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adularia25's review against another edition
3.0
First, I'm going to start with what I like. I like Laura as a character. The casual sexism she puts up with resonates all too well.
The book started well, but has a couple of really big flaws. One isn't so much the book as the cover: the blurb reveals a major plot point that doesn't occur until the end of the book. Do yourself a favor and skip the last paragraph so you don't get a mistaken notion of what is going to happen.
But the bigger issues for me are the cavalier use of terms, and how the book skirts into colonization narrative territory with the west conquers the east backstory.
The book is set in a fantasy world - but it's not. The map is based on Japan. It's called the "Orien" which is one letter away from Orient, which is a term fraught with problems.
And spoilers, since these aren't revealed until partially through the book:
But that's not all. The terms for many things in the world are French (Malamare for the "Bad Sea", Beaumaris for the "Good Sea", argent for the silver money) and early on the readers are told the land was colonized from the West, the natives almost entirely wiped out by the crusaders that brought with them magic weapons. What few natives that still live are described as having dark hair.
And the evil they are fighting? That was created by the natives as a magic-eating monster to cripple the magic of the invaders. Which it did - but they had no control over it so it ate them too - and now the entire island is under quarantine from the West and any ships who head that way will be shot on sight. So the deeper problem of magic-gone-wrong was created by the natives... which doesn't sit well with me.
And this is more problematic because the main character Laura is clearly from western descent. Though Okane is not and three-fourths of the way through the book Clae is revealed to be only partially of western descent, and partially native. The racism that comes from that is handled well once it is revealed.
I think the story would have been stronger without the sort of obvious ties to the real world.
And the use of colonization as it keeps coming up in the book is... jarring, to say the least. Especially when western views on colonization is so insidiously pervasive in fantasy literature.
I understand this is a first book, but I sort of stopped cold about halfway through when I hit what I put in the spoiler above. I still finished it, but I wasn't enjoying it as much anymore.
There are some ways that could help the above issues
The book started well, but has a couple of really big flaws. One isn't so much the book as the cover: the blurb reveals a major plot point that doesn't occur until the end of the book. Do yourself a favor and skip the last paragraph so you don't get a mistaken notion of what is going to happen.
But the bigger issues for me are the cavalier use of terms, and how the book skirts into colonization narrative territory with the west conquers the east backstory.
The book is set in a fantasy world - but it's not. The map is based on Japan. It's called the "Orien" which is one letter away from Orient, which is a term fraught with problems.
And spoilers, since these aren't revealed until partially through the book:
Spoiler
The monsters, which don't have a name for the first half of the book, are revealed to be called bakemono. The native language is clearly Japanese when a few other terms are revealed.But that's not all. The terms for many things in the world are French (Malamare for the "Bad Sea", Beaumaris for the "Good Sea", argent for the silver money) and early on the readers are told the land was colonized from the West, the natives almost entirely wiped out by the crusaders that brought with them magic weapons. What few natives that still live are described as having dark hair.
And the evil they are fighting? That was created by the natives as a magic-eating monster to cripple the magic of the invaders. Which it did - but they had no control over it so it ate them too - and now the entire island is under quarantine from the West and any ships who head that way will be shot on sight. So the deeper problem of magic-gone-wrong was created by the natives... which doesn't sit well with me.
And this is more problematic because the main character Laura is clearly from western descent. Though Okane is not and three-fourths of the way through the book Clae is revealed to be only partially of western descent, and partially native. The racism that comes from that is handled well once it is revealed.
I think the story would have been stronger without the sort of obvious ties to the real world.
And the use of colonization as it keeps coming up in the book is... jarring, to say the least. Especially when western views on colonization is so insidiously pervasive in fantasy literature.
I understand this is a first book, but I sort of stopped cold about halfway through when I hit what I put in the spoiler above. I still finished it, but I wasn't enjoying it as much anymore.
There are some ways that could help the above issues
Spoiler
If the evil was not created by the natives but is part of a propaganda campaign against them by those who conquered the lands - that would go a long way towards making some of this less problematic. But still wouldn't solve the colonization problem.izz_bizz_buzz's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
4.0
1st 1/4 got my attention
2nd 1/4 started to loose me
3rd 1/4 till the end kept my attention and made up for the 2nd 1/4.
The world itself felt a bit lackluster but the concept, the action sequences and character interactions more than made up for it.
The book really shines through in it's character interactions. I found myself very invested in the relationships of these character and found it refreshing that none of the main characters feel a rivalry towards each other and there was no "enemies to lovers/friends" trope.
This book doesn't have romance elements in in and it is stronger for it.
If you enjoy a more industrial fantasy setting with good characters this will be up your alley.
catladylover94's review against another edition
5.0
really a good read left open for a book 2 in the future
mbrown13669's review against another edition
5.0
So, I very rarely give reviews because I usually either like or don't like a book and I'm not big of writing basically, "good book, read it if you want to, or don't, your loss." I nearly didn't read this book because of all the bad reviews and decided I should try to add my voice to the good ones so people are less likely to miss out.
What I can tell you is it LOOKS like most of the bad reviews came from people who read the ARCs. I'm not seeing the problems that they complained about in the ARCs, so either:
A. It was rewritten/edited after the ARC (sort of the point of ARCs to get opinions and fix loop holes or plot difficulties, etc),
B. The difficulties aren't really all that difficult,
C. Some other reason.
Please, at least give this one a chance, don't let the bad reviews scare you off.
