The Etched City – K.J. Bishop (2003)

This one reads like The Road met Moulin Rouge in a fever dream. Two ex-revolutionaries flee into a city of smoke, sin, and surrealism. There’s art that bleeds, guns that sing, and philosophy thick enough to choke on — all written in prose that feels carved from marble and whiskey.

It’s a one-book cult religion at this point — equal parts brutal and transcendent. For readers who want beauty and decay served in the same glass.

Rating: 5 / 5