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City of Others
Dive into a world where magic lies hidden just below the surface in this charming urban fantasy full of workplace found family, queer romance, and supernatural creatures straight out of Southeast Asian lore, from debut author Jared Poon.
In the sunny city of Singapore, the government takes care of everything—even the weird stuff.
Benjamin Toh is a middle manager in the Division for Engagement of Unusual Stakeholders (DEUS), and his job is keep the supernatural inhabitants of Singapore happy and keep them out of sight. That is, don’t bother the good, normal citizens, and certainly don’t bother the bosses. Sure, he's overworked and understaffed, but usually, people (and senior management) don’t see what they don’t want to see.
But when an entire housing estate glitches out of existence on what was meant to be a routine check-in, Ben has to scramble to keep things under control and stop the rest of the city from disappearing. He may not have the budget or the bandwidth, but he has the best—if highly irregular and supernaturally inclined—team to help him. Together, they’ll traverse secret shadow markets, scale skyscrapers, and maybe even go to the stars, all so they can just do their goddamn job.
In the sunny city of Singapore, the government takes care of everything—even the weird stuff.
Benjamin Toh is a middle manager in the Division for Engagement of Unusual Stakeholders (DEUS), and his job is keep the supernatural inhabitants of Singapore happy and keep them out of sight. That is, don’t bother the good, normal citizens, and certainly don’t bother the bosses. Sure, he's overworked and understaffed, but usually, people (and senior management) don’t see what they don’t want to see.
But when an entire housing estate glitches out of existence on what was meant to be a routine check-in, Ben has to scramble to keep things under control and stop the rest of the city from disappearing. He may not have the budget or the bandwidth, but he has the best—if highly irregular and supernaturally inclined—team to help him. Together, they’ll traverse secret shadow markets, scale skyscrapers, and maybe even go to the stars, all so they can just do their goddamn job.
367 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 13, 2026
80 people are currently reading
8309 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 161 reviews
November 16, 2025
I've got two words for you: undead ducklings. If that's not a selling point for a book, I don't know what is. City of Others is an absolutely delightful read, kind of The Rivers of London series meets Singaporean folklore. There are wyverns and golems and jinn and diviners and magical markets and alternate dimension piranhas and, yes, undead ducklings, and it's all really quite entertaining and fun.
This novel is humorous in parts yet still surprisingly deep. It explores the themes of grief and loss and and self-sacrifice and friendship, and the worldbuilding is absolutely brilliant. The magic system is unique and the characters likeable. It's obvious that the author is well-versed in the subject of Singaporean folklore and there are a huge variety of magical creatures to be found within the pages of this book.
Honestly, I'm already obsessed with Ben and his motley group of magical bureaucrats and this is only book one in the series.
If you enjoy the Rivers of London novels, this book is an absolute must-read. DEUS is basically Singapore's version of the Folly, and Ben Toh and Peter Grant have very similar job duties (that is, they're both responsible for handling the weird supernatural shenanigans that occur in their respective countries). This book, however, does feel a lot more metaphysical than anything Ben Aaronovitch has written and the magic system is wholly original.
So, yeah. This novel is tremendously fun and magically-fueled and full of amazing creatures and characters and THERE ARE UNDEAD DUCKLINGS, YOU GUYS. Seriously, I could have just ended this review after the first sentence because nothing else I've written is going to convince you to read this book if that hasn't.
4.75 stars, rounded up.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Orbit Books for providing me with an advance copy of this book to review. Its expected publication date is January 13, 2026.
This novel is humorous in parts yet still surprisingly deep. It explores the themes of grief and loss and and self-sacrifice and friendship, and the worldbuilding is absolutely brilliant. The magic system is unique and the characters likeable. It's obvious that the author is well-versed in the subject of Singaporean folklore and there are a huge variety of magical creatures to be found within the pages of this book.
Honestly, I'm already obsessed with Ben and his motley group of magical bureaucrats and this is only book one in the series.
If you enjoy the Rivers of London novels, this book is an absolute must-read. DEUS is basically Singapore's version of the Folly, and Ben Toh and Peter Grant have very similar job duties (that is, they're both responsible for handling the weird supernatural shenanigans that occur in their respective countries). This book, however, does feel a lot more metaphysical than anything Ben Aaronovitch has written and the magic system is wholly original.
So, yeah. This novel is tremendously fun and magically-fueled and full of amazing creatures and characters and THERE ARE UNDEAD DUCKLINGS, YOU GUYS. Seriously, I could have just ended this review after the first sentence because nothing else I've written is going to convince you to read this book if that hasn't.
4.75 stars, rounded up.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Orbit Books for providing me with an advance copy of this book to review. Its expected publication date is January 13, 2026.
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January 23, 2026I love a good bureaucrat urban fantasy (see If Found, Return to Hell) so this book, set in an underfunded Singapore government department dealing with supernatural creatures, was an instant buy. The setting is great, with a strong political flavour in the background (overbearing government, people in the system trying to do the good thing while aware their department has a bad oppressive history), the magic system is very unusual, and I loved the wide range of supernatural creatures.
Where is falls down for me is, basically, the author very clearly didn't want anything bad to happen to his characters, so it doesn't. This really feels like a trend at the moment, so quite possibly it's a feature not a bug and I am simply out of step with the zeitgeist. It wouldn't be the first time. But when you establish that the MC is super-powerful and the very few things he can't do can be done by one of his allies or a deus (ha) ex machina, plus everyone they care about is loyal and true, the reader (or at least this reader) inevitably stops fearing for them and the tension dissipates.
Which, again, may well be what people are looking for, God knows we're all seeking comfort in books. It's not a nothing-happens cosy read by any means, the plot throws some wild turns with antagonists and ramps up the threat, but the decks are stacked in favour of the MC. If you want urban fantasy in a setting that isn't way overdone (coughLondoncough) and which isn't going to heap you with angst and trauma, have at it.
Where is falls down for me is, basically, the author very clearly didn't want anything bad to happen to his characters, so it doesn't. This really feels like a trend at the moment, so quite possibly it's a feature not a bug and I am simply out of step with the zeitgeist. It wouldn't be the first time. But when you establish that the MC is super-powerful and the very few things he can't do can be done by one of his allies or a deus (ha) ex machina, plus everyone they care about is loyal and true, the reader (or at least this reader) inevitably stops fearing for them and the tension dissipates.
Which, again, may well be what people are looking for, God knows we're all seeking comfort in books. It's not a nothing-happens cosy read by any means, the plot throws some wild turns with antagonists and ramps up the threat, but the decks are stacked in favour of the MC. If you want urban fantasy in a setting that isn't way overdone (coughLondoncough) and which isn't going to heap you with angst and trauma, have at it.
January 3, 2026
If you liked The Last Smile in Sunder City by Luke Arnold, I think you’ll enjoy this but where that book follows a rugged detective with a troubled past working alone to help the magical creatures in the city, in City of Others you have the corporate version of that. Literally following a very very small branch of the Singapore government involving just a few people.
We mainly follow Ben who works in a corporate office for a department specifically to keep supernatural beings at bay. They are allowed to exist but they have to be kept quiet and not be made aware by humans. Ben gets word that an apartment building in the city is getting a strange maybe ghostly signal and that cannot work, whatever it is could be disturbing the tenants. He goes there and it’s much worse than they thought and that’s where the plot begins.
This was fun and interesting. Good side characters though I didn’t have a favorite. A grumpy/sunshine romance trope with Ben being the grump. It had its humor for sure but had a high stakes plot still since lives were at stake but jokes were still being made along the way to give it a light hearted feel. Though I never felt any real danger for the city no matter how dire the author made it seem. I also had trouble visualizing what was happening during most of the action scenes. Overall I liked it.
We mainly follow Ben who works in a corporate office for a department specifically to keep supernatural beings at bay. They are allowed to exist but they have to be kept quiet and not be made aware by humans. Ben gets word that an apartment building in the city is getting a strange maybe ghostly signal and that cannot work, whatever it is could be disturbing the tenants. He goes there and it’s much worse than they thought and that’s where the plot begins.
