A review by owlishone
City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

This book is magnificently structured with a whiteout at the beginning, a blackout at the end, and brilliant lights (fireworks) and splashes of color in between. I didn’t care as much for the characters as I did for the textural experience of just reading and reading and reading some more: the immersion into a seemingly never-ending flow of images and words. The book has been criticized for its length but for me the length was perfect. It pushed me, and pushed again. Bonus points for art—lots of it—as well as for a strange thing called “post-humanism” which certain characters seemed to care a great deal about.
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