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dryhop_reads 's review for:
City of Miracles
by Robert Jackson Bennett
I am going to keep this review short because otherwise I just know that I will devolve into an insane amount of spoilers. So let me quickly say that I found this book to be amazing. Sigrud had to have his day. It's really only fitting. And have it he did. The story was fantastic and while it ended horribly, it ended in the only way that it could. It was poetic; perfect.
I do want to say one other thing. The prevailing mystery in the book, that plot thread that leads up to that final twist, was, for me, foreshadowed perfectly. This is simply sublime when it happens. I figured out the twist literally at the start of the page on which it was revealed, probably a scant paragraph or two before it happened in the text. I have read actual mysteries that didn't pull this off as effectively as Mr. Bennett did. This is precisely how it should happen. I'm not left waiting and wondering when the reveal that I figured out on page 13 is going to show up nor am I left scratching my head at how this could possibly be the answer when it didn't seem to exist before that point. The red herrings, the subtle clues, the whole setup was perfectly conceived and executed. Moments of brilliance like this affect you emotionally as well as physically, and it is in no small part why I read books.
I noted on Twitter that I didn't want this to end. And I was right. I actually went through a brief period of mourning. The end was beautiful but still an end. So I suppose I will have to seek out other offerings from Mr. Bennett and await for more in the future. I leave off saying that I can't recommend this series or this book enough and that The Divine Cities is officially my favorite series that I have read to date. Bravo.
I do want to say one other thing. The prevailing mystery in the book, that plot thread that leads up to that final twist, was, for me, foreshadowed perfectly. This is simply sublime when it happens. I figured out the twist literally at the start of the page on which it was revealed, probably a scant paragraph or two before it happened in the text. I have read actual mysteries that didn't pull this off as effectively as Mr. Bennett did. This is precisely how it should happen. I'm not left waiting and wondering when the reveal that I figured out on page 13 is going to show up nor am I left scratching my head at how this could possibly be the answer when it didn't seem to exist before that point. The red herrings, the subtle clues, the whole setup was perfectly conceived and executed. Moments of brilliance like this affect you emotionally as well as physically, and it is in no small part why I read books.
I noted on Twitter that I didn't want this to end. And I was right. I actually went through a brief period of mourning. The end was beautiful but still an end. So I suppose I will have to seek out other offerings from Mr. Bennett and await for more in the future. I leave off saying that I can't recommend this series or this book enough and that The Divine Cities is officially my favorite series that I have read to date. Bravo.