This was fun and interesting. Good side characters though I didn’t have a favorite. A grumpy/sunshine romance trope with Ben being the grump. It had its humor for sure but had a high stakes plot still since lives were at stake but jokes were still being made along the way to give it a light hearted feel. Though I never felt any real danger for the city no matter how dire the author made it seem. I also had trouble visualizing what was happening during most of the action scenes. Overall I liked it.
January 19, 2026
City of Others by Jared Poon
The DUES Files series #1. Science fiction, mythology. Diverse M-M romance.
Benjamin Toh is a government middle manager in Singapore. He deals with aliens, ghosts, gods and other visiting species. During an investigation he’s attacked by wyverns and finds out his boyfriend is other. Together Ben, Adam, and coworkers try to find out why a block of the city is missing to prevent another taking all the innocents with it.
🎧 I listened to an audiobook version of this book narrated by David Lee Huynh who created a wonderful performance of the characters. Picture southeast mythology and a bit of science fiction and you’ll be listening to a humorous adventure in action. Anxiety and worry and exhaustion come through clearly in the audiobook.
Zombie ducks and advice to “floss more” and “I’ve never seen anyone eat so much dairy and not be mooing” made this story a romp of entertainment.
I received a copy of this from Hachette Audio.
The DUES Files series #1. Science fiction, mythology. Diverse M-M romance.
Benjamin Toh is a government middle manager in Singapore. He deals with aliens, ghosts, gods and other visiting species. During an investigation he’s attacked by wyverns and finds out his boyfriend is other. Together Ben, Adam, and coworkers try to find out why a block of the city is missing to prevent another taking all the innocents with it.
🎧 I listened to an audiobook version of this book narrated by David Lee Huynh who created a wonderful performance of the characters. Picture southeast mythology and a bit of science fiction and you’ll be listening to a humorous adventure in action. Anxiety and worry and exhaustion come through clearly in the audiobook.
Zombie ducks and advice to “floss more” and “I’ve never seen anyone eat so much dairy and not be mooing” made this story a romp of entertainment.
I received a copy of this from Hachette Audio.
November 22, 2025
I had a blast with this one. What starts out as a funny romp turns out to carry a refreshing amount of depth in this urban fantasy novel full of monsters and mysteries. Set in an alternate version of Singapore, City of Others follows a government bureaucrat named Ben as he investigates a strange occurence. Along the way, he collects absurd companions and enemies. There's an undead time traveling cat. There's a plucky half djinn intern. There's an invisible wyvern. There's a demigod prophet who sleeps with a plush anthropomorphic egg. Most importantly, there's Ben himself, who has his own set of uncanny abilities. On one or two occasions, he wields powers that feel a little convenient, but it mostly happens in more minor moments. All his biggest victories feel earned.
The setting is unapologetically imaginative, wild, hilarious, immersive, and fun, but there are dark undercurrents to it. This alternative version of Singapore has plenty of Lovecraftian horrors to go around. It has some very human horrors too: bigotry, a history of occupation and colonialism, and plain old office drudgery. Ben also has his own personal issues to deal with, especially with his unprocessed grief for his mother and his stunted relationship with his aging father. The narrative deftly weaves in philisophical and political ideas in order to tackle these tough themes with the care, nuance, and sophistication they deserve. Jared Poon's writing approaches everything with a precision that is almost academic without forgetting the power of spectical when it comes to fantasy stories. There's some bloat and repetition at times, but the plot is entertaining and propulsive enough that you can just rush right past it without getting bogged down.
City of Others is pitched to fans of The Rivers of London and A Master of Djinn. I'd additionally recommend it if you liked The Witness for the Dead, The Last Sun, White Trash Warlock, The City We Became, and Black Water Sister. While it's not quite as innovative as The Saint of Bright Doors, I also think there are some surprising similarities there too. Poon basically takes the best of a whole lot of modern urban fantasy books, and gives you an experience that is both familiar and wholly unique. I'm thrilled to see there are plans for a sequel. This book stands alone, but there are absolutely loose threads can still be explored, and I can't wait to do so.
~Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a Digital ARC. All opinions are my own.~
The setting is unapologetically imaginative, wild, hilarious, immersive, and fun, but there are dark undercurrents to it. This alternative version of Singapore has plenty of Lovecraftian horrors to go around. It has some very human horrors too: bigotry, a history of occupation and colonialism, and plain old office drudgery. Ben also has his own personal issues to deal with, especially with his unprocessed grief for his mother and his stunted relationship with his aging father. The narrative deftly weaves in philisophical and political ideas in order to tackle these tough themes with the care, nuance, and sophistication they deserve. Jared Poon's writing approaches everything with a precision that is almost academic without forgetting the power of spectical when it comes to fantasy stories. There's some bloat and repetition at times, but the plot is entertaining and propulsive enough that you can just rush right past it without getting bogged down.
City of Others is pitched to fans of The Rivers of London and A Master of Djinn. I'd additionally recommend it if you liked The Witness for the Dead, The Last Sun, White Trash Warlock, The City We Became, and Black Water Sister. While it's not quite as innovative as The Saint of Bright Doors, I also think there are some surprising similarities there too. Poon basically takes the best of a whole lot of modern urban fantasy books, and gives you an experience that is both familiar and wholly unique. I'm thrilled to see there are plans for a sequel. This book stands alone, but there are absolutely loose threads can still be explored, and I can't wait to do so.
~Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a Digital ARC. All opinions are my own.~
November 26, 2025
Saw Jamie's review and got curious!
A story of an overworked Singaporean government worker? That sounds like some of my friends...
Jokes aside, I would like to appreciate the author and everyone else who helped in publishing a fantasy book about Southeast Asian folklore! I used to dream about days like this.
I’m glad we have more representation in books nowadays, from Jesse Q. Sutanto's Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping On a Dead Man , and now this upcoming fantasy book to be released in 2026!
As a Southeast Asian, I grew up listening to stories about a lot of creatures/supernatural entities mentioned in this book. It is so entertaining to see the author build a whole story based on them and create a fictional government organization that monitors them. (Although if I am being honest, I did not know toyols are supposed to be in the form of ducklings?)
The book has a perfect balance of humor and danger, and the characters are absolutely delightful. Aside from all the hilarious and flirty banter between Ben and Adam, and how protective Ben is of his whole team, the book also talks about grief, although in a fantasy way, where this grief turns into something that could literally consume the whole country.
I loved the adventure and the enchanting magic sprinkled throughout the plot, and I'm excited to hear that there will be a second book. I can't wait to see more readers, especially those unfamiliar with Southeast Asian folklore, get sucked into this story.
Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for the e-ARC!
A story of an overworked Singaporean government worker? That sounds like some of my friends...
Jokes aside, I would like to appreciate the author and everyone else who helped in publishing a fantasy book about Southeast Asian folklore! I used to dream about days like this.
I’m glad we have more representation in books nowadays, from Jesse Q. Sutanto's Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping On a Dead Man , and now this upcoming fantasy book to be released in 2026!
As a Southeast Asian, I grew up listening to stories about a lot of creatures/supernatural entities mentioned in this book. It is so entertaining to see the author build a whole story based on them and create a fictional government organization that monitors them. (Although if I am being honest, I did not know toyols are supposed to be in the form of ducklings?)
The book has a perfect balance of humor and danger, and the characters are absolutely delightful. Aside from all the hilarious and flirty banter between Ben and Adam, and how protective Ben is of his whole team, the book also talks about grief, although in a fantasy way, where this grief turns into something that could literally consume the whole country.
I loved the adventure and the enchanting magic sprinkled throughout the plot, and I'm excited to hear that there will be a second book. I can't wait to see more readers, especially those unfamiliar with Southeast Asian folklore, get sucked into this story.
Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for the e-ARC!
December 28, 2025
another mid book 🥲
January 21, 2026
City of Others by Jared Poon
City of Others introduces Benjamin Toh, a mid‑level civil servant in Singapore’s secret Department for Engagement of Unusual Stakeholders who manages the city’s supernatural inhabitants, from jinn and wyverns to undead ducklings, with wit, heart, and occasional chaos. When a residential block vanishes in an eerie wave, Ben and his eclectic DEUS team must untangle bureaucratic mysteries and metaphysical danger while juggling office politics, personal grief, and a budding romance, all against a brilliantly imaginative urban fantasy backdrop inspired by Southeast Asian folklore.
