The City of Dusk

The Dark Gods #1

by Tara Sim

The Four Realms—Life, Death, Light, and Darkness—all converge on the city of dusk. For each realm there is a god, and for each god there is an heir.

But the gods have withdrawn their favor from the once vibrant and thriving city. And without it, all the realms are dying.

Unwilling to stand by and watch the destruction, the four heirs—Risha, a necromancer struggling to keep the peace; Angelica, an elementalist with her eyes set on the throne; Taesia, a shadow-wielding rogue with rebellion in her heart; and Nik, a soldier who struggles to see the light— will sacrifice everything to save the city.

But their defiance will cost them dearly.

Set in a gorgeous world of bone and shadow magic, of vengeful gods and defiant chosen ones, The City of Dusk is the first in a dark epic fantasy trilogy that follows the four heirs of four noble houses—each gifted with a divine power—as they form a tenuous alliance to keep their kingdom from descending into a realm-shattering war.

Genres: Fantasy, LGBT, Adult, Queer, Fiction, Lesbian, High Fantasy

544 pages, Paperback

First published March 22, 2022

About the author

Tara Sim is a YA and adult fantasy author found in the wilds of the Bay Area, California. When she's not writing about magic, murder, and mayhem, she drinks tea and wrangles cats.

Reviews

[jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is wayyyy too long for a first installment and its definitely YA, not adult, but im pretty sure i still liked it overall?

i will say this book starts off with a bang. the prologue had me instantly hooked. its the right combination of mystery, imagery, and darkness. i mean, just read this.

and that kind of immersive writing definitely stays throughout the story. the magic system is also super cool, the world-building is unique, and the different heirs feel like real people. overall, the storytelling is pretty top-notch and theres a lot to like about this.

but man, i just cant get over how dragged out it all feels. there is a lot going on plot-wise, but the pacing is just sooo slow. i felt very conflicated while reading because i was enjoying the story, but i just couldnt wait for it to end. lol. i was also pretty bummed that this wasnt as adult as i thought it was going to be - its just YA dressed up a little bit.

but even with the little hiccups, i liked this more than i didnt. its very reminiscent of some great books like ‘there will come a darkness,’ ‘wicked saints,’ and ‘all of us villains.’ so if you enjoyed those, this is something you can be looking forward to!

thank you so much, orbit books, for the ARC!

↠ 3.5 stars

[Lex Kent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Personal update: Hey everyone. After much waiting, and complaining, I finally had my carpal tunnel surgery this week. Had a slight complication and instead of the ten minute surgery I was promised, it was over an hour in the operating room. I am doing good now, so no worries, it’s just going to be a little longer of a recovery than expected. I’m typing this one handed which is not fun so I’m not sure how many reviews I will be popping out in the short term. The ones I do write might be shorter in length, but it will all depend on how I’m feeling that day. Hopefully I can use this time to catch up on a bunch of reading and get back to my normal reviewing self soon. Thanks for being patient with me everyone.

This was okay. There were a good number of parts that I enjoyed, but there were also some big issues starting with it not being the book I thought I was getting. First, I want to be clear that I love YA fantasy. In fact, it is one of my very favorite categories to read I enjoy it so much. However, I picked this book up specifically because it did NOT have the YA tag on it. I was in the mood for a queer dark adult read and I thought this would be just what the doctored ordered. Instead, this felt very YA and never hit the level of dark I was hoping for. I was so excited when one of the mains started murdering people just because I wanted anything dark to finally come. In the end, I have read much darker YA stories and many YA stories where the characters acted more adult and didn’t have that juvenile feel like in this book. I think I have to tag this book YA and not adult.

This was a large book and that is one of its problems. I could have easily cut out at least 100 pages and not even batted an eye. There was a lot of space being taken up with things that didn’t feel important enough, and when I finally was really into a part, it was over all too soon. This book has a large cast of main characters and unfortunately they don’t all get equal treatment. You can tell that the author really likes Taesia as she gets time and storylines that make her far more interesting than the others. The only other character I enjoyed was Angelica, because who doesn’t like a stereotypical angry lesbian that wants to burn the whole world down. I was actually hoping that a romance would spark between these two (Taesia is bi) because they have this wonderful enemies relationship going on that just sparks with real chemistry. There is a reason enemies to lovers is one of the best tropes ever, but instead Taesia is wasting time on a different character who is too sensitive about her having great powers. I won’t give away how the small relationships seem to be playing out, but I do see at least some potential in a certain love interest for Angelica and I really hope that it will be better explored in the next book.

As other reviews have mentioned, this book could be a bit of a slog at times. Luckily, the last third of the book, basically when the women characters decided to finally fight back, the book got much more interesting. However, the big reveals -there are more than one- and the whole puzzle and how everything comes together, does get a bit convoluted. We are told it is this, but it is actually this, but then this and this. There is a random character -that I think I remember meeting once- that is all of a sudden important, and other similar things happened that didn’t sit so well with me. There was one twist that I thought was pretty good, but the rest felt like the author threw everything but the kitchen sink, hoping something would stick.

TLDR: A dark adult fantasy book that wasn’t very dark or very adult. If you like epic books with big casts of characters, this might work for you. In my opinion there could have been less pages and less main characters for the book to feel like less of a slog. The book was wonderfully queer, but there were only a couple characters that you end up caring about. In the end this was about an average fantasy read. I think I would read the sequel, but I’m not going to be counting down the days until it comes out.

A copy was given to me for a review.

[fleshy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not like it for a number of reasons others may not share, or indeed even care about. This is going to be very pedantic.

This is a review of the ARC, but the issues I have are foundational to the story or with the writing itself. I avoid explicit spoilers.


Worldbuilding?

We are told the names of the garments worn, but not what they look like. I know what ghagra choli and salwar are, but how many other readers do? Does it even mean the same thing in this universe? Why are characters in this world wearing Punjabi garments? Stuff like that comes with history and tradition attached to it, it isn't a generic term like "pants" or "shirt". The lack of description forces readers to stop and look up all of these undescribed items, or just ignore them.

I think referring to the study of various realms as "planar" is interesting, but it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Planar doesn't refer to planes of existence. It refers to things that are two-dimensional, on mathematical planes. Squares, triangles, Cartesian coordinates i.e. the xy-plane. The idea of co-existing realms being laid out on a circle is kind of silly. Reality isn't flat. Why wouldn't the realms overlay each other, like in His Dark Materials or Wheel of Time? Is this just a heuristic tool for students in the universe to understand how the realms relate, or is this how they are literally constructed? We later learn that yes, the realms are actually constructed like that, when Dante and Taesia are shown a "veritable map of the universe"

"Miko was lovely…she still wore traditional Azunese clothing of a wrap dress with a silken waist sash and long, trailing sleeves." So, she's Japanese? Wearing a kimono? Why use "ghagra choli" but not "kimono"?

I have no idea what kind of climate they live in. There are bay laurels, palm trees, thyme, lavender, lemon trees, plum trees, all in the same area. The lemons and plums are ripe during autumn, which is the season for neither fruit (we have them year round because produce is shipped worldwide). It's very incoherent.

The abundance of paper bothered me. Particularly since one of the issues this world is experiencing is widespread degradation of plant life. At one point a character gets tired of counting all of the dead trees he sees.

