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  1. Entertainment

Babylon Steel by Gaie Sebold - Book Review

Whore with a heart

Reviews
By sfx published 30 December 2011

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Why you can trust GamesRadar+ Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.

Whore with a heart

This is the kind of book one could easily hate: sassy broads, were-creatures, loveable prostitutes… Babylon Steel is vampire chick-lit transported from an urban to a high fantasy setting, minus the bloodsuckers.

Good for us, then, that Sebold has a flair for storytelling. Her world is a cross-planes affair whose main setting is an interdimensional crossroads. It might be all sparkly wish-fulfilment on the surface, but it has a believable seaminess, while its tough lead has plenty of good reasons to be the way she is.

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When Babylon – ex-warrior and brothel madam – is asked to look for a missing girl she’s drawn into a world of bother. Fun and fast, you’ll enjoy this if you appreciate the better end of female-friendly fantasy.

James Gerard

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SFX Magazine is the world's number one sci-fi, fantasy, and horror magazine published by Future PLC. Established in 1995, SFX Magazine prides itself on writing for its fans, welcoming geeks, collectors, and aficionados into its readership for over 25 years. Covering films, TV shows, books, comics, games, merch, and more, SFX Magazine is published every month. If you love it, chances are we do too and you'll find it in SFX.

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