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mattiedancer's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Writing: 3⭐️/5
The writing was substantial, but not remarkable. It got the job done and didn’t get in the way of the storytelling, but it wasn’t the strongest part of my read. However, I do believe that the potential for stronger writing could be seen – little kernels of it, if you will – and so I look forward to future books by Schaeffer.
Characters: 3.75⭐️/5
I’m torn here because while the characters definitely pushed the story forward in areas, they also held it back in others. I wanted a bit more from the characters that wasn’t so focused on shock value. I mean, I love that the characters are vibrant and unique, but I wanted to know them deeper and more personally than that.
Plot: 4.25⭐️/5
Okay, so here’s why you should pick up this book: it’s a brilliant concept. I loved learning about the world and how unique the characters had to become in order to survive. I loved the worldbuilding, the substance of the story, and the driving force behind the characters. While certain moments were predictable, the world in which they were happening never was, which made old tropes feel gorgeous and fresh. I personally can’t wait for the next book, despite wanting more from this one. In a way, I think I may be grading it harder because I expect so much next time.
Who Should Read This Book?
- Those looking for a unique fantasy read
- Those who love unconventional worlds
- Fans of enemies to lovers
- Young adult readers who want a memorable world
Content Warnings?
- Death, murder, violence, blood, grief, injury, fire, confinement, toxic relationships,
Post-Reading Rating: 4.5⭐️/5
Very fun. Will read the next one.
Final Rating: 3.75⭐️/5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Gore, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Child death, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Minor: Trafficking, Car accident, and Body horror
lizgriffinwords's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
What a wild ride! Fans of Schwab’s This Savage Song duology or Marissa Meyer’s Renegades trilogy will find much to love here. In a corrupt city where gangsters reign and people transform into their own nightmares, our cowardly protagonist must face her past and her deepest fears.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Gore, Blood, and Death
Moderate: Child death and Death of parent
Minor: Gun violence
deadearbuds's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
i enjoyed this book because i love vampires who hate themselves.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Child death, Body horror, Death of parent, Violence, and Trafficking
hanna's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Schaeffer manages what so many YA authors before her have tried and failed to do: How do you make the loser kid without powers or training into the main character who's supposed to save the world? Easy, they're not going to save the world.
There's so many characters in this book who would've been better suited as a YA-saviour, there's Ness' best friend, Priya, whose biggest dream is fighting the Nightmares or the charming vampire Cy, who Ness is starting to like more and more. But we're stuck with Ness — and it's great!
It was so fun seeing her work around trying to do everything on her own. She makes other people work for her, put her info out into the world without risking too much herself. She's isolated, doesn't want anymore friends than she already has and where there's danger, she's already running away from it.
What I also loved was that all this "not like other people" business didn't at all turn into "not like other girls", which we often see with FMCs.
The world Schaeffer has creted is intriguing and offers enough potential for so many more books. The Nightmares, how they are created and why, all gets more and more mysterious and I'm so ready to see where this story takes us next!
The only thing that I didn't really like was the "explanation" that all nightmares retain their minds because that's a lot of murderous people running around and I just can't believe that all people who turn into non-humans want to go on killing sprees. Or maybe I'm just as naive as Ness 😉
There's so many characters in this book who would've been better suited as a YA-saviour, there's Ness' best friend, Priya, whose biggest dream is fighting the Nightmares or the charming vampire Cy, who Ness is starting to like more and more. But we're stuck with Ness — and it's great!
It was so fun seeing her work around trying to do everything on her own. She makes other people work for her, put her info out into the world without risking too much herself. She's isolated, doesn't want anymore friends than she already has and where there's danger, she's already running away from it.
What I also loved was that all this "not like other people" business didn't at all turn into "not like other girls", which we often see with FMCs.
The world Schaeffer has creted is intriguing and offers enough potential for so many more books. The Nightmares, how they are created and why, all gets more and more mysterious and I'm so ready to see where this story takes us next!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Violence, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Child abuse
Minor: Trafficking and Alcohol
lilifane's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
What a surprise read. I did not expect to enjoy this book as much as I did. It was such a quick and fun read, and I caught myself looking forward to continuing reading all the time. Almost gave it 4 stars just because of this positive reading experience.
But objectively, there are some flaws. Mainly the writing, I guess, it's not the strongest. It's on the simple side with lots of repetitions, not only certain recurring scenes and thoughts (which can be explained with the protagonist's mental state) but also words and phrases (which is a little more annoying).
