Lacking Natural Simplicity

City of Bones, by Martha Wells; Tor, 1995. This tale is set in an interesting post holocaust world (almost certainly not our own) where Charisat, the Imperial city, rules a collection of city-states on the edge of a great desert waste waste that was once a sea. It has a number of interesting characters, a sense that there is more to the world than this one story revealed (a good thing), and does not end the easy way. It is an enjoyable fantasy that is not derived from any of the obvious sources; well worth reading.