Reviews - Cities of Smoke and Starlight

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385 reviews for:

Cities of Smoke and Starlight

Alli Earnest

3.52 AVERAGE

deedles's review against another edition

1.0

adventurous slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Loveable characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I would say the vibes of this book is like a mix of Journey to Atlantis, Treasure Planet, and Pride & Prejudice. It could've been a good concept, but I couldn't get into the plot or the worldbuilding, or the romance, or even the vibes at all. The plot was extremely slow to develop, and the relationships of each character wasn't very fleshed out regardless of how many shenanigans the author threw them into. The romance was insta-love-y and doesn't really make sense to me. The world building seemed interesting but clearly took a backseat compared to the 'relationship building.'

The characters themselves, well...

Hallie and Kase are so dumb. They're touted as the protagonists but I felt like this book would've benefited from just one POV instead of switching between the two. Even still, this is where you see the Pride & Prejudice — they both like books, they're kinda smart? Supposedly? But are both extremely stubborn and prideful and got off to a bad start. Except that they both just find each other really attractive and fight for 80% of their interactions. And they don't even have a revelatory arc, they're pretty much just the same at the end after learning One thing that they have in common.

Also? There are like two dead characters for no reason. It is honestly so saddening I got attached to them more than the protagonists.

Generally I'm also not fond of how the author talked about the Yalvs, but I kinda forgot since I ended up skimming the last part of the book since everything was getting introduced at the 70% mark. Everything at that point gets confusing.

betcha_read's review

3.0

adventurous slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

booksandwonder's review against another edition

4.0

Was a bit slow at first but once it got going I started to really enjoy it. I really enjoy it the slooow burn and something I’ve wanted to read for a while. I do admit the the whole reason for not liking each other at first was a bit juvenile and annoying.

mogimi78's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

goodjollymissmolly's review against another edition

Good main leads banter in first exchange but I couldn’t get into the world building. May revisit later!

beccarella's review

1.0

adventurous sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

There is a cool concept lying at the heart of this book, but the author gets too caught up in why both main characters are sad and damaged to get to the point of the book.