A review by xeni
The Hidden City by Michelle West
3.0
There are no spoilers in this review, though I do discuss my feelings about the ending.
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I'm reading the entire Essalieyan series with a book club. This is the first.
And it might be the last.
Don't get me wrong, I loved this story a lot. I loved the slow approach to letting us get to know the key characters - Rath, the old disguiser and thief, and Jewel (Jay), the very young orphan who begins to collect a family of other orphans off the streets against Raths' better judgement. I loved the world, a faux-medieval fantasy city-scape full of secrets to discover and explore and wonder at, as well as enemies great and small to test ones mettle on.
To me, this felt like the beginnings of the Lies of Locke Lamora, but more refined, more gentle, and ultimately more detailed with no bait-and-switch as to what the story was about. I appreciated all of it far more in The Hidden City.
The second half of the story took a turn I was not expecting. At first, I didn't mind it, but then it was clear what the ending was building up to. And then, while the gist of the most egregious parts of the ending took place off screen, I do not understand why the author sought to not just have most of the orphans, but also our key main character, wounded in the way that she choose. To me it speaks more of the time period that this book was written in, rather than in any literary merits. I won't go so far as to say that the ending ruined the story for me (in fact, I'm still rating this book as 5/5 stars - phenomenal), but it leaves me feeling unhappy, unsatisfied, and unsure if I want to continue reading.
---
I'm reading the entire Essalieyan series with a book club. This is the first.
And it might be the last.
Don't get me wrong, I loved this story a lot. I loved the slow approach to letting us get to know the key characters - Rath, the old disguiser and thief, and Jewel (Jay), the very young orphan who begins to collect a family of other orphans off the streets against Raths' better judgement. I loved the world, a faux-medieval fantasy city-scape full of secrets to discover and explore and wonder at, as well as enemies great and small to test ones mettle on.
To me, this felt like the beginnings of the Lies of Locke Lamora, but more refined, more gentle, and ultimately more detailed with no bait-and-switch as to what the story was about. I appreciated all of it far more in The Hidden City.
The second half of the story took a turn I was not expecting. At first, I didn't mind it, but then it was clear what the ending was building up to. And then, while the gist of the most egregious parts of the ending took place off screen, I do not understand why the author sought to not just have most of the orphans, but also our key main character, wounded in the way that she choose. To me it speaks more of the time period that this book was written in, rather than in any literary merits. I won't go so far as to say that the ending ruined the story for me (in fact, I'm still rating this book as 5/5 stars - phenomenal), but it leaves me feeling unhappy, unsatisfied, and unsure if I want to continue reading.