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A review by ninegladiolus
The City of Dusk by Tara Sim
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I was so excited for Tara Sim’s The City of Dusk that I skipped—this is me pausing to check my tracking spreadsheet—14 other ARCs to read it first, and I am delighted to say it did not disappoint me in the slightest. This is a book I would definitely consider on brand for my personal taste: dark, decadent, divine, and naturally, queer as hell. In fact, it’s so on brand that I probably played myself reading it in 2021, since I can see this being a favourite 2022 release and we’re not even in 2022 yet.
The City of Dusk follows four heirs—Risha, Angelica, Taesia, and Nik—as each of them navigates a singular, disturbing situation: all the realms, including the one they all live in, are dying due to the gods withdrawing their favor. These are, coincidentally, the POV characters and one of City of Dusk’s biggest strengths. Often in casts with three or more POV characters, I find myself gravitating towards some more than others, but in the case of this novel, I loved each and every one of these characters for different reasons. Also, this novel has my very favourite thing of late: women written with depth and allowed to be as deeply flawed as men usually are in stories. If you love messy protagonists, this book will deliver four of them right to your doorstep.
There’s so much to love about this novel. In addition to the characters, the worldbuilding was the perfect blend of fantasy trope meets innovative perspective on said trope. When I first started seeing this novel around social media, all it took to draw me in was LGBTQ+ cast and necromancy, but I stayed for the murderous gods and compelling magic and political intrigue as well. The prose throughout is so descriptive and breathtaking, not to mention emotionally resonant—I felt this book physically at several points, whether a twist in my chest or shivers along my skin. This book would also make a great read for those looking to branch out from YA fantasy; while thematically this book is most certainly not YA, the lower 20s age of the characters and heavier emotional/character focus provide a nice overlap.
Aside from an ending I found slightly abrupt and some minor pacing issues throughout, I can’t think of any other critiques offhand. As a note, The City of Dusk was as dark as it promised, so readers looking for a lighter read will want to give this one a pass.
This is going to be one of those series I don’t shut up about, so prepare yourselves now because we still have several months to go until release. The City of Dusk is a fantastic start to what is sure to be a wonderful series, so if you like the things mentioned above—necromancy and demons and dark gods and dire stakes as navigated by an LGBTQ+ cast of characters—please be sure to check out The City of Dusk. Highly recommended!
Thank you to Orbit for an advance reader copy. All opinions are my own.
The City of Dusk follows four heirs—Risha, Angelica, Taesia, and Nik—as each of them navigates a singular, disturbing situation: all the realms, including the one they all live in, are dying due to the gods withdrawing their favor. These are, coincidentally, the POV characters and one of City of Dusk’s biggest strengths. Often in casts with three or more POV characters, I find myself gravitating towards some more than others, but in the case of this novel, I loved each and every one of these characters for different reasons. Also, this novel has my very favourite thing of late: women written with depth and allowed to be as deeply flawed as men usually are in stories. If you love messy protagonists, this book will deliver four of them right to your doorstep.
There’s so much to love about this novel. In addition to the characters, the worldbuilding was the perfect blend of fantasy trope meets innovative perspective on said trope. When I first started seeing this novel around social media, all it took to draw me in was LGBTQ+ cast and necromancy, but I stayed for the murderous gods and compelling magic and political intrigue as well. The prose throughout is so descriptive and breathtaking, not to mention emotionally resonant—I felt this book physically at several points, whether a twist in my chest or shivers along my skin. This book would also make a great read for those looking to branch out from YA fantasy; while thematically this book is most certainly not YA, the lower 20s age of the characters and heavier emotional/character focus provide a nice overlap.
Aside from an ending I found slightly abrupt and some minor pacing issues throughout, I can’t think of any other critiques offhand. As a note, The City of Dusk was as dark as it promised, so readers looking for a lighter read will want to give this one a pass.
This is going to be one of those series I don’t shut up about, so prepare yourselves now because we still have several months to go until release. The City of Dusk is a fantastic start to what is sure to be a wonderful series, so if you like the things mentioned above—necromancy and demons and dark gods and dire stakes as navigated by an LGBTQ+ cast of characters—please be sure to check out The City of Dusk. Highly recommended!
Thank you to Orbit for an advance reader copy. All opinions are my own.