Why is the king attending to so many matters personally? It's really claustrophobic. The government has no apparent structure or function. The Houses appear to have little to no political power, or anything in particular to do other than indulge their own neuroses. Who actually runs the city?

The people have a lot of luxuries which are products of our own modernization. For example, having breakfast at a cafe. Cafes are ubiquitous in part due to globalization. Ease of access to products, fast transportation, mass production and agricultural advancements (automation driving down the price of things like flour, coffee, nuts). Going to a cafe isn't something a person in a pre-industrial society would do. Someone who is wealthy would have someone cooking for them at home. Someone who is poor would do their own cooking, if they ate in the morning at all. The existence of restaurants and cafes assumes a sufficient customer base for such establishments. You cannot have modern luxuries without attendant modern technology. It doesn't make any sense. Where, by the way, is coffee coming from in this world? Where is it being grown, who is importing it?

Overall, the impression is that the author took things from our world and mashed them together without rhyme or reason. There is no sense of Vitae's unique cultures or histories when so much of our own world is being co-opted.


Word/phrasing issues; anachronisms; similes

There are many. If I cataloged them all I would never have finished the book.

"Angelica Mardova, stuck in a meeting she’d long tuned out of, wanted badly to play her violin." - Why do violins exist in this world? Is this Earth? Some kind of alternate Earth? And "tuned out of"? That saying comes from radio, tuning out of a station. Do radios exist in Vitae? Do people in this universe even know what a radio wave is, or has their magic stagnated technology and science for centuries?

"fang-like thorns" - A thorn doesn't need to be described using something else that is sharp and pointy.

"We will have the full force of the militia at our beck and call." - The dude saying this is their king. Why doesn't he have a standing army? Militias are typically formed out of civilians pressed into immediate service by necessity, it isn't your regular military force. Their military is constantly referred to as a militia.

"...his dark hair and beard liberally seasoned with salt." - At first I thought he rubbed salt into his hair as a cultural thing, which would have been neat. But, no, his hair is just turning gray.

"...[a] building austere yet beautiful in its flowing lines and repeating detailing." - An "austere" building wouldn't have any detailing. It's austere.

"A small torus spun around her, knocking away a nearby piece of bone." - A torus is a donut. So a donut of air was spinning around her? "Torus" is used multiple times throughout the book. What does "within the cold torus of her power" mean? Magic comes in the shape of donuts? She's standing in the hole of her magic donut? Like, use cyclone, whirlwind, vortex; air moves in plenty of cyclical ways which have their own terms.


"The scent of marigolds and lilies permeated the air, thick and cloying." - Yeah, lilies can have a strong perfume, but marigolds? Marigolds smell like wet grass, they aren't a particularly fragrant flower. If you're going to use things from our world to populate this fantasy world, they are going to carry the same traits unless you state otherwise.

"Crystal-colored eyes" - what color is this? What kind of crystal are you referring to? Do you mean clear colored eyes?

"One woman had a domesticated beast perched on a shoulder, a monkey-like creature with talons and folded wings, which she continuously fed bites of canapé to." Giving something talons and wings renders it very un-monkey-like. Besides that, how exactly do you feed bits of a canapé? It's a cracker with things stacked on top of it, not really easy to turn into bits. You're supposed to eat it in one bite. Why do they even have canapés? It's a French hors d'oeuvre. Does France exist here? Why don't they have their own name for this food?


Various items are reinforced with a vague "metal alloy," but steel (an alloy) is specifically named elsewhere.

"Camilla…put a hand on the prelate’s arm as if for balance. Nikolas raised an eyebrow… was she setting her sights on Lezzaro?" - She clearly did not put her hand on his arm "as if for balance". The readers know it's a flirtatious move. Nikolas explains it in the next line. Why is there a simile here? It serves no purpose at all, it's just misinformation.

"This was about more than survival; it was about protecting the others, making sure they all got out of this alive." - Says it isn't about survival, then explains how it is about survival.

"ruin this man’s whole career", "If it brings you joy" - Please don't include memes in your fantasy novel.

Writing, in general

"Risha was helpless against a small smile." - No mention of anyone smiling before or after this. No idea of how this "helplessness" manifests. Is it only Taesia's "small smile" that affects her? It feels like a placeholder line.

"...the ceiling was lacquered blue with a golden setting for the chandelier, as if to mirror the sun in the sky." Lines like this really give away the YA-ness of the entire book. There are ways of saying something like without directly comparing it to the sun. We all know what the sky looks like. People don't need everything spelled out for them.

"Somehow her mother made even the act of sipping tea a wry gesture." - What does this actually look like? Did she raise her eyebrows as she took a sip? Was her voice mocking? Did she smirk?

The naming of things is super on the nose. Their main city is called Nexus. Light-based sun worshippers are Solaran from Solara. Night-dwellers are Noctans from Noctus, who have blue-black skin. (Kind of a strange coloration for a people that exist in darkness, not exactly the ideal environment for melanin production. Wouldn't they be pale?) Light and shadow familiars are called Lux and Nox (very few familiars are named because there aren't enough Latin synonyms).

Plot

The story is broken up into four parts for no discernible reason. No theme, timeshift, or perspective differentiates the parts at all. I guess it's because there are four realms and four houses? I don't know, it seems a pointless division. In part IV, a character continues the lack of subtlety present throughout the book and makes this comparison for the reader

Nothing really happens in the first part. We are introduced to the cast. That's basically it. Like, maybe show them doing something dangerous, or interesting? Consequential? The scenes themselves are dull, lacking tension, unsurprising. Like, I've seen all of this before. Full Metal Alchemist has a failed summoning, the Chronicles of Amber has Random walking the Pattern, Naruto has shadow manipulation and music-induced magic. There's nothing original, not even in the food, clothing, or names.

I don't understand the king giving Nikolas a leadership role. He's never had one before, he's not part of the military, he has no known relevant skills, his father didn't endeavor to position him so. There is no basis for it whatsoever. An unknown enemy is wreaking havoc in your city, and you choose a whiny, untested 20-something to head the investigation? Why exactly is this inept king in power? Moreover, investigators had already gone over the first site he visits. So, what was the point of him and some soldiers going there? Nothing ever comes of this investigation subplot. All they ever do is go look at things for the reader's sake, and introduce a fifth protagonist

The sealing of the realms occurred 500 years prior, and only now their world is seeing consequences? I don't really understand, and the way it's talked about makes it seem like a recent event. Like this line: "The inter-realm import [corona sails] had once been common enough, but after the Sealing five hundred years ago, the precious little left now drove ever-increasing prices on the market." How much of it had been imported so that the world is only experiencing privation five hundred years later? How are these sails even functional after centuries? We know how immediately supplies vanish once the source is cut off, we all have first hand experience from COVID. There are other indicators that the five hundred year time span is faulty. One character says her great-great-grandmother was alive before the Sealing. Unless their family has unusual longevity, the great-great-grandmother was born at most two hundred years in the past.

The Noctan and Solaran refugees have also been trapped in their realm for five hundred years. So the racism and xenophobia has persisted for that long? Skeptical. Not saying such things can't persist for long periods of time, but we know the status quo does eventually change, that attitudes change with each passing generation. At some point they stop being refugees and simply are regular citizens.

