Black City Saint

by Richard A. Knaak

Overview

For more than sixteen hundred years, Nick Medea has followed and guarded the Gate that keeps the mortal realm and that of Feirie separate, seeking in vain absolution for the fatal errors he made when he slew the dragon. All that while, he has tried and failed to keep the woman he loves from dying over and over. Yet in the fifty years since the Night the Dragon Breathed over the city of Chicago, the Gate has not only remained fixed, but open to the trespasses of the Wyld, the darkest of the Feiriefolk. Not only does that mean an evil resurrected from Nick’s own past, but the reincarnation of his lost Cleolinda, a reincarnation destined once more to die. Nick must turn inward to that which he distrusts the most: the Dragon, the beast he slew when he was still only Saint George. He must turn to the monster residing in him, now a part of him...but ever seeking escape. The gang war brewing between Prohibition bootleggers may be the least of his concerns. If Nick cannot prevent an old evil from opening the way between realms...then not only might Chicago face a fate worse than the Great Fire, but so will the rest of the mortal realm.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781633881365
Publisher:	Pyr
Publication date:	03/01/2016
Pages:	377
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.10(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Richard A. Knaak is the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of The Legend of Huma, World of Warcraft: Wolfheart, and nearly fifty other novels and numerous short stories, including “Black City Saint” and works in such series as Warcraft, Diablo, Dragonlance, Age of Conan, and his own Dragonrealm. He has scripted a number of Warcraft manga with Tokyopop, such as the top-selling Sunwell trilogy, and has also written background material for games. His works have been published worldwide in many languages. His most recent releases include Shade—a brand-new Dragonrealm novel featuring the tragic sorcerer—Dawn of the Aspects—the latest in the bestselling World of Warcraft series, and the fourth collection in his Legends of the Dragonrealm series. He is presently at work on several other projects.

Editorial Reviews

01/11/2016
In Knaak’s entertaining urban fantasy, set in Chicago about 50 years after the Great Fire, Nick Medea, aka Saint George, guards the Gate between the human world and the land of Feirie and does some ghostbusting on the side. When Nick meets Claryce Simone, the most recent incarnation of his long-ago love Cleolinda, she leads him to William Delke, a powerful man who is much more than he seems. Soon Nick is dodging Delke’s goons and creepy creatures from the realm called the Wyld while trying to keep the Gate from collapsing altogether. The 1920s Chicago setting is nifty, and it’s hard not to like Nick. This capable hero shares his body and consciousness with a dragon he slew centuries ago, whose powers he can call on. Nick’s shape-shifter sidekick, Fetch, is irresistible, but Claryce doesn’t do much more than follow Nick around, and her insistence that she come along coupled with her passivity once she’s included makes her more annoying than compelling. Nonetheless, Nick’s adventures are fast-paced and fun, and urban fantasy fans will enjoy the inventive setting. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

Black City Saint is first-rate urban fantasy. Richard A. Knaak has mixed myth with real-world history to create a fast-paced, unpredictable story filled with intriguing characters, terrifying monsters, and sinister magic. Readers in search of the next Harry Dresden should join Nick Medea on what is sure to be the first of many adventures.”

—Richard Lee Byers, author of The Reaver, Blind God’s Bluff, and Dissolution

 
“I LOVE this book! Black City Saint is a delightfully creepy and at the same time jaunty urban fantasy, a wild ride through Chicago of the gangster era in which the pace never flags, the stakes get ever higher, and the reader gets to spend time with a truly engaging, intriguing bunch of characters that I for one want to spend more time with. So, sequels please? I’m prepared to beg!”

—Ed Greenwood, creator of the Forgotten Realms®

 
“There’s a lot to digest in this fast-paced, unpredictable world with a surprisingly well-developed cast of characters, including a lovable shapeshifter, an honest detective in a dishonest city, feirie royalty, and a kelpie made of Lake Michigan waters. Because of many resemblances to Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files, urban fantasy fans will be hoping for more from Nick Medea.”
—Booklist             


“Black City Saint is jam-packed with awesome -- cursed Roman emperors, incorporeal dragons, paranormal detectives, a shapeshifter from the Feirie realm trapped inside a dog's body, and one very tormented unsaintly Christian saint -- all set in prohibition-era Chicago. Knaak's latest is fast-paced and funny, frightening and more than a little fiendish, a brilliant mash-up of Ghostbusters, The Da Vinci Code, and the ancient story of St. George and the Dragon.”

—Brian Staveley author of The Emperor's Blades

 
“From the first page of Black City Saint to the last, you know you’re in the hands of a creative and expert storyteller. From setting the scenes to populating them with interesting and believable characters, Richard Knaak knows his stuff.”
 
—Mike Resnick, Hugo Award–winning author of The Prison in Antares

From the Publisher

02/15/2016
Nick Medea guards the gate between the human world and the Feirie realm; his constant internal companion is the dragon he slew centuries before when he was St. George (yes, that dragon of medieval legend). A curse has left the essence of the dragon living inside him, struggling to get free and take control of the body they share. Nick works in Prohibition-era Chicago these days as a kind of supernatural PI, taking care of any creatures that breach the gate from Feirie. New client Claryce poses an unexpected problem for Nick—not only is she a reincarnation of a former love whom Nick has lost throughout the centuries, but her case heralds an escalation of a war in Feirie that could spill into our reality. VERDICT It seems the Jazz Age is quite popular these days (see Lee Kelly's A Criminal Magic and Victor LaValle's The Ballad of Black Tom, reviewed below). Knaak is best known for video game tie-in fiction, and while Nick is compelling, the rest of the characters are more two-dimensional. The world and relationships of Feirie are sketched in, and the pacing slumps among action sequences, wasting a colorful setting.—MM

Library Journal

2015-12-10
A legendary figure-turned-paranormal investigator protects Prohibition-era Chicago against otherworldly influences in the first of a series by an author best known for his epic fantasy (The Horned Blade, 2015). Sixteen hundred years ago, Georgius, a soldier in the Roman emperor Diocletian's army, slew the dragon charged with guarding the Gate separating our world from Feirie. After the emperor executed Georgius, aka St. George, for refusing to repudiate his Christianity, heaven returned George—now housing the spirit of the resentful dragon—to life and made him Gatekeeper. In the 1920s, Georgius, now calling himself Nick Medea, lives in Chicago and fends off Feirie incursions. As Oberon, former Feirie ruler, prepares to merge the two realities, Nick must combat the sinister plot while fighting his feelings for Claryce Simone, the latest incarnation of his much-reincarnated beloved, Princess Cleolinda. The market is flooded with urban fantasy noirs starring investigators with tortured pasts, burdened with a destiny and knowledge of the supernatural that they must hide from the mundanes. The usual coping mechanisms are heavy doses of snark and cynical humor. Nick breaks this mold by being a gloomy, pompous buzzkill. His relationship with Claryce is rather thinly drawn; we don't know anything about Cleolinda other than that he loved her and she dies a lot. Nick also makes a point of saying that he's falling for Claryce for herself, not for her previous selves, but Claryce is such a flat character (we know she's brave, persistent, and a good shot, but she still barely registers) that it's hard for the reader to share Nick's perspective. The time period and location should add color to the story, but mostly they serve as a source of cookie-cutter mob thugs to menace Nick and his friends. Melodramatic and forgettable.

Kirkus Reviews