Shadow City

Tales of the Shadow City, Book 1

By: Anna Mocikat

Narrated by: David Reimer, Jessica Weyman

Los Angeles is an apocalyptic wasteland.

Without orientation, Colton stumbles through the vast, deserted city. He doesn’t remember who he is or where he came from. Scavengers save his life from mutants and bring him to the only remaining inhabited area and safe Zone in former Hollywood.

There he learns that after a devastating catastrophe called The Glitch, reality shifted, allowing nightmarish creatures from another dimension to enter our world. These so-called Dark Ones feed on suffering and violence, wanting nothing less than the complete annihilation of humanity.

Colton discovers that he has extraordinary abilities and joins a league of unusual defenders: ex-cop Eric, female cyborg Bombshell, and Vincent, a mighty entity from another world disguised as a human soldier.

But the Dark Ones are evil beyond imagination, and with their ice-cold enforcer, the traitor Eurydice, they are a threat nearly impossible to overcome. Cunning and ruthless, Eurydice sets a ploy in action, which leads to the destruction of the Zone’s defenses weakening the tiny community from within. It’s up to Colton and his friends to take a desperate stand against the superior enemy and save what is left of humanity from extinction.

Fast-paced, action-driven, and cinematic–an eternal fight of good vs. evil told in a way as never before.

©2021 Anna Mocikat (P)2022 David N. Wilson

great setup for the sequel

the fight scenes where well written. You can feel the tension in the scenes so fantastically

Mesmerizing

The world has suffered “a glitch” or better known, an apocalyptic event in which vampires, demon-like creatures, and humans exist in small zones. The humans and vampires have formed an uneasy alliance, but the Dark ones seek total dominance and set out to attain it. However, Colton, Vincent, Eurydice, and a cyborg named Bombshell have other plans in store. Each one has their own agenda.

The author, Anna Mocikat, delivers a captivating story with several rich plot twists. The characters are well-developed, unique, and engaging. The connection being built between the characters is deliberate and awarding. As I look forward to hearing more from Mocikat.

The narrators, David Reimer and Jessica Weyman worked well together never interfering with one another’s performance. The unique voices they chose worked well with the characters and the story. Bombshell is a unique being that Weyman voiced and gave a riveting performance. Reimer also did well with Colton and others as he made them stand out so the listener could follow the story well.

Overall, I found the story amusing at times, edge of your seat at others but consistently I found the audiobook to be engrossing.

There were no issues with the quality or production of this audiobook, it was well done.

good story

really liked the story,but when it shifts to other characters you have to pay attention. kind of confusing

Dystopian Fantasy and survival

This was very enjoyable. I will say that the dialog mechanics took a little getting used to, and some of the segment transitions were a little clumsy, but the characters each spoke in their own "voice" so, you pick up on the author's (and narrator's) cadence fairly quickly.

The story itself is interesting. Set in a dystopian Hollywood future where magic, monsters, and mechanical beings all meld together to form a tale of sex, love, sacrifice, and the struggle to survive in a world where nothing is as it seems.

It is very reminiscent (to me) of the Deathlands Series (by "James Axler") in a lot of ways. Readers of Dystopian Fantasy and Dark Fantasy should like this book, it is similar to splatterpunk, but not quite. There are some erotic moments of the book, but not dwelled on.

Exciting read (or listen)

Shadow City is one of the few books that I haven’t read by Mocikat so I had to remedy that fact and I’m glad I did!

This book has so many elements that I loved. Set in an apocalyptic world filled with vampires, evil dark ones, and humans doing their best to survive, I was instantly drawn into this story.

I loved the multiple dimensions to this book. There was layer after layer of plot and intrigue, and even after finishing the book I know there is still more to find out.

I do have to say I can definitely see how Mocikat has improved over time. Although this book is incredible and gripping, there was a lot of head hopping and unclear point of view changes that left me a bit thrown off at times.

But that being said, this was an exciting read and I can’t wait to dive into book two!

Fallout meets Underworld

This was a really fun listen that played out a bit like a movie. It has a little bit of everything: demons, vampires, and cyborgs. The voice acting was really cool and the story was action packed. I can't wait for the next one.

vampires cyborgs mutants and demons !!!

This book has it all! tons of action and interesting characters.

with humanity on it's last breath vampires and humans must work together to survive but will their fragile alliance hold?

Fabulous dark dystopia with a preternatural twist!