The story becomes incredibly repetitive by the end. The characters cycle through the same thoughts chapter after chapter. Everything is bogged down by the same exact issues the characters had at the beginning of the book. Subplots fall apart after a chapter or or totally forgotten by the end. It's just like, this thing is inevitably going to happen and no one can or will do anything about it, and we get to watch everyone spin their wheels for 500 pages.

The finale is a no-holds-barred god melee which you could see coming from the very beginning (because we are told from the beginning what's going to happen at the end). Twists are heavily foreshadowed, at no point is any revelation surprising. It strongly reminded me of Bleach, particularly the end of the save Rukia arc.

Characters

The characters sound and act like teenagers, though they are all in their 20s.

Taesia chases after a thief in a market, like the opening scene from Aladdin. She uses a shadow like it is a physical object with substance. I never understood that about shadow magic. Shadows aren't tangible things. A shadow is an obstruction of light. Shadows being portrayed as physically manipulable isn't unique to this story, but a general gripe I have.

"Burial wreaths blessed by the Vakara family will give them some comfort." Not to mention line our pockets. To the Vakaras, death was a business." - Does Risha think others are entitled to her mother's free labor? It isn't cruel or nefarious to pay people for handling the various things that go into funerals. Apparently Risha is 21. What an incredibly immature thought for someone that age.

Angelica loses her temper during a voluntary lesson she is paying for. I have a hard time sympathizing with her when her behavior is embarrassing. There is some explanation given for this, familial expectations for her to not use instruments as a crutch for her powers, but it's all told in a few lines. There is no shown build up of frustration to justify her childish outburst.

There's a lack of growth for all the characters. They do change, but not emotionally. Their ignorance and unearned confidence persists, with new powers arising as needed for plot reasons.

I really didn't like any of them. A few of the side characters are okay, like Miko, Brailee, and Cosima, but the POV characters by and large suck. They are all childish, selfish, short-sighted, petty, cruel, and have no positive characteristics to balance them out. Of course it's through no fault of their own because they're godspawn (or "gods' pawns", actual wordplay within the novel).



This offers nothing new or interesting to the genre. It continues the "new adult" tradition of banal YA plus sex scenes. The worldbuilding is poorly contrived, the magic unsystematic, the characters basic, and the plot predictable. And it was boring.

It doesn't hold up to the epic, doorstopper fantasies the author aspired to. It doesn't build on or add anything to established tropes. The whole time I just kept thinking that I've seen it all before and that I wanted it to end.

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

UPDATE: $2.99 Kindle US today 8/25/2022

I don’t feel this was an adult book so I’ve labeled it young adult. It was good, too long though.

Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾

[Jasmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

The City of Dusk by Tara Sim is an unputdownable start to an epic fantasy trilogy.

Four realms.
Four gods.
Four houses.
Four heirs.

Before the gods cut the realms off from each other, there was a natural flow of energy between them. Since the Sealing, the four realms are all slowly dying. In the City of Dusk, the four rival heirs devise a plan to restore balance to the realms.

Although the heirs are technically vying for the crown, they have formed a loose friendship of sorts over the years. Their quest to save their realm will constantly test their loyalty to each other and their families.

This book has it all: complex world-building, fully-fleshed characters, political intrigue, and an intriguing magic system. While it follows classic fantasy tropes, it is still an utterly compelling read. I could not read it fast enough, especially with frequent mini cliffhangers. It is a long and detailed book, but I never once felt bored while reading it.

It takes cultural inspiration from our world. There’s also some great queer representation.

There are many characters in this book. It took a bit to get a handle on them all. At first, I kept getting two characters mixed up, but their voices became clear soon enough. Taesia Lastrider has to be my favourite character. She will go to any length to seek revenge for wrongs done to her or her family.

This book was so gripping right from the beginning. This first book takes place in one realm, but I can’t wait to see how big the world gets in the next instalment.

Thank you to Orbit Books for the finished copy to review!

https://booksandwheels.com

[Lucie V. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book via NetGalley (thank you Orbit Books). All thoughts and opinions are my own.

✅ Gorgeous cover
✅ Dark atmosphere (kind of)
✅ Magic-system
✅ Lies, schemes and betrayals
✅🆗 Politics
✅🆗 Plot (repetitive)
✅🆗 Characters
✅🆗 World-building
🆗 Pace
🆗 Predictable twists and ending

2.5 stars

I apologize for the long review, but I have mixed feelings about this one. I know many people adored it, I saw many 5 stars reviews, but this one just was not meant for me I guess.

Status came hand in hand with responsibility if you were a member of the Houses. Yet each household also had to contribute something to Nexus, to the kingdom, and to the throne in order to maintain that status. The Vakaras performed all things necromantic, the Mardovas cultivated powerful mages, the Cyrs produced and oversaw soldiers for the militia, and the Lastriders acted as inter-realm emissaries of trade.
Or at least, they had before the Sealing. Now, with resources both natural and Other-Realm dwindling in Vitae, the Lastriders worked with the surrounding countries to conserve what little was left.

After The Sealing that happened 500 years ago, the city of Nexus lost the favor of the Gods and has been isolated from the rest of the universe. The city is now dying, the near forests are withering and the lakes and oceans are receding and drying up. On top of it, a rebel group known as The Conjurers are doing dark magic and threatening the city, forcing the heirs of the four noble families to embark on a journey to save their city before it’s too late.

The four noble houses in Nexus are as follow:
House Mardova worships Deia and is the house of elementalists.
House Cyr worships Phos and is the house of lumins (light magic)
House Lastrider worships Nyx and controls shade and shadows
House Vakara worships Thana and has necromancy powers

I have mixed feelings about this book. There are some aspects that I enjoyed, like the darker atmosphere, the magic system, the social structure, and the world-building, but there are other aspects that fell a little short. The pace is not bad, and the plot is promising, but I can’t help but feel that not much happened for a 550 pages book. It takes a while for the story to really start moving, then it is well-paced until it starts dragging on again. Overall it was a little underwhelming. The second half of the book is also quite repetitive, and I feel as if many sub-plots were just dropped after a few chapters or were not really relevant to the main story.

The main plot-line is about a series of mysterious magical events that happened because a group known as the Conjurers are doing dark magic illegally and the King needs to create a task force to investigate these events, find The Conjurers, and eliminate the threat. Honestly, though, I don’t understand why the King would choose 20 years old Nikolas who has never had a leadership role before and is not particularly good at investigating or fighting, as the leader of the task force. There is also the fact that this investigation leads nowhere. All they do is run around and investigate the scenes of the crimes, but they never really find anything relevant. The information we get about The Conjurers comes from their apparent leader who just happens to meet with some of the main characters and talks to them about his goals (and also invites them to join him and his group, just like that).

“The rich get richer and the poor get poorer, all while our realm dies.”

There is a political plot-line, since the Holy King is without an heir, and the noble houses would all like for their heir to be named as the Holy King’s heir. This book is a good mix of politics and mystery. As some of the main characters investigate The Conjurers, others are trying to find a way to undo The Sealing, while their parents are pushing them to be more powerful, more efficient, more likable, and more indispensable to the King and the city, all in the hopes of having someone from their House chosen as the heir to the Holy King.

