Synopsis:

Gogmagog tells the story of an epic journey through the sixty-mile long ghost of a dragon. Travel is by boat, a rickety steam launch captained by veteran taxi pilot Cady Meade, on the river Nysis. In her heyday Cady carried people and goods from the thriving seaports of the estuary into Ludwich, the capital city. Now she’s drunk, holed up in a rundown seaside resort, telling her bawdy tales for shots of rum. All that’s about to change, when two strangers seek her out, asking for transport, one of whom – a young girl – is very ill, and in great danger. The other, an artificial being of singular character, has secrets hidden inside his crystal skull. So begins the voyage of the Juniper.

Review:

This book is a wild ride but in the wackiest and most imaginative way possible. I haven’t read much ‘weird’ fiction before, but if it’s all as fun as this, then I will be picking up more!

We follow a ragtag cast of characters on a boat journey down a river, though it turns out that this river is possessed by the spirit of a dead dragon. Yes, you read that correctly.

This book doesn’t guide you gently through the story, it chucks you in and expects you to keep up on your own. Don’t be worried if you feel a little lost at first, it’s part of the adventure. The plot moves along at a quick pace and the story threads are all over the place, but for me, that was part of the excitement of reading. Once you understand the goal of the characters, it’s not that difficult to follow.

The characters themselves are so interesting, especially Cady, our MC. She is cantankerous and doesn’t care about anything and honestly, quite gross, somehow living on a diet of mostly alcohol and cigarettes. However, despite the general griminess of Cady, you will grow to love her!

The worldbuilding was fantastic, the places and history unfolding as we move along the journey. Much like our MC, the world is grimy and very alive, and even though I definitely don’t want to visit myself I could easily imagine being in the run-down towns and on the little steamboat chugging along the haunted and muddy river.

All in all I had a fantastic time reading this book and I genuinely cannot wait for the second installment. Thank you so much to @angryrobotbooks for providing me with an ARC and this gorgeous finished copy!