From the moment I met Ben’s exhausted, self‑doubting inner landscape I felt deeply engaged with his emotional pull toward both duty and connection: his grief over family, his awkward but tender romance with Adam, and his desire to protect the “Others” resonated in a way that surprised me. The worldbuilding felt wonderfully inventive and lived‑in, and the found family dynamic kept me smiling, though at times the pacing rushed past moments I longed to linger over. Overall this debut is delightful, smart, and warm.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Because it artfully blends dazzling worldbuilding with heartfelt emotional depth.
City of Others introduces Benjamin Toh, a mid‑level civil servant in Singapore’s secret Department for Engagement of Unusual Stakeholders who manages the city’s supernatural inhabitants, from jinn and wyverns to undead ducklings, with wit, heart, and occasional chaos. When a residential block vanishes in an eerie wave, Ben and his eclectic DEUS team must untangle bureaucratic mysteries and metaphysical danger while juggling office politics, personal grief, and a budding romance, all against a brilliantly imaginative urban fantasy backdrop inspired by Southeast Asian folklore.
From the moment I met Ben’s exhausted, self‑doubting inner landscape I felt deeply engaged with his emotional pull toward both duty and connection: his grief over family, his awkward but tender romance with Adam, and his desire to protect the “Others” resonated in a way that surprised me. The worldbuilding felt wonderfully inventive and lived‑in, and the found family dynamic kept me smiling, though at times the pacing rushed past moments I longed to linger over. Overall this debut is delightful, smart, and warm.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Because it artfully blends dazzling worldbuilding with heartfelt emotional depth.
January 24, 2026
Had mostly fun with this one. Enjoyed the setting and most of the magic. Had some silly stuff going on, some of which felt a little over the top.
There's also undead ducklings.
There's also undead ducklings.
January 4, 2026
This was such a fun and engaging read. I really enjoyed the concept of an overworked government agency tasked with handling supernatural occurrences, especially set in an alternate version of Singapore, it felt fresh and creative without being overwhelming.
The worldbuilding was imaginative and easy to sink into, blending folklore, bureaucracy, and urban fantasy in a way that worked really well. The humor landed for me, too: witty and clever without feeling overdone. I especially liked the workplace dynamics and the ragtag team energy, which added a lot of charm to the story.
Ben was a likable and relatable main character, and I found myself rooting for him as he navigated strange cases, unusual beings, and office chaos. The mystery element kept things moving, and I was consistently curious to see what would happen next.
Overall, this was an enjoyable, well-crafted urban fantasy that was fun to read and easy to get invested in. I’d happily pick up more set in this world.
The worldbuilding was imaginative and easy to sink into, blending folklore, bureaucracy, and urban fantasy in a way that worked really well. The humor landed for me, too: witty and clever without feeling overdone. I especially liked the workplace dynamics and the ragtag team energy, which added a lot of charm to the story.
Ben was a likable and relatable main character, and I found myself rooting for him as he navigated strange cases, unusual beings, and office chaos. The mystery element kept things moving, and I was consistently curious to see what would happen next.
Overall, this was an enjoyable, well-crafted urban fantasy that was fun to read and easy to get invested in. I’d happily pick up more set in this world.
November 22, 2025
This book had me at (from a blurb):
So yes, fantasy Government minions are my jam, apparently ... I love the two main comparisons for this book, A Master of Djinn and Rivers of London, and this book does vibe well with those, but also brings its own magic system, folklore and character relationships. The office politics was rather close to home for me, LOL, but luckily the fantasy parts of the book drew me right in and avoided this feeling like a busman's holiday. I did feel the pace wobbled a bit in places, and I'd like more depth from the side characters -- but hopefully this will turn into a longer series and bring all of that out.
Current release date is mid-January, definitely consider popping it on your Want To Read for then!
This review is based upon a complimentary advance reading copy provided by the publisher.
Benjamin Toh is an overworked and underpaid middle manager in a government department tasked with keeping the supernatural population of Singapore happy and out of sight.
So yes, fantasy Government minions are my jam, apparently ... I love the two main comparisons for this book, A Master of Djinn and Rivers of London, and this book does vibe well with those, but also brings its own magic system, folklore and character relationships. The office politics was rather close to home for me, LOL, but luckily the fantasy parts of the book drew me right in and avoided this feeling like a busman's holiday. I did feel the pace wobbled a bit in places, and I'd like more depth from the side characters -- but hopefully this will turn into a longer series and bring all of that out.
Current release date is mid-January, definitely consider popping it on your Want To Read for then!
This review is based upon a complimentary advance reading copy provided by the publisher.
January 13, 2026
I want to wish a very happy pub day to debut author Jared Poon today!
City of Others is my first debut of 2026 and what a debut that was! I immediately asked about book 2 after I finished it. Creative, heartwarming, and exciting, this was a fun arc to receive.
I want to say this was my first book set in Singapore and I really enjoyed the Southeast Asian lore in the urban fantasy setting. While the magic was pretty handwavy and sometimes did feel a little convenient here and there, overall it was neat to see how the various creatures, magical humans, and other Others interacted and lived around each other.
The storytelling was interesting and something that doesn’t always work for me. Poon though managed to make it fit this narrative really well. It almost had this cozy and confidential feeling to it, like the narrator was telling the story to us directly. Things are explained to the reader when it’s not necessarily needed in the story itself because the characters already know these things. They’re done specifically for the benefit of the reader. That oftentimes feels like info dumps and too convenient, pulling me out of the story. Here though, it works because it already feels like the MC is talking to us and wants to make sure we’re able to follow along with the necessary knowledge. It probably also helped that I just really enjoyed learning all these bits and pieces. It makes me wonder which aspects were purely for the benefit of this magical world and which came from real-life inspirations.
I know some people struggle with foreign words used in books, but I thought this was handled really well. While I didn’t understand everything, the words and phrases that were very important to the story usually were explained soon after being used. I did choose to look up some extra ones here and there, which helped me form a better picture in my head, but overall Poon did a good job explaining what was necessary.
The characters were really fun, with a bit of a found family feel to it by the end. The story was narrated from a single POV, but we also got to know his parter and close coworkers. The MC had an extreme emotional awareness, which probably would’ve felt too forced in other stories but worked here due to his magical abilities. I liked watching his transformation from being very independent to accepting his found family. Though I really liked his partner as well, that character did feel a little inconsistent sometimes, going from not knowing and understanding much to suddenly knowing a lot about supernatural things. I’m not sure if his intuition just worked well in those settings or what. Overall though, I liked this group and thought they were great to follow through this adventure.
Those were a lot of words to say I liked these people, the setting, the magic, the lore… Book 2 is apparently being edited now so hopefully it won’t be too long before I can get my hands on it. I like it when authors take a very mundane job, like a government worker here, and spin a fun fantasy tale around it. It worked for me in Fred the Vampire Accountant, in The Justice of Kings, and in My Boss is the Devil. Though not all of those had the same vibes, if you also like that kind of thing, definitely give City of Others a try! Speaking of vibes though, fans of Jester by Tim Carter might also enjoy the narrative style with its cozy aspects and humor!
City of Others is my first debut of 2026 and what a debut that was! I immediately asked about book 2 after I finished it. Creative, heartwarming, and exciting, this was a fun arc to receive.
I want to say this was my first book set in Singapore and I really enjoyed the Southeast Asian lore in the urban fantasy setting. While the magic was pretty handwavy and sometimes did feel a little convenient here and there, overall it was neat to see how the various creatures, magical humans, and other Others interacted and lived around each other.
The storytelling was interesting and something that doesn’t always work for me. Poon though managed to make it fit this narrative really well. It almost had this cozy and confidential feeling to it, like the narrator was telling the story to us directly. Things are explained to the reader when it’s not necessarily needed in the story itself because the characters already know these things. They’re done specifically for the benefit of the reader. That oftentimes feels like info dumps and too convenient, pulling me out of the story. Here though, it works because it already feels like the MC is talking to us and wants to make sure we’re able to follow along with the necessary knowledge. It probably also helped that I just really enjoyed learning all these bits and pieces. It makes me wonder which aspects were purely for the benefit of this magical world and which came from real-life inspirations.