“You wear masks, Taesia,” he whispered. “One day you’re the hero, the next you’re the thief, the fool, the killer.” His voice broke on the last word, and Taesia’s breath caught. “What will you do when all your masks fall? Who will you be then?”

All of the noble Houses’ heirs have secrets and their own personal agendas. This added a layer of scheming and lying as even those who were friends or romantically involved had to lie to each other and even betray each other. Sometimes to protect themselves, other times to follow their parents’ schemes. Their parents also played a big part in this dynamic full of mistrust and secrets as they are all hoping that their child will be chosen as the Holy King’s heir, thus giving them power and authority over the other houses.

Risha Vakara was earth—stubborn, as Eran had said. Nikolas Cyr was air, flighty and unpredictable. Dante and Taesia Lastrider were water: wily, unruly, adaptable.
And she...
Angelica touched her fingertips to the fire coming from the wyvern’s mouth. She traced the golden curve of it, a familiar hunger gnawing at her gut.
Angelica was fire, ready to burn whoever stood in House Mardova’s way to ash.

This book has chapters from 7 different points of view, and while all the characters were different and had their own personality, I felt sometimes that they lacked a certain depth. It was also harder to get attached to the characters as we constantly jumped between them. The fact that we have so many POVs does help the plot move along (even though it is repetitive), and it gives us different perspectives on the politics and relationships, but at the same time, some characters were less interesting and duller and I didn’t enjoy their chapters as much.

Overall, there is not much character growth in this book. They are less ignorant by the end of the book, but their emotions and personality are much the same, and honestly, they acted like rash teenagers at times, even though it is said that they are all in their early 20s and have been raised and groomed to be the noble heir of their family.

“They didn’t need the gods. They didn’t need the king. They didn’t even need the Houses. They needed to protect their people, and somewhere along the line, that had been forgotten in exchange for salivating over a rusty throne.”

Taesia Lastrider is the younger sister of the heir of their house, Dante. Where Dante is full of projects and ambitious ideas to help save the town, Taesia only wants to help, without all the politics involved. She does not have the ambition to become an heir, she only wants to be able to live and explore the world in peace. Her brother Dante dreams of finding a way to undo the Sealing, give back the power to the noble Houses, and get rid of the Holy King once and for all.

Risha is the heir of the Vakara family and is a powerful necromancer. She formed a friendship with Taesia, against their parents' wishes, many years ago, and honestly, there is not much to say besides that. Her parents are pushing for her to get married, but she does not seem to be too happy about it, yet she does nothing to get them to change their minds. She is not a bad character, but she was pretty bland and ordinary.

“A scepter of ice, a throne of obsidian, a cloak of storm wind, and a crown of flame,” her mother used to whisper as she tucked Angelica in at night. “They’ll be yours, someday. The king will have no choice but to name you as his heir. You’ll be the strongest ruler this realm has ever seen.”

Angelica has been groomed by her mother since she was a child to become indispensable to the Holy King. There is a lot of pressure on her to be named the Holy King’s heir, especially since, according to her mother, she is not powerful enough. She needs to prove to her mother that she is worthy of the family name she bears and needs to become the heir to make her family proud.

“What the king has given you is a high honor, and you are not prepared for it. You will do all you can to not bring shame to House Cyr. You will not ruin all my years of effort to see us on the throne.”

“Nikolas didn’t want glory or prowess. He didn’t want to lead, or be considered an expert in anything. He had never been ambitious, or even particularly determined. He wanted quiet, and solitude, and maybe a dog.”

Nikolas lives in the shadow of his dead brother. His brother is the one who was great at everything and made their father proud. As a result, his father has been hiding him, hoping to keep the truth about Nikolas’ weak powers hidden, but at the same time, jumping on any occasion to help the Holy King in order to gain his trust and have his son be named royal heir.

The world-building is well thought out, but not developed enough, and it still remains a usual and basic YA world-building. There are hints of Indian culture, mostly in the clothing some Houses wear, and also some titles that seemed to be Spanish, but it’s not really explained or developed. The words are just thrown into the story without much description.

On a side note, the 500 years gap between The Sealing and the present day is also not always consistent. One character mentioned her great-great-grandmother being alive before The Sealing, but nothing hints at the fact that these people can live longer than "regular" humans, so how is it possible? I also find it weird that they experience problems such as lack of resources due to The Sealing because they cannot really import from other realms anymore, only 500 years later. If the city was truly cut off from the rest of the world, I would expect the shortage to happen way sooner than 500 years later.


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[hillary]

Dnf 9%

8/05/2022: It's been two months and every time I think about picking this book up again I dread it. I don't think I can force myself to try to read it, I'm one who pretty much understands how I'm going to like a book from the first chapters and this is definitely not for me. I don't want other people to be dissuaded from picking this book up because it's been well-loved in the last months. I blame the marketing honestly, sometimes it just makes or breaks something completely for me.

4/02/2022: I’m sad to announce I’m not connecting with this book. It reads so sooo juvenile and the marketing is definitely wrong when it says this one is a “dark adult fantasy”. I will check out the audiobook when it comes out to see if I’m in the wrong mood at the moment and/or if I need a different format to enjoy this story.

******

A queer goth metal fantasy with four different worlds, 7 povs, 5 magic systems about four heirs with divine powers that have to forge an unlikely alliance.....give this to me NOW

More details:
- murderous gods
- celestial weapons
- shadow familiars
- necromancy
- demons

[Tara Sim · Rating 5 out of 5]

idk I think it's pretty cool

[Era ➴ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me an ARC!

I was promised a queer dark fantasy with a headstrong group of main characters, and it??? actually??? delivered??? I’m shook.

The storyline was actually kind of fully summarized by the synopsis, which is interesting because the synopsis was pretty vague. But still - this book is about four heirs of godly Houses, each of them struggling to find their place in their city, which has been abandoned by the gods.

The aesthetic vibes are present and the plot is set up so perfectly with this. There’s hints of rebellion, romance and danger immediately, just from the beginning concept.

It took me a long time to read this - partly because it’s way longer than I expected it to be, but also because it took me a hot second to really understand what was going on. I’m horrible at comprehending the beginnings of books, if you didn’t know that already. Also, I had finals the week after I started this. I had no time to read.

“They didn’t need the gods. They didn’t need the king. They didn’t even need the Houses. They needed to protect their people, and somewhere along the line, that had been forgotten in exchange for salivating over a rusty throne.”

The world-building was really not that complex in its concept, but for some reason I still couldn’t really understand it. I couldn’t tell if Realms were supposed to be more like different worlds or different continents, and I didn’t understand the explanation of the Solar Plane.

That might just be my fault for having low comprehension skills. Because aside from the questions I had, the rest of the setting was written beautifully. It was very aesthetic, in-depth without being overly complicated, and integrated into the world perfectly.

I loved the different cultures that were included, and the whole setup of Nexus. It allowed a lot of diversity and so much more variety in the settings and clothing. The politics and intrigue were woven in so nicely.

“Taesia nearly choked on her coffee. She’d rather jump into a shark’s maw than have Don Kermin insist, yet again, that she ought to marry his pockmarked son - considerably more awkward due to the fact she had once snuck away from a dinner party to kiss his daughter instead.”

