just_a_black_boy's review against another edition
5.0
God is REAL and he gave us this absolute gem of a book. I read through it in one go and will feel forever blessed
friendofhayley's review
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
I liked the story and I want to know what happens next. But also I feel like the majority of the characters (except the dark elves) were boring and just made the story slog. Won't be reading the next books.
sam_ash_smash's review
3.0
I was skeptical up until about 75% in, but City of Strife came together in the end. If I was ranking this book merely on queer representation - it would get 4 stars. Many of the characters are queer, and while that is great, in some cases, it felt forced. The setting of this book is a magical city that is pre-industrial in terms of technological and societal development. When characters use modern terms for their orientation (and also in general modern slang, mentioned of nerves and signals, electricity instead of lightening) it was jarring to me. For instance: "They never caught her after that day, and her occasional interest in men helped alleviate suspicions. Bisexuality had its advantages." It would have felt more natural to me if the second sentence had been left off. If the setting had been more technologically advanced, it would have been fine. However, some readers might be quite happy to have bisexuality actually mentioned by name. I think the readers who will get the most enjoyment out of City of Strife are the ones who value having representation and diversity in their literature more than quality.
That sounds harsh, but overall the writing was clumsy. Probably over-ambitious for the author. There were a lot of characters, several plot lines (I don't think I could call one of them the main plot) and a very slow build-up. I was not invested up until the end, and even then, I was only invested in one character. And that is not great. So many of the characters felt childish, their emotions flared hot and fast, they lacked foresight and insight into others. They didn't act and react realistically. It felt staged. I also felt that City of Strife would have worked better for me as a graphic novel. It had an over the top emotionality that I associate with a more visual media. I also think the setting would have been better represented visually. It's set in a city of towers, but I didn't really get a sense of that until towards the end when the bridges between the towers became important.
The grammar itself was also a bit off. But, the author's note at the end, indicates that French is her preferred language. It is my understanding that this book is indie, not self-published. I would have expected that an editor would have caught these oddities. Phrases like, "the design of his High Priest outfit allowed air to flow through", "The higher half also clung to her skin and revealed some cleavage" are not technically incorrect, but awkward and could have been improved with some simple tweaking. Sometimes the meaning of the sentence was changed by incorrect grammar. "Relieving warmth spread through her." was actually meant to mean something like "relief drove the cold from her body" but instead implies that the becoming warm caused the relief. I'm no writer and I'm definitely not an expert at grammar, so if I notice something, it should have been caught by an editor.
I am going to read the second book. Mostly because this one ends on a bit of cliffhanger, but also because I'm hoping the second book will carry through the feel of the last 25% of this one.
That sounds harsh, but overall the writing was clumsy. Probably over-ambitious for the author. There were a lot of characters, several plot lines (I don't think I could call one of them the main plot) and a very slow build-up. I was not invested up until the end, and even then, I was only invested in one character. And that is not great. So many of the characters felt childish, their emotions flared hot and fast, they lacked foresight and insight into others. They didn't act and react realistically. It felt staged. I also felt that City of Strife would have worked better for me as a graphic novel. It had an over the top emotionality that I associate with a more visual media. I also think the setting would have been better represented visually. It's set in a city of towers, but I didn't really get a sense of that until towards the end when the bridges between the towers became important.
The grammar itself was also a bit off. But, the author's note at the end, indicates that French is her preferred language. It is my understanding that this book is indie, not self-published. I would have expected that an editor would have caught these oddities. Phrases like, "the design of his High Priest outfit allowed air to flow through", "The higher half also clung to her skin and revealed some cleavage" are not technically incorrect, but awkward and could have been improved with some simple tweaking. Sometimes the meaning of the sentence was changed by incorrect grammar. "Relieving warmth spread through her." was actually meant to mean something like "relief drove the cold from her body" but instead implies that the becoming warm caused the relief. I'm no writer and I'm definitely not an expert at grammar, so if I notice something, it should have been caught by an editor.
I am going to read the second book. Mostly because this one ends on a bit of cliffhanger, but also because I'm hoping the second book will carry through the feel of the last 25% of this one.
pantaruja's review against another edition
2.0
A book about some good characters sacrificing for mediocre characters. I don’t want to give a star rating because mi BFF loves it a lot and I don’t want to hurt her feelings, but there were just two good things that I liked in this book. The first one being the diverse representation and the second the presence of Branwen, Cal and Varden.