My favorite part of the book was probably the anxiety representation. The protagonist has an anxiety disorder, and I think the author does a good job of showing how this can affect so many aspects of your every day life. How part of your brain knows there is probably no danger, but your body is still in hide/flight mode, and you can't do anything about it. But then maybe, in this specific world, the anxiety is actually warranted? Because there are random monster attacks, gang shootouts, people turning into literal monsters without warning, corruption so bad that you can end up in jail just because you didn't have enough money to bribe a random police officer passing you by. But then again, everyone just accepting this as normal and going about their day worked for me. I was enjoying the humor and lightheartedness of the narrative, they just took away from the atmosphere of the setting.
There were also some dialogues that felt a little forced and out of place. Yes, I do think that discussions about how media romanticizes toxic relationships is important, I just don't think the way it's done here is ideal. I really liked most of the dialogues and bonding moments between the characters, though. Was really rooting for Cy's and Ness' friendship development. And the discussion about how lonely and isolated you can feel because of trauma, trust issues and anxiety hit a little too close to home.
But objectively, there are some flaws. Mainly the writing, I guess, it's not the strongest. It's on the simple side with lots of repetitions, not only certain recurring scenes and thoughts (which can be explained with the protagonist's mental state) but also words and phrases (which is a little more annoying).
My favorite part of the book was probably the anxiety representation. The protagonist has an anxiety disorder, and I think the author does a good job of showing how this can affect so many aspects of your every day life. How part of your brain knows there is probably no danger, but your body is still in hide/flight mode, and you can't do anything about it. But then maybe, in this specific world, the anxiety is actually warranted? Because there are random monster attacks, gang shootouts, people turning into literal monsters without warning, corruption so bad that you can end up in jail just because you didn't have enough money to bribe a random police officer passing you by. But then again, everyone just accepting this as normal and going about their day worked for me. I was enjoying the humor and lightheartedness of the narrative, they just took away from the atmosphere of the setting.
There were also some dialogues that felt a little forced and out of place. Yes, I do think that discussions about how media romanticizes toxic relationships is important, I just don't think the way it's done here is ideal. I really liked most of the dialogues and bonding moments between the characters, though. Was really rooting for Cy's and Ness' friendship development. And the discussion about how lonely and isolated you can feel because of trauma, trust issues and anxiety hit a little too close to home.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Blood, Grief, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Confinement
Minor: Police brutality and Trafficking
azrah786's review against another edition
2.5
**I was provided with an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**
CW: violence, gun violence, blood, injury, gore, body horror, murder, death, death of parent, child death, grief, police brutality, animal cruelty, kidnapping, panic attacks/disorders
--
Despite the promising initial concepts and the Gotham vibes of the setting I did not enjoy this one. I feel like this story had so much potential but for me the primary plotline just bored me to tears.
I think a lot of this comes down to the protagonist. Now there are times when books have leading protagonists who aren’t the “chosen one” or have anything special going on that have been written really well but I sadly didn’t find that to be the case here. Ness very much felt like a side character in her own story to me throughout the whole book, nothing about her journey ever stood out and just felt very minor in the whole scope of things especially when there are more interesting things occurring in the background.
I managed to push through because I wanted to see who was behind some of the more unknown elements of these background plot points but the story never fully followed these other elements.
Ness’s perspective just felt very repetitive and it got tedious fast and I also found literally every supporting character to be more interesting than her. The relationships that formed between the characters were well written but I don’t think they were given enough room to grow.
So it’s safe to say I won’t be picking up the sequel.
Final Rating – 2.5/5 Stars
CW: violence, gun violence, blood, injury, gore, body horror, murder, death, death of parent, child death, grief, police brutality, animal cruelty, kidnapping, panic attacks/disorders
--
Despite the promising initial concepts and the Gotham vibes of the setting I did not enjoy this one. I feel like this story had so much potential but for me the primary plotline just bored me to tears.
I think a lot of this comes down to the protagonist. Now there are times when books have leading protagonists who aren’t the “chosen one” or have anything special going on that have been written really well but I sadly didn’t find that to be the case here. Ness very much felt like a side character in her own story to me throughout the whole book, nothing about her journey ever stood out and just felt very minor in the whole scope of things especially when there are more interesting things occurring in the background.
I managed to push through because I wanted to see who was behind some of the more unknown elements of these background plot points but the story never fully followed these other elements.
Ness’s perspective just felt very repetitive and it got tedious fast and I also found literally every supporting character to be more interesting than her. The relationships that formed between the characters were well written but I don’t think they were given enough room to grow.
So it’s safe to say I won’t be picking up the sequel.
