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emily_mh's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
This was such a great read! The MC Alter was so dynamic, because as well as having to deal with possession and finding a serial killer, he has a rich inner world as the narrator. He’s trying to earn the money to bring his family over to the US from Romania, he is haunted by internalised homophobia and he is living in poverty in an antisemitic world and responding to that situation in his own way. His perspective really exposed the facade of the American Dream.
Alter’s romance with Frankie was great. I love when an author writes an romance where the MC is oblivious to how much the LI is into them but the reader can clearly see it, and the romantic subplot here is exactly that. Because Alter and Frankie had already been through so much together before the events of this book, their connection was believable and their chemistry was good. I like how balanced their relationship was, with Frankie helping Alter with his mission, and Alter helping Frankie through his grief and trauma.
It’s hard to comment on the predictability of the mystery as I am older than the target audience, but I found it to be engaging. I also don’t believe that the point of the mystery here was to be elusive and hard to solve, but to compound the social themes Polydoros was exploring. And boy did he EXPLORE. The narrative looks at the intersection of classism and antisemitism in the experiences of Alter, showing how doubly vulnerable it makes poor Jewish people to exploitation and violence. It displays the dissonance between having a grand international exhibition while people are living in poverty; the ludicrousness of the existence of the mega-wealthy when there are those with nothing. What is truly sickening is that these same issues and oppressions characterise today’s society too, like Polydoros was holding up a mirror to the present. I appreciated him foregrounding these issues for that reason, and also because it gives a more realistic depiction of Chicago and the US in general in 1893.
Another fantastic element in this book was the atmosphere the author created. He conveyed the darkness and grit of Victorian Chicago effortlessly: the senseless violence and exploitation and the constant presence of danger. It was completely immersive and, like the mystery, engaging, so that even in slower-paced moments the book didn’t feel like it dragged at all, despite its 450+ pages.
Rep: gay Jewish MC, gay Jewish LI, Jewish SCs
Rep: gay Jewish MC, gay Jewish LI, Jewish SCs
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, Antisemitism, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Gore
Moderate: Physical abuse, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, Child abuse, Classism, Genocide, Excrement, Grief, Gun violence, Death of parent, Violence, Pedophilia, Rape, Animal death, and Animal cruelty
Minor: Bullying, Sexual content, Alcohol, Forced institutionalization, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Torture, Vomit, Drug use, Sexism, Misogyny, Police brutality, Medical content, Abandonment, Suicide, Sexual assault, and Ableism
Major: five uses of the antisemitic k-slur Moderate: missing loved one, separation from family, illness, theft, internalised homophobia Minor: drowning, fainting, gambling, blackmail, divorce, police corruption, imprisonment, capital punishment, gentrificationlatwell07's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Murder, Death, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Cultural appropriation
leahkarge's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Murder, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Antisemitism, Child death, Blood, Classism, Genocide, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Xenophobia, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
lessthelonely's review
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
4/5 stars.
This book was a nice surprise.
I wasn't expecting to like this book so much, especially when I started reading it and found out that it was basically historical fiction. I'm not the biggest fan of historical fiction, it either tends to lose me with way too much detail on history that tends to not pull me in but drive me away from it - namely, when the "history" is mainly white. I already learned about what white supremacists want people like me to think history is like. I don't need to read it when I'm trying to get entertained. Or when the plot seems to be non-existent for most of the book and then comes full force at the end, which makes everything until then incredibly dull and like I'm just reading to finish it.
This book was a nice surprise since it felt like a slow burn. The truth is that the beginning was incredibly slow - in between reading sessions, I went to Goodreads and saw one of the BookTokers I follow, Ayman (@aymanbooks), reviewing this book and mentioning it could get somewhat close, so I was like, OK, at least I'm sort of warned. The first chapter is way too long for its own good, for starters. I didn't feel like I was reading a thriller, as I'm used to having a cold open (the thrilling event that the plot will spawn from or revolve around).
But I kept reading. If you DNF a book without even finishing a chapter, then you're clearly just looking for an excuse to DNF it when you could simply read something that could satiate your reading needs. I wasn't expecting this book to satiate mine, but it did.
