3.5 stars rounded up. I enjoyed it more than expected. Beukes is my first South African author and it is quite refreshing to read a speculative fiction book set in (alternate version) of Johannesburg. I love the slangs, the worldbuilding, the city lives, and of course the animal familiars in there. Sloth is cute!The book is fast paced but sometimes it is easy to get lost in the details. The main character is so deliciously cheeky and witty, I love reading her thoughts and dialogues. Still confus...

I wasn't sure to expect when I started reading this as I had no idea what it was about and bought it simply because the cover caught my eye. I'm really pleased I bought it because I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It was such a fresh, original concept and quite unlike anything I've ever read before! I really loved the whole concept of the animals and Zoo City, it completely drew me in right from the beginning. I also really enjoyed that there was some magic mixed in but that it also had aspects of...

This is a particularly smooth genre-meshing urban fantasy noir SF horror, and if you don't like my description, then go read it and figure out your best fit. :) If you do, however, find that perfect descriptor, be sure to add all the little animas, the familiars that bad people get after murdering someone, and if you let your anima die, you get dragged to hell. Or is the novel firmly set in modern day Johannesburg filled with scams, missing persons, and mystery? Oh, wait, how about all the mutil...

While I'm not usually a big fan of urban fantasy, I really enjoy the writing style of Lauren Beukes, and loved her other novel Moxyland. Her female characters are strong, flawed and cynical, but above all realistic and relatable. On top of that, the protagonist in this one has a sloth. Yep. A sloth.Zoo City has one hell of an original premise - that people who commit a grave crime such as murder, find themselves bonded to a magical animal familiar, and should that animal die, a dark force called...

I hate it when I read a book that's beautifully written, but has a clumsy plot. I was seduced by the writing while I was reading it, and it wasn't until after I finished that I started realizing how many problems I had with it. In this alternate history/SF world, people's guilt over their mistakes or crimes manifests as animals that are emotionally or psychically attached to them, sort of like having an albatross hung around your neck, except living and not so corpsey. This was interesting to me...

I read this directly after finishing "Moxyland" and my wild enthusiasm for Lauren Beukes is not abating!The setting is present-day Johannesburg, but in this alternate reality, a couple of decades ago, something strange started happening. Those who were guilty of terrible crimes were suddenly, magically saddled with an animal 'familiar' - reminiscent of the burden of the Ancient Mariner's albatross, but, well, alive. The "animalled" are also unable, it seems, to help liking and feeling affection

Before I read this, I would have said there was nothing new you could do with the magical companion animals trope. I would have been wrong.I enjoyed this--for the concept, for the characters, for the setting. I was all set to give it four stars. And then the ending happened.(view spoiler)[And it's not that it's a tragedy that bothers me. I actually appreciate the author's chutzpah in having the twins die, in having the bad guys escape. (I less appreciate the bad guys' over-the-top characterizati...

This takes place in a world where whenever people feel extreme guilt, an animal will manifest and follow them around as a physical sign. This can also come with some abilities, such as the main character’s abilities to find lost things. The definition of “lost things” is flexible, as almost everyone has lost something or other, so this isn’t always as useful of an ability as it might seem at first glance. Because of the guilt factor, those with animals are unpopular in society and have to live i...

I loved it! :)I was over the moon when Zoo City was chosen to be one of the SciFi and Fantasy Book Club reads for November! A book set in a version of my home city with an interesting premise and great reviews! Yes please! In my excitement I emailed Lauren Beukes and asked if she'd do a Q&A with our group and she said yes! As you can imagine I was bouncing off walls! It occurred to me mid-bounce that this would be an awesome opportunity for Sod (you may know him as Murphy) to rear his ugly head

Lots of innovation in this melding of noir detective, cyberpunk, and urban fantasy genres. She doesn’t go overboard with any one of this triad. It was a fun ride mixed with a lot of disturbing elements. Having a likeable female hero helped me accommodate the widespread despair in the contemporary Johannesburg setting. But I am led to render a 3.5 star rating because of personal displeasure with the shocking and implausible dénouement to the tale. But then maybe horror is the 4th genre in the ble...

