Product Description

Lieutenant Donal Connor has been given the most bizarre of new cases. Four famous stage performers have died in recent months, thee of them in state capitals within Transifica, the fourth in far Zurinam. And now the idolised Diva, maria deLivnova is coming to Tristopolis. Donal's boss is determined that nothing like this is ever to happen in his city. Connor is to have anything he needs as long the Diva lives. And so begins a dark investigation through a world where corpses give up their pyschic energy in the massive necrofulx generators that power the city, where gargoyles talk, where wraiths work in slavery, a world of the dead where corruption is alive. This is an extraordinary SF novel set in alternate universe quite unlike any imagined in SF before; a universe where magic and the supernatural and the undead are given a scientific rationale and hoorfyingly plausible rationale. The novel's setting, Tristopolis, is the ultimate noir city; an immense baroque creation of haunted stone skyscrapers, black metal and city-wide catacombs. Its hero Donal Connor is immensely likeable and easy to identify with. Even once he's dead.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #149760 in Books
• Published on: 2008-02-14
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

THE TIMES
"Meaney's creepy, death-haunted world lingers in the long after the book is closed. A smart and spooky read."

Review
"Meaney's creepy, death-haunted world lingers in the long after the book is closed. A smart and spooky read." (THE TIMES )

"Filmic action aplenty and lots of weird imagery." (SFX )

"Fast paced, very entertaining and out of the ordinary. Meaney throws together familiar elements of multiple genres and creates something both haunting and engaging. (SFFWORLD.COM )

"Bone Song is crisply written and the gruesome aspects of Tristopolis are vividly portrayed." (Eric Brown THE GUARDIAN )

"Think Dirty Harry in a city created by the bastard love-child of Jeff VanderMeer and China Mieville. The backdrop of a hardboiled crime plot cleverly disguises stories of human interaction, trust, mistrust, loyalty, morality, acceptance, and love while delivering a great mystery." (NETH SPACE. COM )

SFFWORLD.COM
"Fast paced, very entertaining and out of the ordinary. Meaney throws together familiar elements of multiple genres and creates something both haunting and engaging.

Customer Reviews

Dark and Strange
Bone Song is an interesting read - it takes an alternative view where everything is powered by corpses (hey, don't blame me, I only read the thing) which makes for a very dark and gothic-feeling novel, with some interesting ideas about wraiths, ghosts, and how the dead are processed into energy.

All told, I'm going to be looking out for more of John Meaney's stuff - I'd thought he was a new author, but it turns out he's been around for a while.

If you like authors like Peter F Hamilton, Richard Morgan and the like, Bone Song will probably be right up your street.

Original, innovative, brilliant
I was getting very bored by Paranormal PIs until I read Bone Song. This is NOT another goodguy/gal werewolf/vampire/witch hunting down (while having hot, rampant sex with a sort-of-good-sort-of-bad partner) the badguy/gal werewolf/vamp... well, you get the picture. Yes, there are security deathwolves, wraiths which act as the force running inanimate objects such as lifts, cars, etc and there are zombies. The characters are, perhaps, a little typical; strong but silent cop and wisecracking twin cops but the antihero, Donal Riordan, is a cop whose lover/boss is a zombie who has to plug her black heart into the mains (energy comes from the tortured emotions of flayed and executed criminals) every few days to "live".
There is action aplenty. No one is who they seem to be; layers upon layers of conspiracy (I LOOOOOVE a really good conspiracy story)abound.
I couldnt really think of comparable authors - hence the title for the review - but take a dash of the Nightside series minus the humour, a chunk of Richard Morgan and stir in a soupcon of Karen Chance and you may have an idea, but this book (and the sequel, incidentally) is very dark and bleak and while satisfying in the denouement, still leaves you desperate for more. On the bright side, there is a sequel.

Bones are burning
A haunting Sci-Fi/Fantasy tale that fits in well with one of the current trends where authors merge multiple genres, in this case Sci-Fi with a touch of the macabre.
The reader will find themselves dragged into the vaults of the necropolis where the dead pay their "debts" accrued over their lifetimes where their bones are used as fuel to embue the livings homes with energy.
Highly novel, deeply perturbing and on the whole a mystery linked through the life/unlife of the characters involved. If you're looking for a completely new type of tale that has a multifaceted appeal then go for this, the darkness of the Dickellian future blended with the mystery of Doyle, tied up with a dash of Crowley and you have a tale that will encroach on your sleeping world. To sum up, a tale that will lead to a future where the living continue on their merry way without questioning anything, where death is only the beginning of Kali's Opus that few can hear.