The characters were all unique and interesting in their own rights, though it felt like Tara Sim was kind of playing favorites in her narratives.

Taesia felt like she got a lot more attention and hype than any other character. I mean, this queen deserved it, but I did want to point that out. She was fierce, stubborn and rebellious. She was very morally-gray, very impulsive, and an absolute icon.

Taesia was the middle child of House Lastrider, the House descended from Nyx, the god of darkness. She had the ability to control shadows and was pretty powerful in doing that. But she was also the middle child and therefore didn’t care for her responsibilities as a child of a House.

I loved her compassionate and protective side, and the way it fit into her personality as a reckless fiend. She was easily riled but cared for people, protective of the people she cared about but not exactly prone to making great decisions. In short, a complex queen of a character with very cool powers.

“The smile that crossed her face was reminiscent of early winter nights and the cool weight of deep water. All silent killers.”

Risha was determined, strong and family-oriented. She was passionate but pragmatic about her decisions. I loved the way her Parithvian culture (based on Indian culture) was included so seamlessly in her perspective.

She was definitely the dutiful mom-friend, but she still had a very captivating POV that isn’t usually associated with the “boring” responsible characters like her. Mainly because her development was so steady and immersive.

Risha was the eldest daughter of House Vakara, descended from Thana, the goddess of death. She had the ability to summon, control and release spirits. I didn’t really understand how she used her ability, which was kind of unfortunate, because it was really cool. I was just confused about the fact that she needed to use string to form spells while all the other Houses could just…use their abilities.

“After twenty-one years as a daughter of House Vakara, Risha knew firsthand the power of a well-tailored gown. Of stepping into a pool of silk, or satin, or chiffon, and letting it hug her body as a sheathe hugs a knife. Everything had to be precise - the cut, the length, the color, the accents. Gloves or no gloves, a necklace or a bracelet, her hair up or her hair down.
Over time, she had come to realize they were their own sort of armor.”

Nikolas was a quiet, caring force who didn’t want to deal with the expectations and society of Nexus and the Houses. He was more busy dealing with his grief and home life, and honestly, I loved his internal conflict and the fact that he was just so secretly insecure. He was outwardly stoic, inwardly struggling, and the balance his character struck was unique despite the fact that he could have easily fit into multiple tropes.

Nikolas was the heir of House Cyr, descendants of Phos, the god of light. He had the ability to manipulate light and, as the heir, had the responsibility of measuring up to what everyone thought he should be.

“Nikolas didn’t want glory or prowess. He didn’t want to lead, or be considered an expert in anything. He had never been ambitious, or even particularly determined. He wanted quiet, and solitude, and maybe a dog.”

Angelica was my least favorite, even though I was really hoping to like her. I related to her a lot, actually. But for some reason, I didn’t care about her as much as I did everyone else - which is why I mentioned earlier that it felt like some characters got more love than others.

Angelica, the heir to House Mardova, had been raised by her mother to aspire to the crown. She was an elemental with an ability impediment, unable to access her magic properly without the use of musical instruments. She doubted herself and her strength a lot, but also held herself to such high standards that she came across as stiff and condescending to everyone else.

I had such high hopes for her character, but I felt like so much of her narrative was repeated and her emotional side wasn’t really touched on as much as it could have been. She had a lot of potential, and what was there was strong, but I think she could have been developed more.

“Mardovas had always favored ambition over piety.”

Julian was very interesting, and I loved reading his POV, but I didn’t really connect to him. He was stubborn, had secrets, and did his best to stick to his own set principles. He added a lot to the story, especially his scenes with Taesia, but I found it hard to really relate to him emotionally.

Dante was Taesia’s older brother and the heir to House Lastrider. He wasn’t as important as the others, but I loved his characterization and the role he played in the story. His perspective and his actions were what really rolled the plot into action and he was very major to the book.

“Dante’s chest tightened. Yes, it was a risk, but it was one he had to shoulder. Not only as heir to his House, but because he'd been born into a place of privilege, of power, that ultimately meant nothing if he didn’t use it for the benefit of those without it.
The gods had refused to speak to him so far. But one way or another, he would make sure he was heard.”

The romance also delivered. Each ship had something to cheer for, even if they were rival ships (though there wasn’t exactly a love triangle, just one character transitioning between partners and the interesting dynamics that you would expect from that). But still.

All the banter, tropes and characterization that I love (and the angst, because I am a sucker for it) were included somehow? And yet the romance didn’t detract from the plot. None of it felt forced or unnecessary.

“He stared at her, a girl of darkness and desire, and wondered what it was like to be so certain of yourself. She didn’t understand his situation, couldn’t begin to fathom how far he was from the person she saw in him.
But he wanted to be that person. Would do anything to be that person.”

The writing was beautiful and suited the book exactly. It was very aesthetic and lyrical, but still direct. It represented each character and POV in its own unique terms, which is something that’s kind of underrated. Making the writing suit each character is important in multiple-POV books. And this book did it.

“Grief was not a simple thing. It crushed and gnawed, turning you to gristle between its teeth. When it eventually spat you out, it left you broken down and stripped into layers, left you to carefully rebuild what had survived and discard what no longer fit.”

“Power. She wanted power.
And beyond that, to be followed simply because she was someone worthy of being followed. To be smiled at the way her father used to smile when she sang, the only way she could express what she was feeling without having to construct it into a sentence.”

The social commentary was also really well done. The world of Nexus was constructed into a clearly unfair society that very much reminded me of the one we currently live in (which I would assume is the point?) and the character narratives on this were perfect.

The diversity, representation, and writing of oppression and politics was so good and it really got the message across.

She laughed humorlessly. “The rich get richer and the poor get poorer, all while our realm dies.”

Overall, this book (and consequently this review) were way too long. Not gonna lie about that. But I enjoyed that length and I enjoyed the book, so I can’t complain. It was so compelling, so complex, but still so fun and powerful. It’s definitely the kind of dark fantasy experience that I live for.

I knew I was going to enjoy this book when I read the synopsis, but I didn’t realize it would be to this level. With most ARCs, I can usually tell if it’s an ARC. There’s just that vibe. But somehow, this felt like a whole published book.

[megs_bookrack]

Tara Sim tackles Adult Fantasy??



Added bonus, this drop-dead gorgeous cover!!

[Rachael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book blew me away. From the EPIC world building, beautiful elemental magic system, culturally diverse & inclusive characters, political intrigue, glorious revenge violence, and the religion & mythology, I knew this was going to be great.

“Four worlds, four realms, four gods, all on the same plane of existence. Except now the roads between those realms were cut, the Cosmic Scale no longer in alignment. Each of them floated independently of one another, abandoned by the gods that had birthed them.”

The main characters are from the four noble houses, descended from the gods: Dante & Taesia Lastrider, Risha Vakara, Nikolas Cyr, and Angelica Mardova. They each have inherited divine magical powers, and are all competing for the kings favor. But when demonic conjurers start causing problems, and the annual Godsnight celebration draws closer, their realm starts to crumble. When each heir tries to figure out their own way to save the realm, they learn nothing is as it seems.

“He was afraid, and she loved every second of it.”
“She had always been and would always be Taesia Lastrider, carrier of godsblood and feared by the people. Fine then, she thought, straightening to her full height as those around her flinched. Fear me.”

