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magaramach's review
4.0
You can find this on the Tor website.
It does the story-within-a-story thing so well, and I really loved the different layers happening at once, how you dip into stories and out of them again (I need to read more fiction like this because it's such a good trope). I also loved how Malik keeps the rhythm of it going, if that makes sense - you can hear how it's meant to be spoken aloud, and it was great of the storyteller Baba Kahani to speak directly to the listeners of the story and to us.
Also, some A+ magical and horror elements.
It does the story-within-a-story thing so well, and I really loved the different layers happening at once, how you dip into stories and out of them again (I need to read more fiction like this because it's such a good trope). I also loved how Malik keeps the rhythm of it going, if that makes sense - you can hear how it's meant to be spoken aloud, and it was great of the storyteller Baba Kahani to speak directly to the listeners of the story and to us.
Also, some A+ magical and horror elements.
twilliamson's review
5.0
City of Red Midnight is a story full of wonder, a passion for the very act of storytelling itself as well as the magic a story can weave. It is full of fantastical imagery, concretized in specific cultural references and artistic motifs, but strongly feminist in its perspective and its rehabilitation of old mythologies for a new, modern audience.
Malik is a massively talented, highly skillful writer, and his dizzying text of stories told one after another through multiple mouths evokes a compelling oral tradition even as it challenges structural notions of framework stories told in ages past. City of Red Midnight feels refreshingly new but also remarkably familiar--a tale timeless but timely, gorgeously told through compelling prose.
What a tale of marvels and beauty!
Malik is a massively talented, highly skillful writer, and his dizzying text of stories told one after another through multiple mouths evokes a compelling oral tradition even as it challenges structural notions of framework stories told in ages past. City of Red Midnight feels refreshingly new but also remarkably familiar--a tale timeless but timely, gorgeously told through compelling prose.
What a tale of marvels and beauty!
bookaneer's review
4.0
Been so long since my last nested story :) A bit confusing at time but I liked the ending, so meta. A story once unleashed grows its own tail after all.
madarauchiha's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
✨🌠 my about / byf / CW info carrd: uchiha-madara 🌠✨
Men are each other’s brothers and keepers.
A woman needs a witness.
content warnings
minor anti Rromani g slur, self harm, bruises, injuries,
medium sexual content, pregnancy,
major gore, body horror, unsanitary, child death, gore, child abuse, miscarriages, domestic abuse, pedophilia, csa, arranged marriage, infidelity,
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Body horror, Child death, Child abuse, Miscarriage, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, and Infidelity
Moderate: Sexual content and Pregnancy
Minor: Racial slurs, Self harm, and Injury/Injury detail
kir's review
4.0
An interesting series of stories, stacked like Russian nesting dolls, that combine to tell the over-arching story. The prose was evocative without being too purple for my tastes, while the story kept me intrigued with a satisfying resolution and reveal at the end.
urwa's review
4.0
brought me right back to reading arabian nights!! didn't know i needed a story about maaruf the cobbler's wife but i am so glad i have it . perfect
librarianmage's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
I very much love this story structure
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Gore
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Domestic abuse, and Sexism
Minor: Miscarriage
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