It is through her eyes we see these strange births, often dead on arrival, for example, a baby born with an alligator head and a human body. Raule has landed an appointment as a town doctor in a church-run hospital, which has garnered her with a label as a witch doctor. Ashamoil is not the most happy-go lucky of towns you will come across in your readings, it has an open slave trade, waterways are infested with monstrous crocodiles and many of the pregnant women give birth to odd, carnival-esque stillbirths. Raule begrudgingly joins Gwynn on his journey to Ashamoil, a far away city, across the barren land. Raule is often uncomfortable in Gwynn’s presence, and with good reason – as a Gunslinger, Gwynn is a killer. Immediately, this begs a question – what sort of people are Raule and Gwynn? Are they “good guys,” are they “bad guys,” or are they simply two people with strong enough convictions to fight for what they believed in? With the focus on Gwynn and Raule throughout the novel, little focus is give to the Army of Heroes, and therefore an auspicious tone is set with Gwynn and Raule, especially Gwynn as the protagonist of this novel. Both served together on the losing side of a revolution, recently ended by the Army of Heroes. After being separated for quite a bit, Raule stumbles into Gwynn in a saloon while he is in the midst of a card game.

In the seemingly barren landscape of this novel, we are introduced to Raule the surgeon and Gwynn the gunslinger. The Etched City is a fairly packed novel, considering its page-count is just over 375 pages, and it does require more than mere skimming. These are some of the Big themes of life and in the pages of her enchanting first novel, she manages to cull them together as consistent and stimulating threads part of the larger conversation. Bishop brings to light many themes – love, death, theology, and art.

The etched city kj bishop