Wow.Zoo City is one of the more original, complicated fantasy books that I’ve read this year. I’m not even sure how to tag it, that’s how many elements come into play. Urban fantasy? Johannesburg is a major city, after all, and the animal angle is clearly unreal. Dystopia? Almost, but not quite; despite the animals, this is a current version of Johannesburg and African politics. Mystery noir? After all, there’s a missing person and an investigator of questionable character. Horror? A little witc...

3.5 stars(sheesh, here we go again with Goodreads sucking up my reviews....twice...)Gonna keep this short: I was very impressed with my first encounter with Lauren Beukes' imaginative stylings (not unlike those of China Miéville). Zoo City, impossible to pigeon-hole (is it science fiction? dystopia? thriller? social commentary? good old fashioned magical murder mystery? kinda "yes" to all) is a bizarre, alternate universe'd, present day reimagining of Johannesburg, South Africa, one where crim

This book takes the reader into the nitty gritty of Johannesburg, the slums, the underworld, and at the same time it introduces a touch of magic in a very unique way.Zinzi has committed a crime, and for that has been saddled with a connection with an Animal, a sloth, which she takes with her everywhere she goes. Due to her Animal connection, she has also developed the ability to find the lost things of other people. She lives in Zoo City in the Joburg CBD, where other people with Animals live, w...

Okay, so the premise for this book is pretty cool: in this world, puny humans who are guilty of crimes find themselves "animalled," meaning they're mysteriously and irrevocably bound to, err, well, you know, animals and stuff. Not only that, if they get physically separated from their animal, or if the animal dies, they very promptly get very dead. Now if that isn't one of the most originally creative and creatively original ideas ever, I don't know what is. Being quite the fauna enthusiast myse...

One of the things I loved the most about Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series was his rather brilliant twist on the concept of a witch's familiar: that in that world, each person's soul manifests as a companion animal that is their other half. It's not only because it's a cool idea; it also is an interesting reflection of our ongoing weird relationship with nature -- the connection we feel to the creatures of the earth, though most of us live far removed from it in cities and suburbs. And,...

This is not your average urban fantasy. It's set in Johannesburg, South Africa, in a world where murderers and other criminals acquire magical animals that are mystically bonded to them. "Zoos" are discriminated against, but with their animal also comes a magical talent, unique to each Zoo.Zinzi December is an addict whose drug habit got her brother killed, and thus burdened her with her Sloth companion and a magical talent for finding lost things. She's a very flawed protagonist, but very belie...

As seen on The ReadventurerJust when I think there is no urban fantasy in existence which breaks away from the formulaic and same-old-same-old, I come across this gem, thanks to Guardian book podcast. Hurray! As with most of inventive and unorthodox genre deviations, describing Zoo City is a pain. I'm tempted to just call it a Paolo Bacigalupi/The Golden Compass mix and leave it at that, but I'm afraid I'll scare the readers away.So, Zoo city. What is it? It's a sort of ghetto area in modern day...

Lauren Beukes’ The Shining Girls fascinated me with her style and imagination, I thought it was a flawed gem but it put me on board for more Beukeses. The next logical book for me from the Beukes bibliography is 2011 Arthur C. Clarke Award winner Zoo City.Set in an alternate reality where some people are suddenly paired with an animal as a consequence of something heinous they have done (or perhaps think they have done). Basically, if you are bearing some major guilt chances are an animal will

This is probably my favorite UF book I've read in the past few years. Yeah, it's gritty but the grit doesn't rub off when the protagonist is done with it. Sure it's got romance but the problems and affection are earned. CONTENT WARNING: (view spoiler)[ drug use, abuse, child soldiers, loss of a loved one, body horror, rape, lots of othering, extreme poverty, refugees, harm to children. (hide spoiler)]Things to love:-The world. It is dark, but the darkness makes sense in context and feels dimens...

I don’t normally read urban fantasy (or urban science fiction, not entirely sure what genre this is), not because the books of that genre have let me down, but because I don’t particularly like urban settings. They make me sad, and for some reason all urban books are always pointing out the miserable conditions of our existence. As I owned this book, I thought I might as well read it. People have been giving it good reviews and the premise is pretty interesting. As someone who’s head over heels