The plot is non-existent at times and a mess at others. Absolutely nothing happens until maybe the 60% of the book. I supposed this was because the author wanted to make the characters presentations but, in my opinion, not even this was well done because I didn’t care for any of the main (except Varden). I hated the majority of them, especially that Navian or whatever horrible egoistical kid whom we had to like because everyone, ABSOLUTELY EVERYONE, adored him and I was reading like “why is everyone sacrificing their safety for this absolutely shitty brat!?”. I wanted him to die when that thing happened, yes. And let’s not talk about the other horrible, egoistical serial killer Hasryan. Really one of the most self-centered characters I’ve ever read about. I cannot stand them. And the only hint of a plot we get is that everyone has to sacrifice their safety to protect/safe those two characters!!!! I would’ve liked the book if it was about Varden, Cal or Branwen. But it was not. They were just there so that people would treat them like shit, abuse them, take advantage of their goodness and then continue to abuse them without giving them gratitude and you know what? I’m not one that enjoys genuinely generous characters being abused to protect others characters’ safety. It didn’t even serve to develop the others characters’ personalities. I mean, they had none apart from being egoistical shits.
Another thing about the characters is that, coincidentally, the difference between the women and men was astounding. Not a single female character was important. I liked Branwen, but she was not important in the least and her aunt just serve to save that serial killer. And then what did we had? Let’s make a list:
• The racist egoistical brat.
• The racist cop.
• The racist teacher. Who also said a thing similar to “It was horrible to let that man sexually abuse her, especially because she didn’t like men”. Like… is this even a thing? It’s especially bad to sexually abuse women when they are lesbians!? Does that make it less horrible if a woman likes men!!!? DID I REALLY READ THAT IN A PUBLISHED BOOK!!!!? REALLY!!!!?
• The racist boss.
And that’s it for the women.
OK. There was not a good plot and the characters were in their majority horrible, but was there a good world building? I don’t think so. There was a really really really bad country where it was practiced slavery and everyone there was super bad people and another were there were good and bad nobles that had to resist the bads but money. That was it. Oh, and two Gods who made one fire and the other good luck. And there were elves. I’m sorry but that’s not enough for me when the rest is also lacking.
Well, BFF, I’m sorry I didn’t like it.
The plot is non-existent at times and a mess at others. Absolutely nothing happens until maybe the 60% of the book. I supposed this was because the author wanted to make the characters presentations but, in my opinion, not even this was well done because I didn’t care for any of the main (except Varden). I hated the majority of them, especially that Navian or whatever horrible egoistical kid whom we had to like because everyone, ABSOLUTELY EVERYONE, adored him and I was reading like “why is everyone sacrificing their safety for this absolutely shitty brat!?”. I wanted him to die when that thing happened, yes. And let’s not talk about the other horrible, egoistical serial killer Hasryan. Really one of the most self-centered characters I’ve ever read about. I cannot stand them. And the only hint of a plot we get is that everyone has to sacrifice their safety to protect/safe those two characters!!!! I would’ve liked the book if it was about Varden, Cal or Branwen. But it was not. They were just there so that people would treat them like shit, abuse them, take advantage of their goodness and then continue to abuse them without giving them gratitude and you know what? I’m not one that enjoys genuinely generous characters being abused to protect others characters’ safety.
Spoiler
At the end I was expecting that shit Hasryan to kill the good lady Camilla because, of course, everyone deserved to die except him and Navian Nevian whatever without calling out their bullshit. Because he was imprisoned because of racism, right? Not that he was actually a serial killer…Another thing about the characters is that, coincidentally, the difference between the women and men was astounding. Not a single female character was important. I liked Branwen, but she was not important in the least and her aunt just serve to save that serial killer. And then what did we had? Let’s make a list:
• The racist egoistical brat.
• The racist cop.
• The racist teacher. Who also said a thing similar to “It was horrible to let that man sexually abuse her, especially because she didn’t like men”. Like… is this even a thing? It’s especially bad to sexually abuse women when they are lesbians!? Does that make it less horrible if a woman likes men!!!? DID I REALLY READ THAT IN A PUBLISHED BOOK!!!!? REALLY!!!!?
• The racist boss.
And that’s it for the women.
OK. There was not a good plot and the characters were in their majority horrible, but was there a good world building? I don’t think so. There was a really really really bad country where it was practiced slavery and everyone there was super bad people and another were there were good and bad nobles that had to resist the bads but money. That was it. Oh, and two Gods who made one fire and the other good luck. And there were elves. I’m sorry but that’s not enough for me when the rest is also lacking.