I know some people struggle with foreign words used in books, but I thought this was handled really well. While I didn’t understand everything, the words and phrases that were very important to the story usually were explained soon after being used. I did choose to look up some extra ones here and there, which helped me form a better picture in my head, but overall Poon did a good job explaining what was necessary.
The characters were really fun, with a bit of a found family feel to it by the end. The story was narrated from a single POV, but we also got to know his parter and close coworkers. The MC had an extreme emotional awareness, which probably would’ve felt too forced in other stories but worked here due to his magical abilities. I liked watching his transformation from being very independent to accepting his found family. Though I really liked his partner as well, that character did feel a little inconsistent sometimes, going from not knowing and understanding much to suddenly knowing a lot about supernatural things. I’m not sure if his intuition just worked well in those settings or what. Overall though, I liked this group and thought they were great to follow through this adventure.
Those were a lot of words to say I liked these people, the setting, the magic, the lore… Book 2 is apparently being edited now so hopefully it won’t be too long before I can get my hands on it. I like it when authors take a very mundane job, like a government worker here, and spin a fun fantasy tale around it. It worked for me in Fred the Vampire Accountant, in The Justice of Kings, and in My Boss is the Devil. Though not all of those had the same vibes, if you also like that kind of thing, definitely give City of Others a try! Speaking of vibes though, fans of Jester by Tim Carter might also enjoy the narrative style with its cozy aspects and humor!
December 12, 2025
Actual rating 2.5. Tw for on-page animal death in chapter 2
*I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.*
Highlights
~tend your Garden
~relationship barracuda are a thing now
~undead ducklings are surprisingly badass
Well, this turned out to be extremely not-for-me.
In so many ways, City of Others feels like a breath of fresh air: the Singaporean setting is completely new to me, there’s no werewolves or vampires in sight, and the main character Ben and his love interest are already dating when the book starts. Bonus: Ben’s magical power is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. (And that’s saying something, when you’ve read as much fantasy as I have!)
Ben – Benjamin – is the core of the tiny DEUS, the government department responsible for managing the supernatural community and their concerns. When he’s not drowning in paperwork, he’s helping a family of goblins find a school that will accept their child as a student, or a goddess deal with a racist landlord who keeps hiking the rent. He’s fairly cynical about the DEUS as a body – they’d need so much more funding, and bosses who aren’t idiots, to really start fulfilling their mission – but he’s a genuinely good person who is always trying to help. He reminded me very strongly of the best kind of social worker – which is arguably what he is, really. He and his team get caught up in a deeply weird case of strange and dangerous happenings centred on a block of flats; they’ve never seen anything like it before and have no idea what’s going on, but if they don’t figure it out, a lot of people are going to die.
The stakes, they are plenty high!
I have never been to Singapore, but I loved it as a setting here. Poon draws on Singapore’s long history as a cultural melting pot for inspiration for the fantastical elements of the book, especially Singapore’s immigrant communities. The way in which those communities have been treated by the real government is mirrored in DEUS’ history with the country’s ‘Others’ (the catch-all term for everyone who’s not a magicless human), a bloody legacy that Ben and his team have to wrestle with when trying to do outreach or gain cooperation. The enormous VARIETY of Others and their abilities was so much fun: the vast majority of them were drawn from folklore and mythology I barely know at all, and that was so much more interesting than the same handful of vampires/werewolves/witches we usually see in Urban Fantasy. MORE OF THIS, PLEASE AND THANK YOU.
On that note, Ben’s magic was fascinating. He’s a Gardener, which means he can manipulate the ‘garden’ of his soul – an inner landscape that manifests as a garden, where memories can be trees and emotions are flowers or weeds depending on whether he wants to cultivate them or not. We repeatedly see him uproot things like petty jealousies, or irrational anger, things he doesn’t want to let shape him, become him. Initially, this seemed like a very low-key kind of magic – though I loved how he could keep himself calm in a fight by weeding away fear, things like that – but quickly we discover that it’s not so: Ben is more like the mythological kind of martial artist, able to make himself very fast and strong. (I admit, this made no sense to me – I didn’t understand how his Gardening affected his body – but I got the impression I wasn’t supposed to think about it too hard.)
Over the course of the book, Ben discovers more and more applications for his Gardening…and to be honest, I got bored very quickly. It was happening so fast, and it felt like there were no limitations on this power at all, and that’s not the kind of superpower I enjoy. Almost every time a new obstacle arose, there was some way to Garden a solution – and not through awesome outside-the-box thinking, but through a previously unknown aspect of this power. Now and then there’s an assist from someone else, but generally, the only times Ben can’t do something is because he runs out of strength, not because Gardening can’t solve the problem alone.
My enjoyment went down in direct proportion to the Gardening becoming more and more powerful. The first third or so of City of Others is great; after that, events started to feel rushed, even as the book became more and more of a slog. At one point, Ben and co are ready to Attempt A Solution – and they do three big, major ritual-things back-to-back in the same scene. Instead of trying, failing, and having to regroup, recover, and figure something else out – gather allies or spell components or whatever – they just immediately try something else. That means each of these three Huge Big Things have no emotional impact, the reader has no time to process them and feel the impact of them, because we’re already rushing right into the next thing. (And please don’t get me started on how Ben out of nowhere has the idea to teleport to the moon – with no spacesuit or oxygen tank – so he can move the shadow of the earth to make it a full moon for a few minutes. NO.)
Most of the book is like this: even when genuinely terrible things happen, and people are horrifically injured, solutions (usually magical fixes) are found quickly and easily, so there are no consequences for anything – which strips everything of meaning, of impact. And of tension: I stopped being even mildly worried for anybody, because long before the climax it was clear that no named characters were in actual danger of anything permanent. I was very upset when a dog died on-page, but even the unnamed humanoid characters were all fine – no civilian cost either, to anybody. (Some bad guys died, I think, but in this kind of story that hardly counts, does it?) There’s even a last-second deus ex machina towards the end of the final fight that had me rolling my eyes so hard I nearly strained something – I like a magic cat as much as the next person, but really?
The prose is very typical of Urban Fantasy, which is to say it’s not very descriptive, and it’s very blunt and simple. I’d put it a step or two below the Kate Daniels books, but not big steps. I don’t think most fans of Urban Fantasy will have a problem with the writing. For me, it was too simple – I wanted much more sensory detail, especially because there was so much in City of Others that was new to me; the setting, most of the magic, basically all of the magical beings. I wanted to know what everything looked and felt like, what the smells and tastes were, and there was none of that. Ben gave us quick rundowns on things, but they were pretty dry and info-dumpy, and minimal (canonically, DEUS doesn’t have a lot of info on the supernatural community they’re supposed to be dealing with). I wanted a LOT more, and it wasn’t delivered.
Ben’s arc is meant to be that he has to stop trying to do everything himself – he has to be able to ask for help, and to allow others to risk their safety when that’s their decision to make. This is a subversion of the Badass Protagonist that I usually really enjoy, but none of the secondary characters who are helping had much personality – and besides, everyone had plot armour, which made the stakes re asking for and accepting help toothless.
The romance was…fine. I was baffled that after eleven dates Ben and Adam weren’t calling each other boyfriends – surely by that point you’ve decided what the relationship status is? – but it was fine. Adam was perfectly nice. I did think his magical power was very whatever-the-plot-needed too, like Ben’s Gardening – somehow he was always able to do something that was super helpful with whatever the current problem was, even when there’d been no hint he could do anything of the kind before. I didn’t really care about the romance one way or the other; I didn’t hate it, but I wasn’t into it, either. It was perfectly okay.
All together, I had to really force myself to finish the last third – I wanted to DNF so badly, and I probably should have; it was such a slog, I had to curl up for a nap after finishing it. But as much as I disliked it, I’m not sure it’s much worse than your standard Urban Fantasy – it’s definitely not up there with the greats, but if you’re a UF fan in the mood for something fast and breezy that you don’t have to think about too hard, you might have fun with this, especially if you like the sound of a setting that isn’t the US or UK.