Although extremely dark at times, I absolutely loved the family dynamics! Especially the Lastrider & Vakara families. My new favorite character is Taesia Lastrider. She’s the feisty, “spare” middle child, wild, powerful, unpredictable, and hilarious. Taesia also takes after her older brother Dante, both extremely loyal and willing to go to great lengths to protect their family & people. I also loved the dynamic and comedic relief from the guards Paris, Julian, and Taide.

With so many developments and plot twists, I was constantly surprised and completely captivated by this dark epic fantasy. Honestly the only thing that could’ve made this better is if my E-ARC copy included a map! Because I adore fantasy world maps. Bravo Tara Sim!!! I’m so excited for the rest of this trilogy.

Thank you to Tara Sim and Orbit Books for the opportunity to read this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

[Mogsy · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2022/04/18/...

Well, I tried, I really did. After all the glowing praise I’ve heard for The City of Dusk by Tara Sim, all I really wanted was to love this book, but unfortunately it was just not meant to be. Despite the lush magic and vivid descriptions that made the world-building stand out, there were a number of other reasons which made it difficult for me to connect with the story.

At the heart of it are four heirs of the noble houses of Nexus—Mordova, Vakara, Lastrider, and Cyr. Each one worships a god from which they are descended, leading to a precarious and tense situation following a catastrophic event known as the Sealing five hundred years ago which forced all four of the houses to exist one plane.

We have Angelica Mardova, an elemental worshipper who has plenty of ambition but is hobbled by her inability to harness the full potential of her magic. Then there’s Risha Vakara, a necromancer who must weigh her family’s hopes for her against what she wants for herself. Next is her friend Taesia Lastrider, who wishes she could wash her hands of house politics, but her brother Dante’s big plans seem to keep drawing her back in. And finally, there’s Nikolas Cyr, whose lack of experience and preparedness for the throne often makes him feel insecure and inadequate.

It is the hope of every house to some day undo the Sealing, and Dante Lastrider feels he’s getting close. But then he gets involved in some trouble, forcing his sister Taesia to step up and take charge. For the first time in centuries, it appears the houses’ connections to their gods can be feasibly reestablished once more, but there will be some dark magic required, and it all comes down to how far each heir is willing to go.

As many reviewers have pointed out, if there is such a thing as a “main” character in this ensemble cast, it would have to be Taesia. The focus seems to lean heavily on her, and her storyline also seems the most eventful and interesting. Unfortunately, this imbalance means the other characters feel neglected in comparison or aren’t as developed, and it was this disparity which also led me to feel dissatisfied with much of the overall story direction. Leaving aside that the fact none of the other characters were all that memorable and failed to make any lasting impression, I was simply not feeling their storylines as much because I was not as engaged.

And to be completely blunt, much of the plot was plodding and dull. That’s not to say it didn’t have its moments, but these little bursts of action and adventure were brief and far too few in between. Part of the problem is that the book’s greatest strength is also the source of its greatest weakness. I loved the rich magic system and the author’s attention to detail when it comes to bringing the world of Nexus to life. That said, all this information also made for an overwhelming experience, not to mention it bogged down the pacing. For a story with a relatively straightforward plot and uncomplicated themes, The City of Dusk felt unnecessarily bloated.

At least the writing style was exquisite, and Sim’s prose is beautiful despite feeling overly dense. There is a lot of exposition, however, and the battle to remain engaged is compounded considering so much of it is frontloaded backstory and explanations right off the bat. In my opinion there was also way too much going on, and the impression I got was that the author was juggling too many ideas and struggled to keep them all in the air. That’s the only explanation I can come up with to address why there would be glaring holes in certain aspects of the world-building, when for the most part everything else was handled so well.

At the end of the day, only the answer to one question matters, and it’s what I always use to guide me when writing a review. Did I enjoy this book? Well, I didn’t hate it, but I can’t say reading it did much for me either. More than once, I found I couldn’t wait for it to be over, just so I could put it away and move on. Despite some things that I really liked about The City of Dusk, I’m sorry to say that I just didn’t have that great a time with it overall, and I likely will not continue with the series.

[hiba · Rating 3 out of 5]

a fairly well-written novel with detailed worldbuilding, a cast of interesting characters, and an intriguing plot - for a debut adult fantasy that's kinda impressive.

i'll be honest though, this is a pretty generic fantasy story - the characters are all typical fantasy archetypes that don't go much beyond that (although i appreciate most of the main cast being queer and a world with no homophobia), the worldbuilding is cool but nothing stand-out, the plot is well-executed but also quite predictable - of course there's nothing wrong with any of that as long as the writing is engaging, which it is! i can see a lot of people absolutely loving this book - for me personally, it was missing a strong emotional core to really hook me. all the elements of a great fantasy story are here, but i simply didn't care enough and kept having to force myself to pick the book back up again.

i think if the main characters had stronger relationships with each other, instead of being in their own heads so much, it might have made a difference for me. what had me the most engaged in this book was nikolas and his grief over his brother - i also loved the inclusion of mental health in his arc, how his grief/depression affected his magic.

the finale was pretty well done and i'm intrigued by the possible romantic relationships the author has set up so i might check out the sequel.

thank you to netgalley for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The City of Dusk was like the Cheesecake Factory menu — it’s long, it’s full of things that sound absolutely amazing, and pretty much everyone can find something that they want in there. But nothing is done particularly well because there are too many elements and not enough focus. And everything is covered in cheese.

Listen, this one was just not for me. I wanted to love it for the necromancy and other dark fantasy elements. I felt like there were too many characters, too many different magic systems, and, I never thought I’d say this, too much world-building. This isn’t a standalone, but it felt like the author was trying to make it one by throwing in EVERYTHING into this first book rather than really honing either the character development or the world-building. I was definitely taken aback when the book ended the way it did— I thought the conflict would be resolved but nah. The ending was fantastic! I wish that the rest of the book had maintained that same flow and energy.

This story is also being marketed as a dark adult fantasy, but I feel like the writing style and dialogue lean much more YA than adult. No shade— we all know that I love a good YA book. But just trying to temper people’s expectations because I was surprised.

Will I read the second one? Probably. I can’t help myself.

Thank you Orbit and NetGalley for sending me an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Fanna]

16.01.2022 i now have an early copy wohooo
16.09.2021 oh, hello to this stunning cover!
06.03.2021 i cannot not be ✧ excited ✧ about this adult epic fantasy after reading the author's twitter thread about the main characters.

[Rachel (TheShadesofOrange) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars
Given the premise, I was initially surprised how traditional this book ended up being. In terms of diversity, it delivered fantastic queer representation. Otherwise, this felt familiar, but enjoyable.

This was classified as adult fantasy, but it definitely felt reminiscent of young adult fiction or at least a good crossover novel. 

Overall, I enjoyed this one. The characters were likeable. The prose were solid. I would recommend this book to readers looking for a new, diverse fantasy book.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

[Kristin Sledge · Rating 5 out of 5]

A realm cut off from magic and the Gods who can gift it is the setting of this debut novel in a new fantasy series. Four houses descended from Gods of neighboring realms are faced with a choice when magic begins waining. Will they unseal the locks put in place by their ancestors to open the flow, or could a more sinister plot be hiding behind it all? When murders achieved by conjuring demons cause panic and finger pointing amoung the houses can the heirs come together or will everything, including their realm, fall apart?