Well, BFF, I’m sorry I didn’t like it.
mad_taylh's review
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
4.75
"What else did he have, if not himself? He refused to surrender it, to let anyone twist it.'
ohnevermindme's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
1.0
kaa's review against another edition
5.0
This is a wonderfully queer book laden with politics and conversations about power, privilege, and what it takes to be a good person - but also filled with action and danger. I was in a constant state of anxiety about the well-being of my favorite characters (which was most of them, actually), and the obstacles facing them often seemed overwhelming. The book ends without resolving most of this tension - but that's all right, because I already have the next book!
adragoninspace's review against another edition
4.0
[Actual rating : 4,5/5]
I decided to buy and read this book after finding out it was from the person who had created the Aromantic or Asexual Speculative Fiction Database. I always feel more inclined to read a book when I have followed an author on social medias for a while and seen what a nice person they are (nobody wants to support bigots right?)
So I was super excited to get this book and I ended up reading it in a week! It could have been less but unfortunately I had some exams. To be more precise, I read half of this book on a Saturday morning, tucked in bed, only getting out when I was almost done and because eating had become imperative.
This novel is sold as a “multi-layered political fantasy”; I almost didn’t picked it up because I’m not a big fan of politics in books, but this first instalment wasn’t too heavy on this! Since the story focuses on different characters across the city, the political aspect sure plays a part but it was never too much of it. There was actually only two characters whose life where really intertwined with the political aspect (so far).
It also is sold as a book “led by an all QUILTBAG cast” and that was AWESOME! The author is on the aro-ace spectrum and so are some of the characters (though, never using the label, but putting into words their identity in a clear and casual way). The novel isn’t focusing on the characters sexual or romantic/platonic orientation, but it does come up in the story at some point, because that’s a part of who they are. There is diversity everywhere, such as a minor character whose chronic pain is mentioned, a healer who prefers people to use the pronoun “they/them” to refer to them, a colour blind person, etc.
“But if Nevian didn’t correct Isra’s racist mistake, was he any better?”
The found family theme is one of my all-time favourites and it is strong in this novel. There were really a large number of characters but they aren’t introduced all at once, it was very well done and I never got confused on who was who and what was their part on the story. Some were more present than others, some felt like they would get a more important role in the sequels, but overall I liked to learn about all these diverse characters from all over the city. I liked how their storylines met, how deep friendships formed and their compassion. It’s really the ingredient that a book needs for me to call it a favourite and for me to want to read it again someday. A welcoming team of friends, a great diversity of characters and acceptance of everyone above all: you get me as a loyal reader 4ever. Not saying they’re all perfect cinnamon rolls, some have prejudices, others are hostile to new of different people. But you get a feeling that their prejudices are going to be challenged enven more on the next instalment.
“You’re a lady. You should find a nice decoration to brighten up this place.”
“Charming. Your sexism is an appreciated change from my favourite colleague’s repeated transphobia. I’m glad the bigot club is diversifying a little.”
City of Strife ended up in a kinda abrupt way. I didn’t remembered there was going to be a bonus short story at the end of the physical copy so I thought there was going to be more things happening and… it didn’t. But it was a way for me to realise I really wanted to know more, to know what was going to happen to those characters and how the fate of this gorgeous city was going to play out. Stressful things happened, but this nice addition at the end about the way two characters met years and years ago is the perfect way to let the reader close the book with a smile on their face nonetheless.
“Nevian would never understand that kind of desire – he had never even experienced attraction and doubted he one day would – and physical proximity unnerved him. He waited, wishing people were more reasonable about this whole sex thing. Because, really? The middle of the day?”
This novel is all-indie, like the author says in the Acknowledgment, which explains the slight editing mishaps I saw. For instance, at times the spaces between the full-stop and following word was missing, sometimes –but less often – it happened between words. Like “and he” became “andhe” and I was a little bit lost, ended up checking wordreference because I thought it was an English word I didn’t know haha! Anyway, nothing serious but I felt I needed to mention it in this review.
I asked the author on twitter what had caused those mistakes, and she told me something happened during formatting, she is checking everything and it should be back to normal in a few days. People who bought the kindle edition should even get a warning to update to the clean version once it’s done!
Once a mistake has been made once, it won’t happen twice 😉
Still, this is not something that will deter me from buying the next instalments of this trilogy, and the other books from Claudie Arseneault!
Really looking forward to read Viral Airwaves next! Which also has a gorgeous cover!
Trigger warnings can be found on the author’s website (there are quite a few!)