I just think it says a lot that an hour after finishing this book, I couldn’t remember Ben’s name when I was explaining the plot to my partner. I don’t think this is going to be anyone’s newest favourite, and I definitely won’t be picking up the sequel. No thank you!
*I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.*
Highlights
~tend your Garden
~relationship barracuda are a thing now
~undead ducklings are surprisingly badass
Well, this turned out to be extremely not-for-me.
In so many ways, City of Others feels like a breath of fresh air: the Singaporean setting is completely new to me, there’s no werewolves or vampires in sight, and the main character Ben and his love interest are already dating when the book starts. Bonus: Ben’s magical power is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. (And that’s saying something, when you’ve read as much fantasy as I have!)
Ben – Benjamin – is the core of the tiny DEUS, the government department responsible for managing the supernatural community and their concerns. When he’s not drowning in paperwork, he’s helping a family of goblins find a school that will accept their child as a student, or a goddess deal with a racist landlord who keeps hiking the rent. He’s fairly cynical about the DEUS as a body – they’d need so much more funding, and bosses who aren’t idiots, to really start fulfilling their mission – but he’s a genuinely good person who is always trying to help. He reminded me very strongly of the best kind of social worker – which is arguably what he is, really. He and his team get caught up in a deeply weird case of strange and dangerous happenings centred on a block of flats; they’ve never seen anything like it before and have no idea what’s going on, but if they don’t figure it out, a lot of people are going to die.
The stakes, they are plenty high!
I have never been to Singapore, but I loved it as a setting here. Poon draws on Singapore’s long history as a cultural melting pot for inspiration for the fantastical elements of the book, especially Singapore’s immigrant communities. The way in which those communities have been treated by the real government is mirrored in DEUS’ history with the country’s ‘Others’ (the catch-all term for everyone who’s not a magicless human), a bloody legacy that Ben and his team have to wrestle with when trying to do outreach or gain cooperation. The enormous VARIETY of Others and their abilities was so much fun: the vast majority of them were drawn from folklore and mythology I barely know at all, and that was so much more interesting than the same handful of vampires/werewolves/witches we usually see in Urban Fantasy. MORE OF THIS, PLEASE AND THANK YOU.
On that note, Ben’s magic was fascinating. He’s a Gardener, which means he can manipulate the ‘garden’ of his soul – an inner landscape that manifests as a garden, where memories can be trees and emotions are flowers or weeds depending on whether he wants to cultivate them or not. We repeatedly see him uproot things like petty jealousies, or irrational anger, things he doesn’t want to let shape him, become him. Initially, this seemed like a very low-key kind of magic – though I loved how he could keep himself calm in a fight by weeding away fear, things like that – but quickly we discover that it’s not so: Ben is more like the mythological kind of martial artist, able to make himself very fast and strong. (I admit, this made no sense to me – I didn’t understand how his Gardening affected his body – but I got the impression I wasn’t supposed to think about it too hard.)
Over the course of the book, Ben discovers more and more applications for his Gardening…and to be honest, I got bored very quickly. It was happening so fast, and it felt like there were no limitations on this power at all, and that’s not the kind of superpower I enjoy. Almost every time a new obstacle arose, there was some way to Garden a solution – and not through awesome outside-the-box thinking, but through a previously unknown aspect of this power. Now and then there’s an assist from someone else, but generally, the only times Ben can’t do something is because he runs out of strength, not because Gardening can’t solve the problem alone.
My enjoyment went down in direct proportion to the Gardening becoming more and more powerful. The first third or so of City of Others is great; after that, events started to feel rushed, even as the book became more and more of a slog. At one point, Ben and co are ready to Attempt A Solution – and they do three big, major ritual-things back-to-back in the same scene. Instead of trying, failing, and having to regroup, recover, and figure something else out – gather allies or spell components or whatever – they just immediately try something else. That means each of these three Huge Big Things have no emotional impact, the reader has no time to process them and feel the impact of them, because we’re already rushing right into the next thing. (And please don’t get me started on how Ben out of nowhere has the idea to teleport to the moon – with no spacesuit or oxygen tank – so he can move the shadow of the earth to make it a full moon for a few minutes. NO.)
Most of the book is like this: even when genuinely terrible things happen, and people are horrifically injured, solutions (usually magical fixes) are found quickly and easily, so there are no consequences for anything – which strips everything of meaning, of impact. And of tension: I stopped being even mildly worried for anybody, because long before the climax it was clear that no named characters were in actual danger of anything permanent. I was very upset when a dog died on-page, but even the unnamed humanoid characters were all fine – no civilian cost either, to anybody. (Some bad guys died, I think, but in this kind of story that hardly counts, does it?) There’s even a last-second deus ex machina towards the end of the final fight that had me rolling my eyes so hard I nearly strained something – I like a magic cat as much as the next person, but really?
The prose is very typical of Urban Fantasy, which is to say it’s not very descriptive, and it’s very blunt and simple. I’d put it a step or two below the Kate Daniels books, but not big steps. I don’t think most fans of Urban Fantasy will have a problem with the writing. For me, it was too simple – I wanted much more sensory detail, especially because there was so much in City of Others that was new to me; the setting, most of the magic, basically all of the magical beings. I wanted to know what everything looked and felt like, what the smells and tastes were, and there was none of that. Ben gave us quick rundowns on things, but they were pretty dry and info-dumpy, and minimal (canonically, DEUS doesn’t have a lot of info on the supernatural community they’re supposed to be dealing with). I wanted a LOT more, and it wasn’t delivered.
Ben’s arc is meant to be that he has to stop trying to do everything himself – he has to be able to ask for help, and to allow others to risk their safety when that’s their decision to make. This is a subversion of the Badass Protagonist that I usually really enjoy, but none of the secondary characters who are helping had much personality – and besides, everyone had plot armour, which made the stakes re asking for and accepting help toothless.
The romance was…fine. I was baffled that after eleven dates Ben and Adam weren’t calling each other boyfriends – surely by that point you’ve decided what the relationship status is? – but it was fine. Adam was perfectly nice. I did think his magical power was very whatever-the-plot-needed too, like Ben’s Gardening – somehow he was always able to do something that was super helpful with whatever the current problem was, even when there’d been no hint he could do anything of the kind before. I didn’t really care about the romance one way or the other; I didn’t hate it, but I wasn’t into it, either. It was perfectly okay.
All together, I had to really force myself to finish the last third – I wanted to DNF so badly, and I probably should have; it was such a slog, I had to curl up for a nap after finishing it. But as much as I disliked it, I’m not sure it’s much worse than your standard Urban Fantasy – it’s definitely not up there with the greats, but if you’re a UF fan in the mood for something fast and breezy that you don’t have to think about too hard, you might have fun with this, especially if you like the sound of a setting that isn’t the US or UK.
I just think it says a lot that an hour after finishing this book, I couldn’t remember Ben’s name when I was explaining the plot to my partner. I don’t think this is going to be anyone’s newest favourite, and I definitely won’t be picking up the sequel. No thank you!
January 28, 2026
3.5⭐️; a solid debut.
The premise of an overworked civil servant being entangled with fantastical shenanigans was tooo good to pass up. If you've ever worked for the Singapore government as I have, there are lots to feel re-traumatised nostalgic about: from the frustrating middle management, acronyms for everything, annoying mandatory team-building events, answering emails till later than it should be ethically allowed, to the minute-taking for meetings that can be the source of your stress for the day. I really empathised with Ben, the protagonist, given how a lot of his experiences mirrored mine back in the day (minus the paranormal shit of course).
There's also the fact that I too am a sarcastic queer who uses humour to cope. Ben's wit and snark is hilarious to follow, and I enjoyed being in his head. We also share the same trait of wanting to undertake everything on our own so as not to burden our peers. But just as I had to eventually learn to trust my team and delegate tasks, so did he. (Really helps with alleviating the feeling of burning out too quickly!)
