vjlp22_reader's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Murder, Cannibalism, and Death
maregred's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Grief, Toxic friendship, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Body horror, and Fire/Fire injury
iforgotilivedhere's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- 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
I’m really confused about this book. First of all, this should not of been marketed as adult. This is all the way YA. The characters didn’t feel really adult, they felt a lot like the typical YA characters that you see a lot in books like ToG and Shadow Hunters.
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!
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!
Content Warnings
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
msradiosilence's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
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? It's complicated
4.5
Tldr; Taesia is the best, and I’m really looking forward to book 2.
Read my full review at: https://www.rainyreader.com/single-post/the-city-of-dusk.
Read my full review at: https://www.rainyreader.com/single-post/the-city-of-dusk.
Content Warnings
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
rorikae's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- 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? Yes
4.5
'The City of Dusk' by Tara Sim is an engaging fantasy novel with great worldbuilding, political intrigue, and necromancy.
The story follows the heirs of four houses who each have their own powers and complicated relationships with one another. Taesia and her brother are dealing with discoveries and possible consequences. Angelica is dealing with learning the proper way to call forth her powers. Nik is hefting his family's expectations and a new responsibility. Risha is struggling to keep the others from coming to blows. With the tenuous relationships between their city and the gods in disarray and the question of succession causing friction between the houses, each of the heirs seek ways to save their city and keep their house afloat.
This story has a slow start but I think that really benefited the characters. Sim gives each character plenty of time within the story so that I felt I had a good grasp on each of the characters and their relationships before the full meat of the plot began to unfurl. The characters and relationships are the heart of this story and so it works really well to cement them strongly at the beginning. For readers looking for more excitement and plot, it definitely appears but only after we have a good understanding of the characters. By weaving in the worldbuilding with the characters, which is aided by them each being heir to different houses and having their own powers, we get to understand the world in a way that felt natural and not forced. There is a solid base layer of understanding that Sim continues to build on throughout the story, especially as characters begin to uncover previously unknown pieces of their world.
A lot is set up in this first book and it's clear that the story is headed for even more intense places (which is saying a lot as this book delves into many different topics). I'm excited to see where Sim takes the characters next and to learn even more about the world.
The story follows the heirs of four houses who each have their own powers and complicated relationships with one another. Taesia and her brother are dealing with discoveries and possible consequences. Angelica is dealing with learning the proper way to call forth her powers. Nik is hefting his family's expectations and a new responsibility. Risha is struggling to keep the others from coming to blows. With the tenuous relationships between their city and the gods in disarray and the question of succession causing friction between the houses, each of the heirs seek ways to save their city and keep their house afloat.
This story has a slow start but I think that really benefited the characters. Sim gives each character plenty of time within the story so that I felt I had a good grasp on each of the characters and their relationships before the full meat of the plot began to unfurl. The characters and relationships are the heart of this story and so it works really well to cement them strongly at the beginning. For readers looking for more excitement and plot, it definitely appears but only after we have a good understanding of the characters. By weaving in the worldbuilding with the characters, which is aided by them each being heir to different houses and having their own powers, we get to understand the world in a way that felt natural and not forced. There is a solid base layer of understanding that Sim continues to build on throughout the story, especially as characters begin to uncover previously unknown pieces of their world.
A lot is set up in this first book and it's clear that the story is headed for even more intense places (which is saying a lot as this book delves into many different topics). I'm excited to see where Sim takes the characters next and to learn even more about the world.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
anxiousnachos's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.25
The vibes in this book are absolutely IMMACULATE. Truly spectacular, I am here for the goth metal fantasy about death gods and shadow gods and skeletons and spirits and a bisexual rogue who slowly descends into an absolute monster of a human and the monster hunter she is kind of falling for and the knives-to-throat-hair-grabbing relationship they have. Spectacular. It is like this book was made for me.
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
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Cannibalism, Violence, Animal cruelty, Self harm, Gore, Blood, Animal death, and Grief
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Sexual content
_teoeo's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
3.75
All in all it was a good book!
Pros:
Pros:
- I loved the world building
- A lot of LGBTQ* and POC characters
- Taesia!!!!
- Liked the plottwists!!!
- The story was really interesting and I will totally read the second book
Cons:
- It took me reeeeaaaaallyyy long to read the book
- A lot of text on the pages, was a pain in my ass to read that
Spoiler
didn't liked the part where Angelica was at a brothel, thought that is problematic because it was portrayed as kind of normalised and there wasn't a word about the suffering that can be involved with prostitution- The last 100 pages there was a lot going on, that overwhelmed me a bit
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Addiction, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, and Self harm
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Suicide attempt
allisonwonderlandreads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- 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
The City of Dusk is an intricate political fantasy where four warring aristocratic families try to curry favor with the king and leverage their unique god-given magic for power and influence. Our main characters are the heirs and spares of these illustrious families, born into a world that is fading at an accelerated rate, cut off from the other realms and their magic. With all four families eyeing the crown, the youngest generation has more on their minds. Separately and together, they have ideas for how to save their world. But there is much they don't know about magic, about each other, and about other powerful forces on the move, all who would use them as pawns in a terrifying, high-stakes game.
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.
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.
Content Warnings
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
kilic's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- 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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Violence
caseythereader's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
slow-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
4.75
Thanks to Orbit Books for the free copy of this book.
- 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.
- 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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Grief, Kidnapping, Child death, Death, Gore, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence
Minor: Sexual content