A review by readivine
City of Bastards by Andrew Shvarts

5.0

"I'd tried to be the girl who would choose safety, the girl who would keep walking, the girl who would settle, the girl who would be happy.

But that wasn’t me. That would never be me. I was Tilla of the tunnels, Tilla the traitor, Tilla the exile, Tilla the bastard. I was the girl who chose rebellion, the girl who loved a Zitochi warrior, the girl who risked it all to avenge her friend.

I was reckless, and I was foolish, and I’d probably never be safe. But I was me."

OHOHOHOHKAY SO NOW.


I am in love with this series.

This second installment fleshed out the inner workings of Lightspire and where all the magic sht comes from. This book answered a lot of my questions from the previous one and *inward sobs* I'm just so happy that there are no catastrophic deaths for my fave characters.

Spoiler

HAHA! There ARE A LOT of deaths but hohohoh I did not shed any tear for them. Also, I CRIED WHEN JAX HAD A CAMEO??? HAHAHAH welp cameo sounds wrong but just read it guys to understand.

I'm a sucker for effective world building and this book had managed to elicit guttural screams of approval from me. I'm an architecture major and I dang well pride myself for dissecting the details of the world building. AND OHOHOHOLERD WHAT A TREAT. I love how Lightspire is a concentric work of architecture and how the palace is made of "shimmersteel". This reminds me of the shimmer in Annihilation and everything was on point.(I've watched it on Netflix, haven't read the book tho). I would love to have a more detailed outline of the whole castle again on the third installment because I just can't get enough of it. *blushes*

There's also a ton of descriptive gory and brutal fight scenes.

Spoiler

that scene at the party accckk I can see those bones and flesh just by reading hahaha

This is what I initially loved with The Royal Bastards and there are indeed more in this one. The pacing is also one thing that I commend this for. The first part mostly dealt with establishing the image of politics and the luxurious lifestyle in Lightspire. A lot of new characters were introduced and all of them were thought out very well by the author. They're not just there for the spectacle, they had helped in shaping the story more effectively.

Spoiler

I really love the descriptive parts when Markiska was introduced, shame

Spoiler

she died there :(((

It wasn't boring at all, it was a beautiful sequence of thrill and mystery. By the time you'd finish the first half, everything just slides down perfectly.

The fast-paced action and sequence of events by the latter half had really elevated this one and I love that there was a neat resolution by the end. This book conveys a lot of values and important issues politically and I find myself wondering about the inner political drama happening in my country as well.

"That’s what I’m trying to say. What if all the sides are wrong? What if the whole idea of sides is the problem?”

This is very easy to read and it's all thanks to Shvarts fluent prose. I'M A FULL PLEDGED FAN NOW OKAAY?? Definitely one of my fave books this year!