I liked how author Jared Poon incorporated various Southeast Asian folklore entities in this world. We've got mentions of toyols, manananggal, jinns, even the pontianak. There's also superpowered individuals such as clairvoyants and bomohs. There's not to say that everything is based on pre-existing mythology. Poon also created his own unique paranormal peoples with extraordinary abilities called Gardeners and Divers, of whom Ben and his love interest Adam are respectively. I don't actually 100% understand their powers, but I attribute it to my dumb bitch energy more than anything, lol.
Poon describes this as a queernormative version of Singapore, given that his colleagues and father don't make a fuss of the fact that he is in an interracial relationship with a man. I appreciate the queer Malay-Muslim representation in the form of Adam for sure, just as I did for Sister Snake . Ben & Adam are fine? I guess? As a couple. They have cute and wholesome moments and didn't annoy me.
The rest of the supporting cast—Ben's colleagues Jimmy, Mei & Fizah—are also fine? There's just something about them that didn't quite click with me. They are serviceable and played their parts well enough. Perhaps if they get bigger roles in the sequels, I'd care more about them.
The story began to lose me somewhere past the midway point, ironically over something that the protag himself is self-aware about. It's as though Ben knew what I was feeling when he expressed frustration over the "side quests" that are detracting from the primary problem of a whole apartment block about to be mystically unreality-ed. I was also starting to feel weary over the formula of Ben & his team try a potential solution, it doesn't work, they go back to the drawing board. By the third time this happens, I was tempted to skip chapters ahead to get to the resolution. I didn't, but the temptation was there!
The ending wrapped up nicely and drew me back in, thankfully. Because this world is rife with potential (and familiarity), I'm still very interested in it and will definitely be back for the planned Books 2 & 3. Even if this novel may or may not work for you, I think it's a great introductory story for any reader wanting to dip their toes in fantasy.
The premise of an overworked civil servant being entangled with fantastical shenanigans was tooo good to pass up. If you've ever worked for the Singapore government as I have, there are lots to feel re-traumatised nostalgic about: from the frustrating middle management, acronyms for everything, annoying mandatory team-building events, answering emails till later than it should be ethically allowed, to the minute-taking for meetings that can be the source of your stress for the day. I really empathised with Ben, the protagonist, given how a lot of his experiences mirrored mine back in the day (minus the paranormal shit of course).
There's also the fact that I too am a sarcastic queer who uses humour to cope. Ben's wit and snark is hilarious to follow, and I enjoyed being in his head. We also share the same trait of wanting to undertake everything on our own so as not to burden our peers. But just as I had to eventually learn to trust my team and delegate tasks, so did he. (Really helps with alleviating the feeling of burning out too quickly!)
I liked how author Jared Poon incorporated various Southeast Asian folklore entities in this world. We've got mentions of toyols, manananggal, jinns, even the pontianak. There's also superpowered individuals such as clairvoyants and bomohs. There's not to say that everything is based on pre-existing mythology. Poon also created his own unique paranormal peoples with extraordinary abilities called Gardeners and Divers, of whom Ben and his love interest Adam are respectively. I don't actually 100% understand their powers, but I attribute it to my dumb bitch energy more than anything, lol.
Poon describes this as a queernormative version of Singapore, given that his colleagues and father don't make a fuss of the fact that he is in an interracial relationship with a man. I appreciate the queer Malay-Muslim representation in the form of Adam for sure, just as I did for Sister Snake . Ben & Adam are fine? I guess? As a couple. They have cute and wholesome moments and didn't annoy me.
The rest of the supporting cast—Ben's colleagues Jimmy, Mei & Fizah—are also fine? There's just something about them that didn't quite click with me. They are serviceable and played their parts well enough. Perhaps if they get bigger roles in the sequels, I'd care more about them.
The story began to lose me somewhere past the midway point, ironically over something that the protag himself is self-aware about. It's as though Ben knew what I was feeling when he expressed frustration over the "side quests" that are detracting from the primary problem of a whole apartment block about to be mystically unreality-ed. I was also starting to feel weary over the formula of Ben & his team try a potential solution, it doesn't work, they go back to the drawing board. By the third time this happens, I was tempted to skip chapters ahead to get to the resolution. I didn't, but the temptation was there!
The ending wrapped up nicely and drew me back in, thankfully. Because this world is rife with potential (and familiarity), I'm still very interested in it and will definitely be back for the planned Books 2 & 3. Even if this novel may or may not work for you, I think it's a great introductory story for any reader wanting to dip their toes in fantasy.
February 10, 2026
3.75*
City of Others is a strange and submersive science fiction mystery. I found that plot points were either explained incredibly politely, or with intricacy that required more brain cells than I have.
Jared Poon builds a world that feels alive, moody, judgmental, clever, and constrained by civil servitude. Yet it balances corporate ideals with moments of resounding humanity. The characters in this are morally true and this only serves to help the reader invest in their mission to save the world, or at least the apartment block sinking into another dimension.
There’s a queer romance in the centre of this Malaysion-tinged creation which is spectacularly fun. I loved both the main character and the love interest, and I loved them even more together. I am so intrigued to know more about this world that Poon has built in this first book of a new series.
City of Others is a strange and submersive science fiction mystery. I found that plot points were either explained incredibly politely, or with intricacy that required more brain cells than I have.
Jared Poon builds a world that feels alive, moody, judgmental, clever, and constrained by civil servitude. Yet it balances corporate ideals with moments of resounding humanity. The characters in this are morally true and this only serves to help the reader invest in their mission to save the world, or at least the apartment block sinking into another dimension.
There’s a queer romance in the centre of this Malaysion-tinged creation which is spectacularly fun. I loved both the main character and the love interest, and I loved them even more together. I am so intrigued to know more about this world that Poon has built in this first book of a new series.
dnf
January 24, 2026My thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK and NetGalley for a free DRC of "City of Others" by Jared Poon.
A Queer Urban Fantasy Debut.
I was so excited for this, unfortunately it contains one of my most hated things in the entire world, bureaucracy.
To be honest this is a case of me being the wrong audience, not the book being bad.
I appreciated the cultural elements and I could tell the humor had potential, but I could not enjoy then as any office / burocratic talk took me out from the story.
So take my review with a grain of salt. If you enjoy Urban Fantasy with some humor (sarcasm) and some queer romance, then do give this debut a try.
A Queer Urban Fantasy Debut.
I was so excited for this, unfortunately it contains one of my most hated things in the entire world, bureaucracy.
To be honest this is a case of me being the wrong audience, not the book being bad.
I appreciated the cultural elements and I could tell the humor had potential, but I could not enjoy then as any office / burocratic talk took me out from the story.
So take my review with a grain of salt. If you enjoy Urban Fantasy with some humor (sarcasm) and some queer romance, then do give this debut a try.
December 15, 2025
A whipsmart urban fantasy humming with the vibrant energy of Singapore and its chaotic magical inhabitants, this found family will welcome you in with open arms (and tentacles)! I was offered an arc of this book by the publisher and totally fell for the middle-management heroes navigating the government red-tape to save the day. I was thinking as I read it that this is such a great example of diversity in fiction, not just in the race of the characters and different settings, but in the author’s wonderful approach to the heroic powers and how they solved their problems. I could tell that it wasn’t a western author and I found their style so refreshing and enjoyable.
February 7, 2026
City of Others is the first novel in a new UF series that is set in Singapore. The MC, Ben, is part of a small government department that makes sure the city's human and supernatural, the titular Others, communities rub along well. When an evil supernatural force threatens the city, Ben's small band of desk-jockeys and his boyfriend work together tirelessly to overcome evil.
I liked the setting, magic system, the many supernatural creatures and the cultural background of the story. What I didn't like were the low stakes, despite being in danger in nearly every chapter, nothing really bad happens to the MC and his colleagues. I don't mind low stakes stories, but I would have liked to know beforehand that the tension is low.
I liked the setting, magic system, the many supernatural creatures and the cultural background of the story. What I didn't like were the low stakes, despite being in danger in nearly every chapter, nothing really bad happens to the MC and his colleagues. I don't mind low stakes stories, but I would have liked to know beforehand that the tension is low.
January 19, 2026
thanks to orbit for sending me this book for review!
