cassie_ellie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.5
Graphic: Self harm, Domestic abuse, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Xenophobia
iforgotilivedhere's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Second, I had a really hard time with some of them. I kinda hated Angelica especially after what she did near the end with Eran. Taesia was interesting sometimes but her “snarky” comments kinda just blew it out of proportion sometimes. I could not stand her sometimes because of how dedicated Sim was to making Taesia be so badass. Sim tried so hard but it just didn’t work out sometimes. Sometimes Taesia really did feel like a interesting character! Nikolas, I love him. He deserves the world. Julian was also really good. At the beginning of the book I could care less about Risha but in the middle of the book I really started to actually find her generally interesting. She’s a good character!
Graphic: Cannibalism, Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, Mental illness, Gore, Cursing, Xenophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Self harm, Murder, Abandonment, Violence, Physical abuse, Grief, Child death, Body horror, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Death, and Classism
i_write_on_occasion's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Cannibalism
Moderate: Sexual content, Murder, and Gore
Minor: Animal death, Child death, and Death of parent
booksthatburn's review against another edition
I think I’m having trouble because of the size of the cast. It starts out with four main characters (with one more important one who isn’t a POV character) and then adds another one. They’re all in the same city and there’s a degree of redundancy as one character learns something and then one or two others figure it out separately. Whatever the reason, I’m not enjoying it and I’m stopping.
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Racism, Blood, Xenophobia, Animal death, Kidnapping, Violence, Medical content, Chronic illness, and Death
Minor: Child death, Self harm, Police brutality, Death of parent, and Alcohol
msradiosilence's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Read my full review at: https://www.rainyreader.com/single-post/the-city-of-dusk.
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Cursing, Racism, Police brutality, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Blood, Cannibalism, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Murder, Physical abuse, and Toxic friendship
anxiousnachos's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.25
But the first 150-200 pages are so dense. The worldbuilding is so heavy, in that “I need to explicitly and directly tell the reader all these things about the world” way. It’s such a complex and dense set up, and thus the pacing is very slow and I agree with other reviewers that this could easily have been cut 100 pages and the pacing would have flowed a lot better.
In saying that, I say push the fuck through because the pay off is excellent, the characters and their relationships are wonderful and I support bisexual shadow dagger-wielding monster girls who want to tear the world apart and the boys they fancy.
Content warnings: blood and gore, murder, dead bodies, cannibalism, self-harm, burns/burn injury, animal cruelty and torture, animal death, possession, sex, sex work, violence
Graphic: Murder, Cannibalism, Violence, Animal cruelty, Self harm, Gore, Blood, Animal death, and Grief
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Sexual content
allisonwonderlandreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
What I enjoyed most about this book were the twists and turns, the queer cast, and the reflections on power and privilege. While the relationships were a bit surface level and trope-y for my tastes (especially the romantic plots were predictable and rushed), the political power games were fascinating and kept many surprises until the very end. In terms of queer representation, there are both sapphic and mlm romances brewing among the main cast at the end of this first installment, and an important side character is a trans girl. There is also an established sapphic couple as one of the main character's mom and stepmom. It seems to be a queer-norm society. I appreciated how the characters struggle throughout the book to come to terms with their own power in a magical and political sense. They have to consider their duty, the future of their world, and what role they should play in it. They also have to consider what greater powers are meddling in their lives and those of everyone, powers that perhaps shouldn't be revered once viewed in a more honest light.
Beyond relationships that took a back seat to plot, the main deterrent keeping me from being fully immersed in this story was the drawn-out pacing. I lost motivation at several points throughout because I felt sluggish moving through the plot. I think it's always a risk having a book this long, and it takes a special connection between reader and book to keep interest up throughout. That didn't happen for me here, but I still found a lot to admire and enjoy.
Graphic: Cannibalism, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Body horror, Grief, Gore, Self harm, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Blood, Classism, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Sexual content, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Police brutality, Animal death, and Confinement
caseythereader's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
- Y'all, I loved THE CITY OF DUSK! I was nervous because it's been awhile since I've read a 500+ page fantasy novel and my concentration has been shot recently, but I could not put it down.
- The world of this book is quite complex, and only keeps gaining layers as the heirs learn more about themselves, history is uncovered, people are double crossed, and more, so do know that going in.
- Each of the heirs was messy and headstrong in their own ways, and I loved and rooted for them all, even when they were at odds with each other.
- This is also a lowkey queernorm world. Everyone was at least a little queer, but it doesn't matter to anyone and it's great.
- All that said, I do think this will probably be a divisive book, given that it's so long and complicated, possibly a bit overstuffed, and yes, some plot developments do get confusing at times. I'm all in, though.
Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Grief, Kidnapping, Child death, Death, Gore, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence
Minor: Sexual content
grimdark_dad's review against another edition
- 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
4.25
Moderate: Cannibalism, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Classism, Blood, Grief, Self harm, Terminal illness, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Sexual content