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A review by drakoulis
The City of Dusk by Tara Sim
5.0
The City of Dusk is out now!
The City of Dusk is the fascinating first book in Tara Sim's new dark epic fantasy trilogy: The Dark Gods !
Four realms. Four gods. Four noble houses. The realms were once connected, but not anymore. The portals are closed and the gods have abandoned their people.
The story is set in the realm of Vitae - more specifically in Nexus, also known as the city of dusk, capital of the kingdom of Vaega, and follows the heirs of four noble houses, each gifted with a divine power descending from their god.
Dante and Taesia of House Lastrider, masters of the Shades, a visionary charmer and a rogue free spirit.
Nikolas of House Cyr, soldier of the Light, searching for his own light.
Angelica of House Mardova, power-hungry Elementalist eyeing the throne.
Risha of House Vakara, Necromancer, fighting to keep the dead away from the living.
And Julian Luca, Hunter, with a strange power nobody has heard of.
The Houses have a rocky history of antagonizing each other, but if they want to save their city, the heirs have to work together, overcoming their complex personal relationships. The characters are not black and white, but various shades of grey-and willing to go to extremes to accomplish their goals.
This book is quite big, and has multiple plotlines, which makes the pacing a bit slow in parts of it. But it's all part of the bigger picture, and it pays out for a dramatic, breathtaking final part!
The worldbuilding is very detailed, from the garments and the weapons to the societal groups and the different way each of our characters sees the world.
The romantic subplots are not as prominent as I expected, but since it's the first book of a trilogy, we can expect more of it in the next books!
The magic system is interesting, the gods are terrifying and some scenes are really dark.
If I had to pick my favourite character, that would be Dante, and then Nikolas-especially when he was letting his guard now with a certain minor (or is he?) character.
The City of Dusk is another Tara Sim masterpiece after the Timekeeper series !
Thank you NetGalley and Orbit for the ARC!
The City of Dusk is the fascinating first book in Tara Sim's new dark epic fantasy trilogy: The Dark Gods !
Four realms. Four gods. Four noble houses. The realms were once connected, but not anymore. The portals are closed and the gods have abandoned their people.
The story is set in the realm of Vitae - more specifically in Nexus, also known as the city of dusk, capital of the kingdom of Vaega, and follows the heirs of four noble houses, each gifted with a divine power descending from their god.
Dante and Taesia of House Lastrider, masters of the Shades, a visionary charmer and a rogue free spirit.
Nikolas of House Cyr, soldier of the Light, searching for his own light.
Angelica of House Mardova, power-hungry Elementalist eyeing the throne.
Risha of House Vakara, Necromancer, fighting to keep the dead away from the living.
And Julian Luca, Hunter, with a strange power nobody has heard of.
The Houses have a rocky history of antagonizing each other, but if they want to save their city, the heirs have to work together, overcoming their complex personal relationships. The characters are not black and white, but various shades of grey-and willing to go to extremes to accomplish their goals.
This book is quite big, and has multiple plotlines, which makes the pacing a bit slow in parts of it. But it's all part of the bigger picture, and it pays out for a dramatic, breathtaking final part!
The worldbuilding is very detailed, from the garments and the weapons to the societal groups and the different way each of our characters sees the world.
The romantic subplots are not as prominent as I expected, but since it's the first book of a trilogy, we can expect more of it in the next books!
The magic system is interesting, the gods are terrifying and some scenes are really dark.
If I had to pick my favourite character, that would be Dante, and then Nikolas-especially when he was letting his guard now with a certain minor (or is he?) character.
The City of Dusk is another Tara Sim masterpiece after the Timekeeper series !
Thank you NetGalley and Orbit for the ARC!