To my danmei loving friends, this book reminded me of Guardian if it was a comedy. Overall this book was really fun to follow. The urban fantasy aspects were cool and the cast of characters endearing. I think there was something missing that doesnt make it quite a 4 star read so im gonna go with 3.75
To my danmei loving friends, this book reminded me of Guardian if it was a comedy. Overall this book was really fun to follow. The urban fantasy aspects were cool and the cast of characters endearing. I think there was something missing that doesnt make it quite a 4 star read so im gonna go with 3.75
December 15, 2025
If you’ve ever wondered what an overworked, understaffed government agency in charge of supernatural beings looks like, then City of Others is for you. We follow Ben through his day to day of going to work to investigate odd occurrences, find help for a goblin to attend school, take in the new intern—all while trying to find time for dinner with father and for his budding relationship with Adam. Unfortunately this latest occurrence has the team stooped as we follow them in their investigation which leads us to many interesting folks and places.
I had so much fun with this story! I loved exploring the world that Jared Poon has created from hidden markets to construction sites then ‘diving’ into the other side. It was so interesting to see how this agency was set up and their role in assisting the Others. I thought Ben was such an endearing character. He felt so relatable and I was very much rooting for him. The relationship between him and his coworkers was great. I love a quirky rag-tag team and these folks are certainly that. They have a great dynamic between them. I also enjoyed the mystery of what was threatening the city. It all felt very unique and I had to keep turning pages so could see what was going to happen next!
I highly recommend this if you are looking for a whimsical story with wonderful characters and world-building. I was so invested in this team and loved taking this journey with them.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an early copy of this book.
I had so much fun with this story! I loved exploring the world that Jared Poon has created from hidden markets to construction sites then ‘diving’ into the other side. It was so interesting to see how this agency was set up and their role in assisting the Others. I thought Ben was such an endearing character. He felt so relatable and I was very much rooting for him. The relationship between him and his coworkers was great. I love a quirky rag-tag team and these folks are certainly that. They have a great dynamic between them. I also enjoyed the mystery of what was threatening the city. It all felt very unique and I had to keep turning pages so could see what was going to happen next!
I highly recommend this if you are looking for a whimsical story with wonderful characters and world-building. I was so invested in this team and loved taking this journey with them.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an early copy of this book.
December 1, 2025
when this is released in January,everyone needs to go and get it. What a fun supernatural urban take. This did remind me of Rivers of London a bit too. The main characters, I just loved. I honestly didn't want to set this one down.
Read
February 9, 2026The first night, it put me to sleep
The second night, I used it to fall asleep albeit unsuccessfully
The third night, it stopped me from sleeping
The second night, I used it to fall asleep albeit unsuccessfully
The third night, it stopped me from sleeping
Read
February 4, 2026RTC
November 22, 2025
*Thanks to NetGalley and Orbit books for early copy for review*
This was so delightful. This is set in Singapore in a world of people labeled others for having powers or being different than human. Ben works in civil service in a department of others ends up om an adventure. Ben is someone that wants to do everything himself and him being a "gardener" is so detailed and interesting how he stores all the rules of the others while being able to change his bodies capabilities.
I loved the humor in this and found it a great example of having a book with office lingo without making it seem overdone. I think that I could love this even more on a reread, but right now it is 4 star due to pacing and mostly knowing that I was never obsessed about this like my 5 star books.
This was so delightful. This is set in Singapore in a world of people labeled others for having powers or being different than human. Ben works in civil service in a department of others ends up om an adventure. Ben is someone that wants to do everything himself and him being a "gardener" is so detailed and interesting how he stores all the rules of the others while being able to change his bodies capabilities.
I loved the humor in this and found it a great example of having a book with office lingo without making it seem overdone. I think that I could love this even more on a reread, but right now it is 4 star due to pacing and mostly knowing that I was never obsessed about this like my 5 star books.
November 20, 2025
Thank you to Orbit and NetGalley for the free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review
The world is in trouble and our only hope lies in a ragtag bunch of underfunded and overworked civil servants, hahaha.
How would I describe CITY OF OTHERS? Imagine if Ilona Andrews wrote an urban fantasy set in contemporary Singapore. Add in found family vibes, a sweet queer romance, and some lovely reflections on self-responsibility and collaboration. Perhaps because it is a debut novel, it has some issues with worldbuilding, character and story development, but overall I still enjoyed it!
Benjamin Toh works for DEUS, a secret section of the Singaporean government that manages the hidden existence of Others: humans and other creatures with magical abilities or characteristics. Work is already difficult enough for Ben and his under-resourced and overworked team, but they are tasked to the next level when a disappearing floor in an apartment building is the first indication of a dangerous supernatural threat that is getting ever closer to the oblivious citizens of Singapore…
I love that this book doesn’t take itself too seriously. Ben and his friends/colleagues are always ready with a quip or two, even in the most dire of circumstances. In fact, sometimes I wish that the book would take itself a bit more seriously, especially when it comes to worldbuilding and story development. I wanted some more definitive setup near the beginning of the book. Is there any historical precedent to the presence of Others in Singapore? How was DEUS set up, and how are its relations with other governmental ministries? I wish I had gotten more information about the magic system, what’s at stake, what the rules are. New, increasingly more random and absurd magical elements kept on popping up as the story went along, and I wanted it to be like, STOP. BREATHE. Take a step back. Start again. Debut novel issues, perhaps?
CITY OF OTHERS has an utterly charming “found family” vibe, and themes of community care and self-responsibility. Ben learns the important lesson that you don’t–in fact, you shouldn’t–try to save the world alone. I did want more character development across the board, because I had trouble picturing key secondary characters like Jimmy, Mei, and Adam, beyond one-dimensional personalities.
CITY OF OTHERS isn’t perfect, but I still ended up enjoying my time with it. I’d be keen to follow Poon’s writing career further!
[16 November 2025]
Super fun, despite some inconsistencies and underdeveloped bits! Reminds me a bit of Ilona Andrews.
Full review to come.
The world is in trouble and our only hope lies in a ragtag bunch of underfunded and overworked civil servants, hahaha.
How would I describe CITY OF OTHERS? Imagine if Ilona Andrews wrote an urban fantasy set in contemporary Singapore. Add in found family vibes, a sweet queer romance, and some lovely reflections on self-responsibility and collaboration. Perhaps because it is a debut novel, it has some issues with worldbuilding, character and story development, but overall I still enjoyed it!
Benjamin Toh works for DEUS, a secret section of the Singaporean government that manages the hidden existence of Others: humans and other creatures with magical abilities or characteristics. Work is already difficult enough for Ben and his under-resourced and overworked team, but they are tasked to the next level when a disappearing floor in an apartment building is the first indication of a dangerous supernatural threat that is getting ever closer to the oblivious citizens of Singapore…
I love that this book doesn’t take itself too seriously. Ben and his friends/colleagues are always ready with a quip or two, even in the most dire of circumstances. In fact, sometimes I wish that the book would take itself a bit more seriously, especially when it comes to worldbuilding and story development. I wanted some more definitive setup near the beginning of the book. Is there any historical precedent to the presence of Others in Singapore? How was DEUS set up, and how are its relations with other governmental ministries? I wish I had gotten more information about the magic system, what’s at stake, what the rules are. New, increasingly more random and absurd magical elements kept on popping up as the story went along, and I wanted it to be like, STOP. BREATHE. Take a step back. Start again. Debut novel issues, perhaps?
CITY OF OTHERS has an utterly charming “found family” vibe, and themes of community care and self-responsibility. Ben learns the important lesson that you don’t–in fact, you shouldn’t–try to save the world alone. I did want more character development across the board, because I had trouble picturing key secondary characters like Jimmy, Mei, and Adam, beyond one-dimensional personalities.
CITY OF OTHERS isn’t perfect, but I still ended up enjoying my time with it. I’d be keen to follow Poon’s writing career further!
[16 November 2025]
Super fun, despite some inconsistencies and underdeveloped bits! Reminds me a bit of Ilona Andrews.
Full review to come.
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February 10, 2026
A really solid first book in an urban fantasy series set in Singapore.
Ben Toh is a member of DEUS, a government organization dealing with the Others (non human or extra-human people) living in Singapore, who are unseen by the average human through the human brain's ability to delude itself into normalcy. Things are going okay, if really overworked and understsaffed, until a city block starts sinking into another dimension, triggering an extra-dimensional force hell-bent on devouring Earth. Now it's up to Ben and his team to somehow stop them. Or die trying.
