middle class and upper class that is as cultural as it is economic. With its 70s era tech, Titanshade is a throwback. Carter is blue-collar at heart, the son of a roughneck.

As a former Houstonian, I was excited, and a little anxious, to see a fantasy revolving around oil. Is there anything worse that reading a book that deals with a topic you know something about only to discover the author doesn’t? But Stout understands energy. And cops. Both enrich the story.

All in all, I loved it. It was one of the few mysteries that gripped me, and Carter is a great protagonist. The book ends on a satisfying note and works very well as a standalone, but there is a twist at the end that could set up some really cool stuff for sequels. Let’s hope we see them!

4.5 of 5 Stars.

Disclosure: I received a review copy of Titanshade from the publisher.

I have to be honest and admit that the only reason I looked into this book at first was because of the way that the awesome cover caught my eye when I was browsing for a new book. It gave me strong urban and noir fantasy vibes the moment I saw it and I knew that I was going to be getting myself a copy to read as soon as I could manage it. I didn't even read what the story was about before requesting a copy to review for this blog. I'm so glad that I did because Titanshade by Dan Stout was a weirdly fun story full of action and intrigue that I was unable to put down once I picked it up. I usually don't decide to read a book based off of a cover alone but I'm glad that I did with this one.

In this book, Dan Stout somehow manages to take aspects of urban and noir fantasy and blend them together with some fantasy thriller to create something weirdly unique. One of the things I loved most about this book was how there were times it felt like it was a police procedural show in a fantasy setting, something I don't think I've ever seen done before. I thought the city of Titanshade was well crafted and interesting to read about, full of places and people that were almost too believable for such a setting. I honestly don't know how I've managed to not read anything by Dan Stout before but I'm definitely going to be remedying that in the next few weeks. If his other books are anywhere near as good as Titanshade is then this will be one of my best discoveries of the year.

Looking back at Titanshade a few days after having finished it and I feel like this was a book that shouldn't have been anywhere near as good as it was. It combines aspects of so many different genres and their various tropes that it should have felt bloated and overdone but it all worked together so well. I don't know that I've ever read something quite like this book before and it's not often that I get to feel or say something like that anymore. I think that really says something about what a talented author Dan Stout is and is definitely a good enough reason to delve into the rest of his books.

This is a book that I will definitely be recommending to anyone looking for something new and fun to read. I only hope that this isn't a standalone book and that we get more stories set in or around the city of Titanshade.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Titanshade is a brilliantly wound novel that pairs a hard-hitting detective with a slew of murders amidst a shady city. There’s danger and intrigue aplenty, mixed with the intensity of a high caliber police drama. Nobody is who they seem to be and as the murders continue to pile up, the stakes become that much higher. With compelling characters and a fascinating use of magic, Titanshade is a thrilling read for fans of murder mysteries, fantasy novels with modern settings, and science fiction alike.

The city of Titanshade was most intriguing as a setting. This is a city on the verge of collapse, a once bustling metropolis filled with oil money that’s down on its luck now that the wells have dried up. Deals are in the works, people are desperate, and throwing a bunch of murders into the mix makes for a chaotic environment. It’s a gritty city with a slight veneer of success that easily wipes away to the discerning eye. Our detective knows every inch like the back of his hand. He works the streets with ease, knowing just where the clues lead.

The group of detectives have an interesting dynamic. We have the brilliant detective who has a messy past. The new recruit who is eager to fight crime and bring justice to the world. The stuck-up detective who takes every opportunity to advance his career. They constantly butt heads with witty banter and thinly veiled insults that build a sense of deeper camaraderie. Stout makes each of the cases exciting with his attention to detail and our protagonist’s keen eye for the unusual.

The magic is terrifying to behold. I don’t want to say too much about it, as it needs to be experienced. Let’s just say it’s closer to dark magic than the happy-go-lucky kind. There are horrors to be found every time it’s in use.

Overall, Titanshade is a great mix of elements from the speculative genres. From science fiction, we get a futuristic city and alien-human populations. From fantasy, we get a dark magic that pulls answers from the dead. From mystery, we get all the workings of a solid police drama. Combined, the pieces make Titanshade an eminently entertaining read to be savored.

This review was originally posted on <a href="https://booksofmyheart.net/2019/03/12/titanshade-by-dan-stout/" target="_blank"> Books of My Heart</a>
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Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
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3.5 hearts
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<strong>Titanshade</strong> is  science fiction fantasy with a lot of mystery and thriller woven through the story. Our main guy is Eric Carter, a homicide detective, a human.  He's a basically good guy but he has the "annoy everyone until the bad guys try to kill you" method of investigation mastered. There were even good guys who wanted to kill him.