Final Rating – 2.5/5 Stars
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Body horror, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, Kidnapping, Blood, Gore, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Death of parent, and Gun violence
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Police brutality
kirstenf's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Violence, Death of parent, Child death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Blood
Moderate: Alcohol, Cannibalism, Animal death, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Kidnapping and Police brutality
goldkatze's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Police brutality, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence
Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Body horror, Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Violence
snowwhitehatesapples's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Also on Snow White Hates Apples.
If you think dreaming about your worst nightmare is frightening enough, what about actually becoming it?
City of Nightmares is the place where this happens and to prevent it from happening, the people have to drink water laced with dream-prevention drugs or pop those pills directly into their mouths. Alcohol is also banned because it messes with the effectiveness of the drugs — but, of course, humans aren’t infallible. As such, new human-turned-nightmares do appear every so often and those with enough humanity in them are left to walk among the humans, creating a new world where vampires, anthropomorphic creatures, pterodactyls, dragons and such are the norm.
Our main character is Ness who, as a child, witnessed her sister turn into a giant spider that ate their father while she hid in a nearby cupboard. This, understandably, messes her up so much that she develops a phobia of nightmares. However, with nowhere to go, she ends up working for Friends of the Restful Soul, a society that helps others recover from nightmare trauma, and somehow, gets tangled in a series of events where she uncovers a web of lies and befriends the not-like-other-vampires cute guy called Cy.
What stood out most to me in City of Nightmares was the friendship, though there were aspects that could’ve been better done. For instance, the interactions were very hit-or-miss. Some dialogue felt really unnatural or stiff, and it didn’t help that the prose reads very young. A reviewer said it read like an early teenager’s fanfic published on Wattpad and I can’t help but to agree because that’s the most apt way to describe the writing.
Additionally, in comparison to the friendship Ness has with Cy, the one Ness has with Priya felt decorative after a few chapters. Don’t get me wrong, I like all three of these characters. It’s just that despite the strong intro Priya has, she later fades away to make room for Ness and Cy. On one hand, this makes sense as there are many different types of friendships, plus Priya can’t really just drop her whole life to play detective with Ness and Cy. But, on the other hand, I can’t help wishing they formed a balanced trio. Still, I did enjoy Ness’ growth as a character as her friendship with Cy progressed.
Other than that, the story was average. As incredible as the premise is, the execution of the story brought City of Nightmares down. Juvenile writing aside, the plot was too convenient and events happened as expected. Nothing phased or amazed me, though it was a fun junk food-like read.
If you think dreaming about your worst nightmare is frightening enough, what about actually becoming it?
City of Nightmares is the place where this happens and to prevent it from happening, the people have to drink water laced with dream-prevention drugs or pop those pills directly into their mouths. Alcohol is also banned because it messes with the effectiveness of the drugs — but, of course, humans aren’t infallible. As such, new human-turned-nightmares do appear every so often and those with enough humanity in them are left to walk among the humans, creating a new world where vampires, anthropomorphic creatures, pterodactyls, dragons and such are the norm.
Our main character is Ness who, as a child, witnessed her sister turn into a giant spider that ate their father while she hid in a nearby cupboard. This, understandably, messes her up so much that she develops a phobia of nightmares. However, with nowhere to go, she ends up working for Friends of the Restful Soul, a society that helps others recover from nightmare trauma, and somehow, gets tangled in a series of events where she uncovers a web of lies and befriends the not-like-other-vampires cute guy called Cy.
What stood out most to me in City of Nightmares was the friendship, though there were aspects that could’ve been better done. For instance, the interactions were very hit-or-miss. Some dialogue felt really unnatural or stiff, and it didn’t help that the prose reads very young. A reviewer said it read like an early teenager’s fanfic published on Wattpad and I can’t help but to agree because that’s the most apt way to describe the writing.
Additionally, in comparison to the friendship Ness has with Cy, the one Ness has with Priya felt decorative after a few chapters. Don’t get me wrong, I like all three of these characters. It’s just that despite the strong intro Priya has, she later fades away to make room for Ness and Cy. On one hand, this makes sense as there are many different types of friendships, plus Priya can’t really just drop her whole life to play detective with Ness and Cy. But, on the other hand, I can’t help wishing they formed a balanced trio. Still, I did enjoy Ness’ growth as a character as her friendship with Cy progressed.
Other than that, the story was average. As incredible as the premise is, the execution of the story brought City of Nightmares down. Juvenile writing aside, the plot was too convenient and events happened as expected. Nothing phased or amazed me, though it was a fun junk food-like read.
Thank you so much Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for providing me a copy of this in exchange for an honest review!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence
Minor: Blood, Child death, Death, and Trafficking
kris386's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, and Violence
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder
Minor: Trafficking, Abandonment, and Alcohol