A review by wiltedpages
City of the Plague God by Sarwat Chadda

5.0

The book opens with Sikander Aziz, a 13 year old boy who works at his parents’ deli and shoves himself into work to avoid dealing with accepting the death of his brother, Mo, who died two years ago. Since then, Mo’s best friend, Daoud has moved into Mo’s room and annoys Sik just like Mo used to.

On one particular night, he hears noises outside so he goes outside of the deli to investigate, armed with a wok (this is important because he only fights with food for the rest of the book). He goes outside to see two ugly alien creatures that are intently discussing how to take Sik out of his home, for unknown reasons. Soon after the creatures get violent, a ninja shows up to save Sik by fighting off Toady and Ratty (the nicknames Sik gives to the monsters).

The next day at school, Sik is covered in hives, courtesy of Sidana and Idiptu (aka Toady and Ratty). Almost immediately, he’s thrown in detention for being snarky in class, along with his classmate, Belet, who’s a snooty, rich, possibly British, student who’s supposedly gotten kicked out of every school she’s been in so far. When they encounter some bullies on their way to detention, Belet beats them up, just like Sik’s mysterious ninja savior from the night before. Wanting answers, he’s brought to Belet’s house, where her adopted mother, Ishtar, explains that Nergal wants something from Sik.

Sik still has no idea what Nergal wants.



I loved this book. I really really hope there’s more. Sarwat Chadda is a fantastic writer and this is the best book I’ve read in over a year, no doubt. 5/5.

For my full review: check out my blog: https://wiltedpages.wordpress.com/2021/01/10/book-review-city-of-the-plague-god-by-sarwat-chadda/