The world-building and character development took a lot of thought for me. The town is set in the far north, on the ice plains. The world is dependent on oil which is becoming a depleted resource. There are humans, sorcerers,  Mollenkampi, Squib and some yet to be introduced species.  The species characteristics were not thoroughly defined.

The politics of the police department was odd. Whichever detective was on scene first got the case. They all seemed to go to every scene. While suspicious facts are uncovered, proof is in short supply and yet horrific things are happening.  The style seems a bit more wild west on the frontier than law and order in the city.

I liked the relationship forged between Carter and his new partner, Jax. They even had a little snark going. Carter grew on me because he is so obviously honest and just goes right at the problem. He gets beat up an awful lot. But he does get to the truth.

There is much yet to learn and it looks like this is first in a new <em><strong>Carter Archives</strong> </em>series. I couldn't find that on Goodreads or the author's site, but it is in an interview he did at Genre Minx Book Reviews. It also says the sequel will include more on the wider world which should help me. I want more of that definition, and I like the science type aspects of the world.  Also, I want more Carter and Jax.

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<blockquote>She already knew. I paused, uncertain how to proceed. My major conversational gambit involves annoying people into revealing more than they intended. It was a skill set that left me sorely unprepared for talks like this.</blockquote>
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<blockquote>"I tried to get a hold of you, but you never responded."

"I was a little busy with people trying to kill me."</blockquote>
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I have been on a roll with great books lately with this debut author being one of the best. I was a little hesitant about this book because it seemed maybe a bit too sci-fi for me, but I was so glad I did dive into it: exceptional writing, unique universe, and intriguing characters. This author did a wonderful job at keeping me entertained from start to finish. Yes, it isn’t really that hard to keep me entertained as I love reading so much, I will read just about anything I can get my hands on. However, this book was really a step above and I think this author will go far. I for one can’t wait to read the next book in the series (I hope it comes out soon)! Give this book a try if you like urban fantasy with unique universes. Frog people! I highly recommend this book! I was provided the e-book which I voluntarily reviewed.

Carter's a homicide cop in Titanshade, an oil boomtown where 8-tracks are state of the art, disco rules the radio, and all the best sorcerers wear designer labels. It's also a metropolis teetering on the edge of disaster. As its oil reserves run dry, the city's future hangs on a possible investment from the reclusive amphibians known as Squibs. But now negotiations have been derailed by the horrific murder of a Squib diplomat. The pressure's never been higher to make a quick arrest, even as Carter's investigation leads him into conflict with the city's elite. Undermined by corrupt coworkers and falsified evidence, and with a suspect list that includes power-hungry politicians, oil magnates, and mad scientists, Carter must find the killer before the investigation turns into a witch-hunt and those closest to him pay the ultimate price on the filthy streets of Titanshade.

I can now officially say that Titanshade by Dan Stout is one of my favorite reads of 2019! The description and cover (art by the amazing Christian McGrath) totally reeled me right off the bat. Luckily for me, the novel really delivers in the best ways. It's a gritty fantasy sci-fi noir and the best way I can describe it is that it's a great combination of The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, Dirty Harry, Dragnet, LA Confidential, and Chinatown all rolled into one. I didn't realize I needed that until now and now that I'm done I definitely need more of the genre. I've got my fingers crossed that we'll see more from this world and these characters in the future. The characters, particularly Carter, are all wonderfully complex and can practically walk right off the page. The pacing and dialogue are absolutely crackling. The author also does a fantastic job of creating the detailed world of Titanshade itself - it's practically a character in its own right. Anyway, I also loved just how original and inventive this novel is. I can't say I've every read anything quite it before, but I hope I can say I have in the future.

Overall, Dan Stout's Titanshade is one of the best debut novels I've had the chance to read in ages. I need to return to this world stat. No matter what, I know I need more of the author in my life. Thanks again for the opportunity, NetGalley!

This debut is wild, WI-LD, gritty noir sci-fi magic murder detective wildness, and I loved every single page. The kind of book that pulls you away from eating/sleeping/living because you just want to keep reading more.

This book is easily the most enjoyable noir novel I've read in a long time. It perfectly combines the grit and gristle of Dick Tracy with the alternate world, magical realism and biting satirical humor of THE DRESDEN FILES. You can't help but to root for our (unwilling) main characters--detectives thrown together, solving a splashy murder. They're the underdog, they don't always play by the rules, but they want to get the job done any way it takes. Stout peppers the writing with just the right amount of setting...the fading oil town, the 8 track player in the tiny car, the greasy dive bars... you can basically taste TITANSHADE's dusty wind. An impressive debut, an enjoyable read!

