Adrian Tchaikovsky is one of my current favorite authors - Children of Time is one of my favorite science-fiction books of all time, and I still find myself thinking of Elder Race and Dogs of War years after I finished them. His standalone novels have always been a bit of a mixed bag though, and I wasn't quite sure what to expect going in to Green City Wars.
This was such a fun book that might be my new favorite of Tchaikovsky's standalone works. Skotch was a fantastic protagonist, I really loved the way Tchaikovsky incorporated his natural raccoon instincts into the mannerisms of a classic noir protagonist. The way that all the different animal factions and gangs interacted with the city and each other was really well thought-out, and I liked the grittier and darker take on what a solarpunk-type setting would look like with a less idealized view of humanity.
This struck a very nice balance tonally, being dark and pessimistic while also a fun "talking animals" story. Tchaikovsky threads that needle amazingly well here - I had felt let down by his earlier standalone Service Model for being too much on the silly side, but the balance here was exactly where I was hoping it would be. This is definitely one I expect I'll come back to again in the future, and I would love to see Tchaikovsky tell a few more stories in this world.
Thanks to MacMillian Audio for the advance copy via Netgalley in exchange for my thoughts.