I can't praise this book enough. It was LONG and at times predictable but so worth it. Tasia's arc in particular was so much fun to watch uncoil. She is so morally grey she flirts with being morally black. He relationship with all the other houses and their heirs took so many u turns and off road adventures that she just kept you on your toes. The Pantheon of Gods was beyond words. The realms and their rulers bestowing power upon these descendents was enjoyable, especially as the reveals begin to unravel. Every piece of this novel was important, causing it to exceed page counts I normally look for but I'm so thankful I was approved for this title. Bring on book 2!!!!

Whew! She is one CHONKY book! 5 stars and eager for book 2! Recommended for fans of the Ashlords duology or those who want a fresh take on a Pantheon of Gods. As far as an age range goes I would say 12+ as there is a little romance but nothing unstable for preteens or teens. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Natasha Leighton · Rating 4 out of 5]

City of Dusk is the first in a lush new fantasy from the author of Scavenge The Stars and The Time Keeper Trilogy. An immersive world of shadow magic, vengeful gods and a world on the precipice of destruction, and the heirs of four noble houses—each gifted with divine power—who must form an alliance to keep their kingdom from descending into a realm shattering war.

I really enjoyed the lush, intricately detailed world-building and magic system with each of the four heirs (and their family’s house) descended from and connected to the powers of a specific god. I liked the concept of each god being linked to a different world as opposed to being apart of the same pantheon and their rivalries/issues with each other transferring to their descendants, it really added dimension to the plot.

There are several POV characters which I felt were really well written. They all have differing opinions and motivations which was really interesting to see how their though processes/ motivations and ethical opinions changed and developed as the plot progressed. I also like the vulnerability we get to experience through each of them—they may descend from gods but they’re all still fallible in some some way.

I have to say of all the heirs, Taesia was probably my favourite, she’s impulsive most of the time but her dedication and loyalty to her brother was incredibly endearing. She’s also the most morally grey of the bunch (though all of the POVs we encounter are fairly grey on the morality front) and I was fascinated by how she navigates her conflicting opinions and actions. But, mostly I absolutely loved her powers (as a descendant of Nyx the God of darkness, she has the ability to control shadows.)

The pace was okay but given how many POV characters we get, I did feel that the pace was a little slower than I would’ve liked but the almost non stop action and court intrigue (which really starts to pick up about a 25% in) did more than make up for it. Not to mention the exquisitely crafted, multi-layered plot and expert level scheming that occurs, as each heir vies for the throne.

I definitely found this a bit of a rollercoaster but the action and plot twists were exceptionally good—I honestly hadn’t expected almost any of the shocking , plot-twisty and deviously entertaining revelations. This was actually the first book by Tara Sim I’ve ever read and I’m certain it won’t be the last!

So if you love dark, epically magical fantasy that’s beautifully written and queer normative (in the best way) then I absolutely urge you to give this a read!

Also thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for the e-arc.

[charlotte, · Rating 2 out of 5]

five reasons you might want to read this book or the more honest version

Rep: lesbian mc, bi mcs, Indian-coded mc

CWs: gore, violence

[Cassidy Chivers · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well here we go how to I put into words why this book didn't work for me because it's a lot.

I want to start it by saying it's the authors first adult book and you can tell. This gap can be a hard one to jump and ended up one of the major flaws for me. I felt like the book was trying to be adult but falling prey to so many YA issues I no longer appreciate.

We had characters who were all about 22 who had 0 motivations to half the way the acted. Often things would happen in this book and the characters would just accept it. No questions asked or anything. I found the characters very whiney, some Insta love and two characters who hate eachother for no reason other then we are told they hate eachother and it's mean girl type stuff.

More issues
- it's repetitive. If one character finds out POINT A, we then have to read about all the other characters INDIVIDUALLY being told or finding POINT A. So many povs didn't progress the story further.

- Lots of side characters who are only around to advance the plot and tell our main characters things.
- I have a big plot issue that I can't say because it's a spoiler. But essentially half the plot was only around cause we just don't have smart characters who flip the page in a book.

My biggest issue with this book is it's just doing TOO much. I need someone to shake the author and say "hey less is more" by the end of this book I was so sick of "twists" I was so sick of new magic being introduced. I read HIGH fantasy with complicated worlds and magic systems. But couldn't understand half the stuff happening in this book. So much your told/things happen once and then are never explained. (Cough a scene where one character goes insane and does something that's never talked about again) I think there was potential here. But the author shoved the plot of three books into one book and made things way more complicated then it needed to be.

I truly wish I had dnf'd at 100 pages. Cause it just goes down from there.

[renee ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to Orbit Books and NetGalley for providing me with an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review

make sure to check out my blog !

rating: 3 stars!

Honestly, I think me and this book have a hate-love relationship. When I started reading it I expected to finish it really quickly because the premise was so good and I thought I was gonna fall in love with the story and the characters. To my disappointment none of that occurred.

The fact that it took me almost two months to finish this book speaks volumes. The writing and the characters were kinda bland and I just couldn’t get myself to enjoy this book for more than a couple chapters.

The City of Dusk didn’t lack mystery, romance or shocking betrayals but it was definitely missing the wow factor.

There were obviously some good parts like the magic system which was interesting to learn about but it was also not original or something never seen before. I think that a lot of the side characters like Jas and Julian were probably more likeable and better established than the main ones. I hated all of the main characters expect for Taesia but to be honest even she got one my nerves a lot.

I’m giving the book this rating for those small moments when it was what I wanted it to be. Hopefully the next book will reach the expectations that I set for this series!

[trishla ⚡ | YourLocalBookReader · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Death was lovely and sad, and never quite an ending"

The City of Dusk is Tara Sim's first journey into adult fantasy and I was blown away. This book has a little something for everyone, god based magic and powers, rebels, multiple POV's, politics, familiars and corruption arcs. There are so many complex moments that it takes a bit of time to get everything understood, but it's well worth the time.

There are four gods, four realms and four houses. Each family possesses different powers and have a loose and shifting alliance with the king. With no heir for the king, the four houses (Life - Angelica, Death - Risha, Light- Nik and Darkness- Taseia) are fighting it out for the throne. But in the background, each God has been closed off in their own realm, with a type of barrier keeping the worlds apart and effectively slowing killing Nexus. Some of the heirs believe there is another way, to open the barriers and bring the world back into cosmic balance. But with shifting alliances, betrayals and secrets, these heirs need to work together in a time where it'll cost them dearly.

Now, this book has a LOT going on, and a massive cast to match. Besides just the heirs, we have their siblings, parents, the Gods and various other people that come into play. I personally am biased towards Risha due to the South Asian rep (she's described in various BEAUTIFUL traditional Desi outfits) but it's clear that Taesia is the true star. Her chapters stand out and her inner turmoil is beautiful. But the other characters do not play second fiddle, there are truly no small parts in this book.