This book was AMAZING. It's the fabulous unique combination of an old-school procedural noir and scifi, but not super tech-y scifi, a sort of hard-boiled, Dick Tracy-like scifi. Carter, our hero, who has the best voice, who you can hear in your head the entire time, world builds through solving a crime, the murder of a squib, a frog-like species, scientist/diplomat, and its face past and the descriptions and settings and features of the world feels so natural and make so much sense.

The mystery element is totally a page turner, but you keep wanting to know MORE, about what everyone is hiding and WHY! I just adored this so much and I recommend it wholeheartedly!

Titanshade is the debut fantasy-noir novel from Dan Stout. It certainly has a lot going for it. There’s a city in the centre of an ice-field, whose economic survival depends on slowly depleting oil reserves. There’s different species living side by side, with all the socio-cultural tension which that brings. There’s politicians who have an agenda to promote, and little care for what damage they’ll do. There’s sorcerors who can bring back the dead for a bit of a chat. There’s a police force whose members have a penchant for graft, planting evidence, and applying a swift phonebook to the side of the head of a problem when an interrogation won’t solve it. Oh, and there is, of course, a murder

So yeah, there’s a lot going on here. The first thing I have to say is that, with all of these things going on, there’s a sense of style, and a vivid sense of place. The style – well, it feels like a blend between the hard-edged noir of Hammett and Ellroy, and the blurred excesses of an extravagant Seventies. Wide collars, smart shades and smart mouths are available in equal measure. The place? The place is Titanshade. It’s a city that sits on the edge of nowhere. An urban hub nestled against a mountain, with freezing plains in every direction. A city of rings, each ring a little further out than the last, each ring a little colder than the last. It’s a city built on a desire to escape government intrusion – in the far end of nowhere – but also on wealth. This is an oil town, whose liquid gold has kept the populace in work and in ready cash for quite some time. You can feel the sense of the past in the prose – in characters in richly decorated offices, looking out on run-down drill-rigs. In the neighbourhoods in the city which still hold some of their care and class, but are just that little bit more decrepit than the year before. This is a city on the edge of a downturn, hanging on to its former glory by its fingernails. And the prose gives us that – in the sparkling white of the snow, in the rust and steel gleam of the oil rigs. In the energy of the populace, warming themselves in the city’s heart, and in the cool calculation of its leadership. This is a place which comes alive on the page, which pulls you into its streets and makes you feel the clamour, the drive, the need to be alive – and the undercurrent sin the same streets, the darker pulses of the urban heart. Titanshade lives.

Our protagonist in this town is Carter. Carter works homicide in Titanshade, a place where the dead can be revived to answer awkward questions (albeit with no guarantee that they’ll be answered), and where corruption makes sure that inconvenient answers are delicately swept under the rug, along with the people who found them. Carter hits a lot of familiar notes – he’s down on his luck, he has a mysterious past, he’s not a completely straight shooter, but has limits; for all that, they ring true. Carter’s voice is wry, thoughtful, aware of his position, but determined to do some good despite himself. The colloquial tone makes for an accessible read, and if Carter isn’t always the best person, still he’s easy to empathise with.

Watching with Carter’s eyes works especially well when compared to his partner, who, apart from having mandibles (being from one of Titanshade’s other resident species), is new to the city. He’s keen to learn, keen not to mess up, and keen to do the right thing – but far, fasr less keen to be seen anywhere near Carter. There relationship is a small joy in the text, as they circle each other, trying to reach a rapprochement through banter, the odd bite of street-food, and examining the occasional murder scene.

Both, I have to say, manage the tricky feat of feeling alive, of feeling like people. I felt their successes, their fears, their victories and defeats. They’re ably supported by a broader cast of memorable figures – from the down-home oil baron, to the activists trying to help get sex-workers off the street, to ice-cold political operatives. There’s a lot going on here, and the people in it have their own lives and their own agenda.

The plot – well, I shan’t give anything away. It starts with a murder, which is how Carter finds himself involved. But even as the investigation is hitting its stride, there are suggestions that there are other things going on – including politics, blackmail and betrayal. It’s a story whose central post is a complex murder with many different angles, and the investigation is both convincing and compelling. You’ll want to know whodunit, but I, at least, also wanted to know why they dunnit. There’s more than enough action here to set the pulse racing, and the prose pulls absolutely no punches in that regard; but there’s a strong emotional centre as well, and a believable mystery with a strong resolution sat at the heart of the text.

This is a solid debut, giving us a fascinating new world, some fun characters who feel real, and a story which, I guarantee will keep you turning pages into the wee hours. Give it a whirl!