Reviews with content warning for Murder - City of Thorns

🗝️ Boring mortal girl (who's NotLikeOtherGirls, gets mad when other women say they are NotLikeOtherGirls, and is also irresistibly beautiful to the immortals, of course) uses the "knowledge" she gained in her intro to psychology class to outsmart a centuries-old sex demon into letting her stay in the forbidden demon city and into paying for her student loans. Hijinks ensue, helped further by mortal girl's intro to psychology class and the fact that she looks like a famous succubus (even when she, by all accounts, couldn't seduce her way out of a wet paper bag in the moral world). Did I hit most of the plot points?

🗝️ My primary issue with this is that it is far too fast-paced in a way that ruins any tension, romantic or otherwise, that might have been created through the story. Totally awkward to sexy in a week? Enemies to lovers but without anything believable to make me think that they were enemies in the first place? A big, dramatic action packed event (that was only an hour long) that only spanned a chapter because it still had cut scenes? Maybe I'm spoiled by my long and leisurely fantasy romance series of yore but I just didn't buy any of the action or romance here.

🗝️ My secondary issue, as someone who has nearly-a-doctorate in a psychology adjacent field, is that the mentions of psychological manipulation play a huge role in the plot progression, and they very much read as if they were written by someone who has a generalist bachelor's in psych degree and who is too excited about it. (I would know, I was that person once upon a time.) This is probably more of a Me Problem, and it's probably not helped by me wanting things fleshed out more in general, but I found myself rolling my eyes multiple times and saying "okay, but that's not QUITE how that works."

🗝️ Despite all those things, I'm interested enough in the plot that I'll probably read the next one. They're quick, easy reads and the premise is fun. I feel like the characters could still have a lot of depth and I'm hoping that some of my issues with the pacing will level out as I read on.

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bedtimesandbooks's review

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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brandie_abbie19's review

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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prettynerdy3's review

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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ashreadsandbowls's review

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challenging dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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stuff_steph_reads's review

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

An okay read, with many similarities to other popular books like ACOTAR, Kingdom of the Wicked, and A Touch of Darkness. A fantasy romance with a touch of spice.

You have a brooding demon who’s not what he seems, a feisty main female lead with a mystery to solve. And lots of sexual tension. The spice is minimal in the book though, but I feel the next one may have more.

Interesting world and concept, but both the characters and world felt a bit underdeveloped. I would have liked more depth, but I think the book kept things simpler to keep it fast paced and moving. Maybe we’ll get more in book 2, as this felt very much like an intro to more to come.

Overall this book did exceed my expectations, and the mystery left me very intrigued and questioning what was going on. Usually, a lot of books I can guess plot points or reveals but this one still has me wondering! I would have liked to see more character depth and development as I felt the characters did lack authenticity. I also didn’t like the females in the demon world, their portrayal as crazy and obsessed, and their putting against each other.

Overall a decent read though and I’ll likely be reading the 2nd book.

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iamsammie27's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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seagoddess's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I think this is a good start to what could be an interesting story. We are brought into the story pretty quickly which I enjoyed because there wasn't a lot of floundering or useless information. Now granted I would've like a bit more world building And more exploration of the characters but I'm sure there will be plenty of that in book 2.
This book is about being a succubus but it is very light on the spice. I would rate it a 2/5 (contains descriptive kissing and touching but no complete sex scene) but I can expect the next book to be much spicer.
With that being said I am very intrigued with the story and look forward to where it is going.

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