What I can tell you is it LOOKS like most of the bad reviews came from people who read the ARCs. I'm not seeing the problems that they complained about in the ARCs, so either:
A. It was rewritten/edited after the ARC (sort of the point of ARCs to get opinions and fix loop holes or plot difficulties, etc),
B. The difficulties aren't really all that difficult,
C. Some other reason.
Please, at least give this one a chance, don't let the bad reviews scare you off.
csdaley's review against another edition
4.0
Good first book with a very interesting world. A little slow in a few places but it was mostly during some of the world building sections. I enjoyed it and will definitely read the next one.
chllybrd's review against another edition
3.0
I gave it 2.5 stars
CITY OF BROKEN MAGIC was.....confusing.
I was pretty excited about CITY OF BROKEN MAGIC when I read the blurb, but I just couldn't get into the story. I hate to say it, but I skimmed a lot of the book after the first half. The world was actually pretty neat, I just couldn't stay in the zone and got bored while reading.
I actually really liked the characters. Clae was brusque, but interesting. I hated how things ended with him. Laura was strongly built and I liked her right off the bat. The side characters were also easy to like.
I'm not really sure where CITY OF BROKEN MAGIC went wrong. There was a lot of information given and I think I just got lost in all of it. I also didn't feel like the plot was strong enough to carry everything through to the end.
I won't read more from this series, but I didn't totally hate what I read.
* This book was provided free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
CITY OF BROKEN MAGIC was.....confusing.
I was pretty excited about CITY OF BROKEN MAGIC when I read the blurb, but I just couldn't get into the story. I hate to say it, but I skimmed a lot of the book after the first half. The world was actually pretty neat, I just couldn't stay in the zone and got bored while reading.
I actually really liked the characters. Clae was brusque, but interesting. I hated how things ended with him. Laura was strongly built and I liked her right off the bat. The side characters were also easy to like.
I'm not really sure where CITY OF BROKEN MAGIC went wrong. There was a lot of information given and I think I just got lost in all of it. I also didn't feel like the plot was strong enough to carry everything through to the end.
I won't read more from this series, but I didn't totally hate what I read.
* This book was provided free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
debra_reads_'s review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Dear City of Broken Magic,
I have had you on my shelf for quite a few years. One of my friends encouraged me to pick you up. But unfortunately, despite having all of the makings of a fun, thrilling story of magic and crime, you really fell flat for me. There was so much exposition that didn't really contribute a lot to the world, or characters, and it took a lot of my interest to keep reading you. There was so much more that I could have discovered about Clae, Laura and Okane. They all felt barely sketched out at times, and I struggled to get to know them. I enjoyed the action sequences and they at least went quickly for me. But it was difficult for me to see what the infestations looked like and they were not as fleshed out as I would have liked. I don't think I am going to continue reading this series.
I have had you on my shelf for quite a few years. One of my friends encouraged me to pick you up. But unfortunately, despite having all of the makings of a fun, thrilling story of magic and crime, you really fell flat for me. There was so much exposition that didn't really contribute a lot to the world, or characters, and it took a lot of my interest to keep reading you. There was so much more that I could have discovered about Clae, Laura and Okane. They all felt barely sketched out at times, and I struggled to get to know them. I enjoyed the action sequences and they at least went quickly for me. But it was difficult for me to see what the infestations looked like and they were not as fleshed out as I would have liked. I don't think I am going to continue reading this series.
addy1991's review against another edition
2.0
The concept is neat but terminology and descriptions made little sense to me so I lost a bit of what was going on. Others might find this easier to understand so hopefully my review won't keep them from enjoying this book. I understand creating new worlds and ways of naming things but for some reason I couldn't wrap my head around this one and the more I read, it didn't get any clearer. A shame because it was well written with a lot of attention to details and interesting characters. There also seems to be tensions between various groups that will obviously play out over the series. For those interested in magic and science, this book might be up your alley.
lazygal's review against another edition
4.0
The world feels very familiar: literally stratified cities, magic that works to kill monsters, etc.. That doesn't mean that this isn't the start of an engaging book, just that there's a little weakness in the world building that my mind was easily able to fill in based on other books.
The big plus here was Clae and his complicated relationship with the police, the population and his family. Laura's desire to be a Sweeper doesn't diminish even when faced with Clae's reluctance to explain a lot of their work to her (the city having decided that the history of Sweepers isn't important enough to teach) and the danger they find themselves in almost daily. Adding Okemo to the mix was just wonderful. Of course, that lack of history and knowledge lend themselves to future books, where I suppose we'll learn more about the Magi and those caves, not to mention other cities.
eARC provided by publisher.
The big plus here was Clae and his complicated relationship with the police, the population and his family. Laura's desire to be a Sweeper doesn't diminish even when faced with Clae's reluctance to explain a lot of their work to her (the city having decided that the history of Sweepers isn't important enough to teach) and the danger they find themselves in almost daily. Adding Okemo to the mix was just wonderful. Of course, that lack of history and knowledge lend themselves to future books, where I suppose we'll learn more about the Magi and those caves, not to mention other cities.
eARC provided by publisher.
ldvs's review against another edition
I kept tripping over the language and couldn’t get interested in the story. It wasn’t horrible, but just not my thing.