I enjoyed this one. While it dragged a bit and Ben was annoyingly self-sacrificial (holy FUCK would he not let anyone do ANYTHING), Ben finally figures shit out. His magic system is really cool, if a touch of a magical Gary Stu, and the magic systems of this world are also fascinating.
Anywho, a solid entry into the urban fantasy subgenre, and I'm interested to see where Book 2 leads.
I received an ARC from the publisher
Ben Toh is a member of DEUS, a government organization dealing with the Others (non human or extra-human people) living in Singapore, who are unseen by the average human through the human brain's ability to delude itself into normalcy. Things are going okay, if really overworked and understsaffed, until a city block starts sinking into another dimension, triggering an extra-dimensional force hell-bent on devouring Earth. Now it's up to Ben and his team to somehow stop them. Or die trying.
I enjoyed this one. While it dragged a bit and Ben was annoyingly self-sacrificial (holy FUCK would he not let anyone do ANYTHING), Ben finally figures shit out. His magic system is really cool, if a touch of a magical Gary Stu, and the magic systems of this world are also fascinating.
Anywho, a solid entry into the urban fantasy subgenre, and I'm interested to see where Book 2 leads.
I received an ARC from the publisher
December 30, 2025
I received an ARC from the author.
City of Others is an imaginative re-envisioning of Singapore, one that feels deeply rooted in place while daring to see the city differently. The world-building clearly draws from the author’s time in the civil service, lending the story a lived-in authenticity where institutions, power, and bureaucracy feel as real as the magic layered over them.
One of the book’s great strengths is its use of local and Asian lore. Myths and legends are woven naturally into the narrative, adding texture and depth rather than serving as mere embellishment. I was especially impressed by how everyday life metaphors are transformed into magical talents—powers feel personal, symbolic, and meaningfully tied to character, which strengthens both the magic system and character development.
I remain slightly undecided about the introduction of a shadowy organisation. While it adds intrigue and hints at a larger arc, it also shifts the focus in ways that invite questions. That said, I’m genuinely curious to see how this thread develops in future books, as it feels like deliberate groundwork rather than a misstep.
Overall, City of Others earns high marks for imagination, storytelling, and character work. It is a confident, locally grounded fantasy with a strong sense of identity, and I’m very much looking forward to seeing where this world goes next.
City of Others is an imaginative re-envisioning of Singapore, one that feels deeply rooted in place while daring to see the city differently. The world-building clearly draws from the author’s time in the civil service, lending the story a lived-in authenticity where institutions, power, and bureaucracy feel as real as the magic layered over them.
One of the book’s great strengths is its use of local and Asian lore. Myths and legends are woven naturally into the narrative, adding texture and depth rather than serving as mere embellishment. I was especially impressed by how everyday life metaphors are transformed into magical talents—powers feel personal, symbolic, and meaningfully tied to character, which strengthens both the magic system and character development.
I remain slightly undecided about the introduction of a shadowy organisation. While it adds intrigue and hints at a larger arc, it also shifts the focus in ways that invite questions. That said, I’m genuinely curious to see how this thread develops in future books, as it feels like deliberate groundwork rather than a misstep.
Overall, City of Others earns high marks for imagination, storytelling, and character work. It is a confident, locally grounded fantasy with a strong sense of identity, and I’m very much looking forward to seeing where this world goes next.
Read
January 27, 2026"Even though I haven’t read it much lately, urban fantasy mystery is still one of my favorite subgenres. Why did I stop reading it? Well, there isn’t a ton of books in the vein of the Dresden Files—stories where a professional or amateur investigator is pulled into a strange mystery only they can solve—being traditionally published in the last few years that’s written by and about marginalized people; this slice of urban fantasy tends to be fairly white, male-dominated, and cisallohet. Jared Poon’s City of Others piqued my interest precisely because it seemed like it would offer a lot of what I’d been looking for in urban fantasy mystery."
Read Alex Brown's full review of City of Others at Reactor!
Read Alex Brown's full review of City of Others at Reactor!
February 2, 2026
I miss Singapore. This brought out all my favorite things about it, from the food to the trifecta of Asian mythology influences… all tangled around a classic fantasy/sci fi ordinary-until-he-isn’t hero saves the world storyline. I got a lot of Neal Stephenson vibes in the tone and character relationships, but the multidimensional magic system reminded me more of Michelle Sagara West.
Many thanks to Orbit and NetGalley for the ARC! This isn’t a style I read much, in either fantasy or sci fi, but I am delighted that the ARC opportunity pushed me to read this one. It reads very much like classic “boy” SFF, with a slightly dry tone, straightforward relationships, and nonstop action… but with a lovely dose of multiculturalism and sweet musings on the complexity of grief.
I think if I met Ben at work (not uncommon for me, though my bureaucracy is usually school districts) I would not have liked him. He’s sometimes pedantic and a touch patronizing when he’s stressed, which is always. For someone literally growing his feelings in an internal mind garden, he’s remarkably out of touch with them. And yet, the raw foundations of his self were deeply good. He so clearly comes from a place of wanting to save everyone from everything. There’s an example given of a time he got in trouble for doing the other kids' science homework for them, because they were lost and he wanted to help. If that doesn’t scream future overwhelmed public servant, I’m not sure what does. I enjoyed watching his habits disintegrate and the new ways of being that he developed through this crucible event.
As someone who works in the public sector and interfaces a lot with local government… ouch. I don’t need to be retraumatized! But at the same time, I think we all entered this kind of work with an underlying drive to save the day. It fulfilled a fantasy of mine to see a public servant *actually* slay monsters and save the day. I didn’t know how much I needed that to survive the beginnings of contract season.
Minor warnings for sensitive readers that a character with a terminal illness gives up the fight in a way that is somewhat glorified. If you grew up in an Asian or similarly collectivist culture, I think the context will make this feel more natural. But for others who have struggled with grieving family members, this might be more frustrating to encounter.
This was such a fun debut. I’m really excited for another book and more Adam! I humbly demand more Simba too and an explanation of that name.
Many thanks to Orbit and NetGalley for the ARC! This isn’t a style I read much, in either fantasy or sci fi, but I am delighted that the ARC opportunity pushed me to read this one. It reads very much like classic “boy” SFF, with a slightly dry tone, straightforward relationships, and nonstop action… but with a lovely dose of multiculturalism and sweet musings on the complexity of grief.
I think if I met Ben at work (not uncommon for me, though my bureaucracy is usually school districts) I would not have liked him. He’s sometimes pedantic and a touch patronizing when he’s stressed, which is always. For someone literally growing his feelings in an internal mind garden, he’s remarkably out of touch with them. And yet, the raw foundations of his self were deeply good. He so clearly comes from a place of wanting to save everyone from everything. There’s an example given of a time he got in trouble for doing the other kids' science homework for them, because they were lost and he wanted to help. If that doesn’t scream future overwhelmed public servant, I’m not sure what does. I enjoyed watching his habits disintegrate and the new ways of being that he developed through this crucible event.
As someone who works in the public sector and interfaces a lot with local government… ouch. I don’t need to be retraumatized! But at the same time, I think we all entered this kind of work with an underlying drive to save the day. It fulfilled a fantasy of mine to see a public servant *actually* slay monsters and save the day. I didn’t know how much I needed that to survive the beginnings of contract season.
Minor warnings for sensitive readers that a character with a terminal illness gives up the fight in a way that is somewhat glorified. If you grew up in an Asian or similarly collectivist culture, I think the context will make this feel more natural. But for others who have struggled with grieving family members, this might be more frustrating to encounter.
This was such a fun debut. I’m really excited for another book and more Adam! I humbly demand more Simba too and an explanation of that name.
February 12, 2026
I picked this book up on a whim, and it absolutely blew me away! It was funny, deep, and magical. It kind of reminded me of The Rook (which I also love), but with its own unique magic system. I admit, I did cry when Ben ate with his father. The world-building was excellent, and I can't wait for the next book in the series! (I read this in a day, and now I'll be starved)
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