A review by pantaruja
City of Strife, by Claudie Arseneault
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.