I've been a fan of Mocikat since I first went BEHIND BLUE EYES, and immediately fell hard for her expertly crafted cyberpunk worlds. When I found out SHADOW CITY would go 'darker', with vampires and mutants, I was excited to see Mocikat's unique spin on the creatures--and she doesn't disappoint! SHADOW CITY introduces a dystopian society set in the remains of Los angeles, populated by the survivors of the mysterious catastrophe known only as "the Glitch," with a cobbled together settlement of humans and vampires, a cyborg here or there, and an uneasy community bound by blood and necessity. Yet there are more beings interfering with the society, and mysterious strangers, too, keeping you guessing until the very end where loyalties lie, where the very survival of humanity depends on such unholy alliances. Highly recommend!

A dark fantasy adventure in a postapocalypse Earth

SHADOW CITY by Anna Mocikat is first volume of her TALES OF THE SHADOW CITY chronicles that is a genre busting post-apocalypse adventure story. I can't really think of any other novels like it with its mixture of monsters, cyborgs, the supernatural, and survival horror. If I had to make a comparison, it reminds me of both EX-HEROES by Peter Clines crossed with the FALLOUT games. Except instead of 1950s Americana, Anna Mocikat draws from THE MATRIX-style Nineties antiheroes.

The premise is that an event called the Glitch occurred and caused the entire world to be bathed in a long hot night that never ends. The laws of physics and reality seem bent with much of humanity becoming mindless feral mutants under the control of body-hopping aliens called the Dark Ones. Thankfully, humanity has the benefit of vampires to protect them. Yes, vampires. Except the vampires are pretty lazy and are only doing this to protect their food supply. There's also a mysterious "Academy" that provides advanced cybernetic soldiers to protect humanity's few remaining strongholds despite the lack of resources affecting everyone.

This surreal environment is where naked and confused human (?) Colton finds himself. Stronger, smarter, and faster than any human, Colton is also completely unaware of anything that has happened since before the Glitch. He takes virtually everything in stride, though, and swiftly develops a bond with the local survivor community. The human survivors are sick of being forced to depend on vampires for protection and think a human defender would be good for morale.

The world-building feels like it could be a very good open-world RPG with lots of ruins, familiar sights, and horrible dangers lurking around every corner. Anna Mocikat's background as a game developer shines true here and it definitely feels like the kind of place I would enjoy visiting with my fellow gamers in multiplayer. That doesn't mean it doesn't work as the basis for her action-horror-post-apocalyptic sci-fi fantasy, though. The world-building follows a surreal dream-like logic that makes everything make sense in its own internal structure even if you wonder why Robocop and Dracula are fighting with starving scavengers.

Of the many characters throughout the book, I think I prefer Eurydice the most. She's actually one of the villains who is willingly working with the Dark Ones toward the extinction of humanity. With that kind of goal, you have to work hard to make a character still entertaining. Nevertheless, she manages to be sexy and entertaining the entire time. Probably because she absolutely does not care in the slightest about any of the humans surviving due to her own snarky misanthropy as well as somewhat suicidal nihilism.

There's a nice mix of characters beyond Colton and Eurydice with everything from body swapping aliens to Bombshell the snarky cyborg enforcer. We also get a sense of how people are coping with the fact they have to be regular donors to the local vampires as well as live under their rule (answer: badly). I was, unfortunately, annoyed the only religious people in the post-apocalypse world are the usual fanatical morons who are just detestable fools. Even when actual demons and angels are fighting in the background.

In conclusion, Shadow City is a deeply entertaining dark fantasy horror setting that would make a very good video game. It has likable characters and a somewhat video game-esque feel without the stats. It reminds me a lot of Peter Cline's EX-HEROES series. I wouldn't precisely call this cyberpunk but its definitely got cyberpunk elements and a little something for everyone. It also just came out on audiobook. I've listened to that version and of the two (written versus narrated), I have to say I think I prefer it. It has dual narration for the male and female parts and the narrators did a fantastic job with the various characters.

Thrilling, entertaining, adventurous!

Shadow City by Anna Mocikat is a different kind of dystopian future. It has a bit of sci-fi and fantasy mixed together. There is my favorite character, a cyborg that is a woman in a machine body. There are mutant creatures, vampires, and Dark Ones that come from some other place. The world has been destroyed but no one alive knows what happened. They call it the Glitch. This story is about a settlement of humans and a group of vampires that help protect the humans from danger. There are evil bands of humans too. One man is new, he doesn't know who he is but he is a hero already to the people. The vampires checked his thoughts and ok'd him. But the mystery is who is he? Another mystery is that of a Being taking charge of a dead body. No one knows it's not their friend they thought was dead. Who is he? It is very exciting and mysterious! The only thing I had trouble with was the jump between points of view. No warning or change of chapter.