A review by mary_soon_lee
City of Lies by Sam Hawke

4.0

This is a strong debut fantasy novel, featuring generous helpings of intrigue and battle, together with a mystery component woven into the story. While in some ways treading familiar ground, featuring young protagonists struggling against the odds for the greater good, it also contains satisfyingly distinctive elements, such as an emphasis on poison. Jovan, one of the two point-of-view characters, is trained to protect his friend and future leader from being poisoned. Equally unusually, Jovan is obsessive-compulsive -- not to the extreme extent of Orson Scott Card's Hang Qing-Jao in "Xenocide," but enough to both shame and burden him. The second point-of-view character is Jovan's sister, Kalina, and indeed the book has strong and varied female characters. I found both Jovan and Kalina sympathetic, and the book largely compelling, though there were points in the first third where my interest dropped. I note that the fantasy content in the book is relatively understated. I'm already looking forward to the next volume.