A review by mimothysmall
Inside the Shadow City by Kirsten Miller

5.0

As a 30 year old woman, at first I was hesitant to read Kiki Strike, succumbing to the classic mistake of judging a book by its cover, I thought it would be an average middle grade book full of clichéd tropes about female friendship, crushes and high school drama. Within a chapter this book has proven my prejudices to be completely unfounded. The Irregulars are a group of girls assembled by Kiki Strike for their skills and intelligence, each has a talent essential to exploring mapping New York’s Shadow City: inventing, knowledge of chemistry and dangerous substances, forgery, engineering and architecture. The adventure they go on is highly original, involving real danger and plenty of twists which feel organic and unforced. The characters are faced with moral dilemmas which aren’t patronisingly tailored to an adult perception of what teenage preoccupations are. It was a highly enjoyable read and I will definitely be reading the rest of the series.