“Liz Williams’ Worldsoul hits the ground fast and comes up running. The first in a planned trilogy, the book is a natural progression from Williams’ Detective-Inspector Chen novels. In those, what started as a mashup between classical Chinese mythology and urban noir rapidly expanded its cosmology, gleefully mashing up Chinese, Indian and other elements into a single creative stew.

Here, Williams starts with the mashup already in place. The city, Worldsoul, is the center of creation (more or less) in a cosmology where stories have power and a reality all their own, and being a Librarian is one of the trickiest jobs there is. The city’s derived from Earth but not of it, and its Quarters reflect various aspects of Earth cultural tradition. The North Quarter, for example, harkens back to Scandinavian culture and myth, while the Eastern is overseen by the mysterious Suleiman and draws its flavor from Middle Eastern roots.”

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