Overall this is a beautiful start to a dark fantasy chock full of morally grey characters with a unique magic system. I cannot wait to see what happens next!

rep // wlw mc, bi mcs, Indian MC

cw// gore, violence, murder

Find me on: instagram

Thank you to the publisher for sending me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Rach A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The vibes in this book are absolutely IMMACULATE. Truly spectacular, I am here for the goth metal fantasy about death gods and shadow gods and skeletons and spirits and a bisexual rogue who slowly descends into an absolute monster of a human and the monster hunter she is kind of falling for and the knives-to-throat-hair-grabbing relationship they have. Spectacular. It is like this book was made for me.

But the first 150-200 pages are so dense. The worldbuilding is so heavy, in that “I need to explicitly and directly tell the reader all these things about the world” way. It’s such a complex and dense set up, and thus the pacing is very slow and I agree with other reviewers that this could easily have been cut 100 pages and the pacing would have flowed a lot better.

In saying that, I say push the fuck through because the pay off is excellent, the characters and their relationships are wonderful and I support bisexual shadow dagger-wielding monster girls who want to tear the world apart and the boys they fancy.

Content warnings: blood and gore, murder, violence, dead bodies, cannibalism, self-harm, burns/burn injury, animal cruelty and torture, animal death, possession, sex, sex work

[Aly · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

Ah, this was so good! We dive right into the world and even though there are several main characters and houses and gods, the author does a great job of helping the reader understand everything and not get overwhelmed. The characters are different enough that I knew who was who and the powers they all have are interesting and unique. The pacing is well done, keeping steady until the last quarter then ramping up for an epic climax.

I love the idea of having families from different houses, each with their own abilities and responsibilities. There are elementalists, necromancers, and those with the power of either light or shadow. Each character is interesting and though some are more likable than others, they all had relatable moments. There's some romance, though it's on the backburner which was nice. I liked the focus on the gods and trying to open the portals to other worlds.

The ending is absolutely crazy and I didn't want to put the book down for a second. I'm already so pumped for the next installment!

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book and all opinions are my own. Thank you to Orbit Books and NetGalley for the copy

[☀︎El In Oz☀︎ · Rating 2 out of 5]

2/5

The start of a dark, YA adult fantasy crossover; The City Of Dusk has lots of potential. The world itself is extremely interesting, and the magic system, although loosely explained, is very solid and makes sense. I think the initial idea of this book is also very interesting, it’s just that the execution falls very flat.

As with many fantasy books, all of the characters fall into archetypes you can spot from a mile away. That means that most of the arcs and journeys are very easy to guess. The arguably main MC, Taesia, I personally despised. I hated her character and she just completely ruined the book for me. On the other hand, I really liked Angelica, despite the fact she got very little page time.

The book itself moves along at a snail pace, making it sort of a slog to get through. The interesting mystery is weighed down by lack lustre romances and lots of filler. The ending itself is somewhat interesting, but it’s not enough to make me want to continue the series.

[Laynie Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tara Sim completely consumed me with her adult fantasy debut. The City of Dusk was a world I could sink my teeth into, with a cast of queer characters I want to devote my life to. This quickly became my all time favorite fantasy, with it's beautiful prose, complex (but not confusing) magic, and plot twists that had me screeching. Utterly enchanting and I'm obsessed!

[౨ৎ]

thank you NetGalley for the arc !!

I loved the concept, got confused with the execution so dnf.

(Longer review to come)

[Lindsay · Rating 2 out of 5]

I persevered with this one because the difficulty level was set quite high and I was hoping that the author would lift as it went on. Sadly it fails on the majority of areas while delivering that increasingly tired end of first book cliffhanger.

This has a huge cast, with heirs of four families and their families, as well as key players in the drama including the king, the guard and the covert conjurer group. This is one of the reasons that I describe it as having a high difficulty level. Such a large cast of similar young people in similar positions are going to be difficult to give significant characterization differences to distinguish them. Unfortunately, while they have different magical gifts and different circumstances, their isn't any significant difference in character between them. Like a series of paper dolls with different illustration, they're all fundamentally the same. No difference in voice at all.

Additionally, the setting should be fascinating. It's a city that has previously had contact with different worlds and built itself up as a crossroads with significant populations of different sorts of humans from each of them, but has been cut off from those realms for some time. That should be wonderful to read about right? It's not. The writing here gives very little description of what the place or people are like.

Disappointing.

[Victoria (Victoriabooklover) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you Orbit for providing me with an early copy!

I forgot that I hadn’t rated this yet.

I think for this book I’ll have to try it again at a later date. The concept was great. The world was amazing. I was just….bored.

Nothing really happened until the end? And I hate books like that where I’m literally working to get to the last 100 or so pages. Reminds me of The Way of Kings. But much shorter. I’ll try this again when I’m in the mood for it, because I don’t want to give up on it. I still liked the characters for sure, and that’s typically enough to bring me back.

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

On the surface, I can't really point to any specific reason for my low rating here, so you can write this review off as this simply being the wrong book for the wrong reader, if you want. I do want to say up front that the complaint I'm seeing from most people is that this book "reads like YA", whatever that means. I don't buy that. This is an adult fantasy book. The characters are younger adults, like age eighteen to mid-twenties, but the writing itself is adult level, and so is the subject matter. That's not why I didn't like the book.

Before I get to explaining what cannot be explained, a little about the book. This is about a city called Vaega where live four noble houses and four heirs to the gods. (Don't ask me to explain, I still don't really understand it.) Each house's members are heirs to the gods' powers, but I guess the gods turned their back on the city like 500 years before? (Don't ask me to explain how they still have powers and all the other stuff they have if it's been that long, I still don't understand it.) So anyway, the main characters are four children of these houses who have to work together and stuff, to do, like. Things. I will be honest and tell you that in order to finish this book I had to listen to the audiobook instead of reading the hard copy and I still had a hard time with it holding my attention, so the speed just kept creeping up and up until it was as high as I could stand it, and I maaaay have missed quite a bit of story. Which I am honestly not bothered about because—and okay we've descended into criticism in the middle of plot explanation, so I might as well just give in.

The main thing with this book is that right away it was asking me to feel emotions for these characters and be interested in the world, and I don't think the book was written in a way so that could actually happen. I don't think this is a well-constructed story. My feelings about it sum up to: Too many characters, confusing worldbuilding, elaborate character relationships, unclear magic system, nothing emotionally "sticky" for me to grab onto. With the exception of that last complaint, these are all things I have read in books before that I have ended up enjoying. None of them are necessarily a hindrance to enjoyment of a book, or mean that book can't work in the end. Gideon the Ninth is the perfect example. You could apply all my surface level complaints to that story as well, but the difference is that Tamsyn Muir knows how to provide the reader with a story and emotional arc for her characters (not to mention an interesting and hilarious narrative voice) that overshadow the confusion and allow the reader to make their way to understanding without feeling like they are drowning. There are no writing lifelines in this book, you're just thrown in and expected to find something to grab onto on your own, and I never did.

With that said, I know this book has worked for some readers, so writing it off without giving it a try if the premise sounds interesting to you might be a mistake. I mean, there are e-book samples for a reason. Hell, just pick up a copy in a library or bookstore and try the first chapter. On the other hand, this has not been getting the best reviews from fantasy readers, and although most of them cite the "YA writing" as the problem, I think the problem is just the writing in general.