REVIEW: The Last Smile in Sunder City by Luke Arnold

I picked up The Last Smile in Sunder City in an odd mood, unsure of what I wanted to read but knowing that I wanted something witty and fantastical. Happily, this book ended up being just the thing – Luke Arnold’s debut fantasy novel is a delight that will grab your heart and pick your pocket for good measure.

Luke Arnold

Its hero (or anti-hero, if you were to ask him) is Fetch Phillips, a mercenary man-for-hire and a miserable drunk. He also happens to be responsible for the Coda, a catastrophic event that wiped out all traces of magic in the land of Sunderia and maimed its vast population of magical creatures. Fetch is hoping to find a case that might allow him to finally do some good, but when he’s called in to investigate the disappearance of a 300-year-old vampire, he finds himself diving deep into a viper’s nest of corruption that strays just a bit too close to his own checkered past.

Make no mistake, The Last Smile in Sunder City is no high fantasy epic, but a gutsy mix of magic and mystery that’s immensely readable. Luke Arnold’s acting background (he played Michael Hutchence in INXS: Never Tear Us Apart and “Long” John Silver in Black Sails) lends itself to a narrative voice that’s wry and engaging. It’s the perfect companion to take the reader through the rough and tumble streets of Sunder City, and this town is a fantasy writer’s worldbuilding dream – think Terry Pratchett’s Ankh-Morpork meets New York in the ‘70s. From its weird infrastructure and the corrupt bureaucracy it thrives on to the ways in which its inhabitants clash as they try to adapt to a life without magic, Sunder City offers readers a veritable treasure trove of detail. The level of detail given often verges on excessive, but there’s just something hilariously satisfying about knowing that a Gryphon steak is considered a controversial cut of meat or that vampires now have to wear fanged dentures because their teeth fell out after the Coda. More importantly, though, it does a wonderful job of portraying a world fractured beyond repair, showing just how much damage Fetch Phillips has done to it and how much he has to do to even try and make amends.

It’s an impressive feat of worldbuilding to be sure, but The Last Smile in Sunder City is at its best when it’s grappling with its anti-hero. At first, Fetch comes across as a familiar fantasy archetype – the hardboiled rough bastard with a heart that’s verging on gold – but his all-consuming guilt drives the plot and gives him an emotional complexity that’s both interesting and endearing. Arnold also does a stellar job of showing how impressionable young men can be taken in by a big shiny cause that promises them the world but makes them lose sight of the fact that good, meaningful change often comes with baby steps. It’s timely and just heartwarming enough, but never corny.

Needless to say, I’ll be following Fetch into whichever adventure comes next.

The Last Smile in Sunder City

by Luke Arnold

I'm Fetch Phillips, just like it says on the window. There are a few things you should know before you hire me:

1. Sobriety costs extra.
2. My services are confidential - the cops can never make me talk.
3. I don't work for humans.

It's nothing personal - I'm human myself. But after what happened, Humans don't need my help. Not like every other creature who had the magic ripped out of them when the Coda came...

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Olivia Fricot

Olivia Fricot (she/her) is Booktopia's Senior Content Producer and editor of the Booktopian blog. She has too many plants and not enough bookshelves, and you can usually find her reading, baking, or talking to said plants. She is pro-Oxford comma.

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