The lows of this book are the slow moments and, honestly, the reveals. I felt like the reveals, while definitely thrilling in the way they were executed and how they played out, weren't really that jaw-dropping. I wasn't really invested in the characters revealed to be scum, so in that department, the reveals didn't hit. What did hit, however, were the fight scenes and the whole action that happened around these reveals. Incredible. Sweat-inducing, to be honest.
There were also some moments where the tension felt a little bit fabricated, just to either make characters clash or simply have a sort of thrill. Not even close to the reveals, just some moments that happen when some characters are introduced.
Speaking of characters, the way these characters have me on a chokehold, especially the main character and what I would consider the main love interest - the pining, the yearning, incredible. I didn't really like the ON/OFF approach after the first big moment, but I do think it's a very positive and soft romance, which is ironic because this book is incredibly dark. Check trigger warnings, please!
But all and all, just for the fact this surprised me, I consider this a great book. The Jewish references were extremely interesting, and a glossary is included. Even if it wasn't included, no excuses. This is a great book. READ IT.
This book was a nice surprise.
I wasn't expecting to like this book so much, especially when I started reading it and found out that it was basically historical fiction. I'm not the biggest fan of historical fiction, it either tends to lose me with way too much detail on history that tends to not pull me in but drive me away from it - namely, when the "history" is mainly white. I already learned about what white supremacists want people like me to think history is like. I don't need to read it when I'm trying to get entertained. Or when the plot seems to be non-existent for most of the book and then comes full force at the end, which makes everything until then incredibly dull and like I'm just reading to finish it.
This book was a nice surprise since it felt like a slow burn. The truth is that the beginning was incredibly slow - in between reading sessions, I went to Goodreads and saw one of the BookTokers I follow, Ayman (@aymanbooks), reviewing this book and mentioning it could get somewhat close, so I was like, OK, at least I'm sort of warned. The first chapter is way too long for its own good, for starters. I didn't feel like I was reading a thriller, as I'm used to having a cold open (the thrilling event that the plot will spawn from or revolve around).
But I kept reading. If you DNF a book without even finishing a chapter, then you're clearly just looking for an excuse to DNF it when you could simply read something that could satiate your reading needs. I wasn't expecting this book to satiate mine, but it did.
The lows of this book are the slow moments and, honestly, the reveals. I felt like the reveals, while definitely thrilling in the way they were executed and how they played out, weren't really that jaw-dropping. I wasn't really invested in the characters revealed to be scum, so in that department, the reveals didn't hit. What did hit, however, were the fight scenes and the whole action that happened around these reveals. Incredible. Sweat-inducing, to be honest.
There were also some moments where the tension felt a little bit fabricated, just to either make characters clash or simply have a sort of thrill. Not even close to the reveals, just some moments that happen when some characters are introduced.
Speaking of characters, the way these characters have me on a chokehold, especially the main character and what I would consider the main love interest - the pining, the yearning, incredible. I didn't really like the ON/OFF approach after the first big moment, but I do think it's a very positive and soft romance, which is ironic because this book is incredibly dark. Check trigger warnings, please!
But all and all, just for the fact this surprised me, I consider this a great book. The Jewish references were extremely interesting, and a glossary is included. Even if it wasn't included, no excuses. This is a great book. READ IT.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Physical abuse, Antisemitism, and Sexual assault
ashleycmms's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
lighthearted
sad
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? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Drug use, Child abuse, Racial slurs, Pedophilia, Antisemitism, Alcohol, Violence, Police brutality, Genocide, Hate crime, Child death, Death, Stalking, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, Blood, Murder, Homophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Sexual violence, and Rape
kayladaila's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I received an advanced reader copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. The City Beautiful is a Jewish, gay, YA horror mystery set around the Chicago World’s Fair. It was a bit of a slow novel at the beginning, but did eventually pick up speed. All of the characters were well developed and came from different but historically accurate perspectives. I’m personally not a fan of horror, so parts of this were a bit much for me, but that doesn’t make it any less of a great read. The Jewish representation was phenomenal and I hope it comes across well to nonJewish readers. My favorite thing about this book is that it was able to be a gay historical romance with absolutely no homophobia.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Murder, Racism, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, and Violence
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Pedophilia, and Rape
Minor: Physical abuse
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