I decided to buy and read this book after finding out it was from the person who had created the Aromantic or Asexual Speculative Fiction Database. I always feel more inclined to read a book when I have followed an author on social medias for a while and seen what a nice person they are (nobody wants to support bigots right?)
So I was super excited to get this book and I ended up reading it in a week! It could have been less but unfortunately I had some exams. To be more precise, I read half of this book on a Saturday morning, tucked in bed, only getting out when I was almost done and because eating had become imperative.
This novel is sold as a “multi-layered political fantasy”; I almost didn’t picked it up because I’m not a big fan of politics in books, but this first instalment wasn’t too heavy on this! Since the story focuses on different characters across the city, the political aspect sure plays a part but it was never too much of it. There was actually only two characters whose life where really intertwined with the political aspect (so far).
It also is sold as a book “led by an all QUILTBAG cast” and that was AWESOME! The author is on the aro-ace spectrum and so are some of the characters (though, never using the label, but putting into words their identity in a clear and casual way). The novel isn’t focusing on the characters sexual or romantic/platonic orientation, but it does come up in the story at some point, because that’s a part of who they are. There is diversity everywhere, such as a minor character whose chronic pain is mentioned, a healer who prefers people to use the pronoun “they/them” to refer to them, a colour blind person, etc.
“But if Nevian didn’t correct Isra’s racist mistake, was he any better?”
The found family theme is one of my all-time favourites and it is strong in this novel. There were really a large number of characters but they aren’t introduced all at once, it was very well done and I never got confused on who was who and what was their part on the story. Some were more present than others, some felt like they would get a more important role in the sequels, but overall I liked to learn about all these diverse characters from all over the city. I liked how their storylines met, how deep friendships formed and their compassion. It’s really the ingredient that a book needs for me to call it a favourite and for me to want to read it again someday. A welcoming team of friends, a great diversity of characters and acceptance of everyone above all: you get me as a loyal reader 4ever. Not saying they’re all perfect cinnamon rolls, some have prejudices, others are hostile to new of different people. But you get a feeling that their prejudices are going to be challenged enven more on the next instalment.
“You’re a lady. You should find a nice decoration to brighten up this place.”
“Charming. Your sexism is an appreciated change from my favourite colleague’s repeated transphobia. I’m glad the bigot club is diversifying a little.”
City of Strife ended up in a kinda abrupt way. I didn’t remembered there was going to be a bonus short story at the end of the physical copy so I thought there was going to be more things happening and… it didn’t. But it was a way for me to realise I really wanted to know more, to know what was going to happen to those characters and how the fate of this gorgeous city was going to play out. Stressful things happened, but this nice addition at the end about the way two characters met years and years ago is the perfect way to let the reader close the book with a smile on their face nonetheless.
“Nevian would never understand that kind of desire – he had never even experienced attraction and doubted he one day would – and physical proximity unnerved him. He waited, wishing people were more reasonable about this whole sex thing. Because, really? The middle of the day?”
This novel is all-indie, like the author says in the Acknowledgment, which explains the slight editing mishaps I saw. For instance, at times the spaces between the full-stop and following word was missing, sometimes –but less often – it happened between words. Like “and he” became “andhe” and I was a little bit lost, ended up checking wordreference because I thought it was an English word I didn’t know haha! Anyway, nothing serious but I felt I needed to mention it in this review.
I asked the author on twitter what had caused those mistakes, and she told me something happened during formatting, she is checking everything and it should be back to normal in a few days. People who bought the kindle edition should even get a warning to update to the clean version once it’s done!
Once a mistake has been made once, it won’t happen twice 😉
Still, this is not something that will deter me from buying the next instalments of this trilogy, and the other books from Claudie Arseneault!
Really looking forward to read Viral Airwaves next! Which also has a gorgeous cover!
Trigger warnings can be found on the author’s website (there are quite a few!)
book_pal31's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
auri_ink's review against another edition
5.0
I absolutely loved this whole story!
However, be warned that there’s a diverse and large amount of POV’s throughout the story. You will find yourself switching POV’s sometimes two or three times in a chapter. If you can’t handle alternating perspectives it might be rough.
Something also to be said, these characters are *flawed* this is not a sweet and easy fantasy story, it brings up real issues and real reactions in everyday people.
However, be warned that there’s a diverse and large amount of POV’s throughout the story. You will find yourself switching POV’s sometimes two or three times in a chapter. If you can’t handle alternating perspectives it might be rough.
Something also to be said, these characters are *flawed* this is not a sweet and easy fantasy story, it brings up real issues and real reactions in everyday people.