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The Sacred Dark #2
The Immortal City
Sometimes you just have to jump.
The second book in The Sacred Dark series, a lush fantasy romance by acclaimed author May Peterson.
I don’t remember you…
Reborn as an immortal with miraculous healing powers, Ari remembers nothing of his past life. His entire world now consists of the cold mountainside city of Serenity. Ruled with an iron fist. Violent.
Lonely.
I may never remember you…
Regaining the memories of who he once was seems an impossible dream, until Ari encounters Hei, a mortal come to Serenity for his own mysterious purposes. From the moment Hei literally falls into his arms, Ari is drawn to him in ways he cannot understand. Every word, every look, every touch pulls them closer together.
But I’m with you now…
As their bond deepens, so does the need to learn the truth of their past. Together they journey to find an ancient immortal who can give them what they both want: a history more entwined than Ari could have ever imagined, but which Hei has always known.
It’s the reason they will risk the world as they know it to reclaim who they used to be—and what they could be once again.
The second book in The Sacred Dark series, a lush fantasy romance by acclaimed author May Peterson.
I don’t remember you…
Reborn as an immortal with miraculous healing powers, Ari remembers nothing of his past life. His entire world now consists of the cold mountainside city of Serenity. Ruled with an iron fist. Violent.
Lonely.
I may never remember you…
Regaining the memories of who he once was seems an impossible dream, until Ari encounters Hei, a mortal come to Serenity for his own mysterious purposes. From the moment Hei literally falls into his arms, Ari is drawn to him in ways he cannot understand. Every word, every look, every touch pulls them closer together.
But I’m with you now…
As their bond deepens, so does the need to learn the truth of their past. Together they journey to find an ancient immortal who can give them what they both want: a history more entwined than Ari could have ever imagined, but which Hei has always known.
It’s the reason they will risk the world as they know it to reclaim who they used to be—and what they could be once again.
258 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 3, 2020
27 people are currently reading
305 people want to read
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July 17, 2020An epic fantasy romance with a setting so well developed it feels as strong as the characters. The author writes the world and magic of this series with incredible confidence and depth--there's never a sense that what's on the page is all there is; we just know there's massive amounts of untold history and theology and past spooling out, unsaid. (Which is a very good thing. My least favourite thing is a fantasy world where the author make you read endless self-indulgent silmarillioning; my second least favourite is a fantasy world with the depth of wallpaper, where the characters play out their roles on a flat un-thought-through setting. This book falls into neither pit.)
It's an incredibly assured performance, especially in a second book, and that carries through to the writing, which is lush to the point of dense in description, counterbalanced by fairly terse dialogue. Ari, the immortal stripped of his memories, is a mess; Hei is a bit of a mystery seen through Ari's eyes, but his intense love and fierce courage shine through Ari's confusion. There's a real sense of threat, of epic-scale magic and sacred mystery, and of a love that won't give up or give in. And the city itself is beautifully realised, decadent, weird and haunting.
I had an ARC from the author, who is a friend and colleague, but I don't leave reviews I don't mean.
It's an incredibly assured performance, especially in a second book, and that carries through to the writing, which is lush to the point of dense in description, counterbalanced by fairly terse dialogue. Ari, the immortal stripped of his memories, is a mess; Hei is a bit of a mystery seen through Ari's eyes, but his intense love and fierce courage shine through Ari's confusion. There's a real sense of threat, of epic-scale magic and sacred mystery, and of a love that won't give up or give in. And the city itself is beautifully realised, decadent, weird and haunting.
I had an ARC from the author, who is a friend and colleague, but I don't leave reviews I don't mean.
September 15, 2020
I've given this a C+ at AAR
I read and reviewed May Peterson’s début novel Lord of the Last Heartbeat last year, and although I liked the concept behind the story, the world it was set in, and the main characters, I found the author’s overly florid writing-style difficult to navigate; the words got in the way of the story to the extent that it was almost impossible, at times, to work out what was happening, and the language was so overblown and dense that it was hard to picture the events in my mind’s eye.
So why did I pick up The Immortal City, book two in The Sacred Dark series? I was intrigued by the premise – an immortal being with no memories dreams of being able to regain them – and I wanted to see if perhaps the author had reined in the flowery prose and made it easier to actually understand her story without having to re-read two sentences out of every three in an attempt to make sense of what was going on.
Well, there was some success on that score because I did find The Immortal City to be more accessible than the previous book in that I found the story easier to follow; and incidentally it’s not connected to Lord of the Last Heartbeat by setting or characters (other than a couple of brief mentions of Vermagna and a “great lord of bear-souls” there), so I don’t think I missed out on anything by not being able to precisely recall the events of that book.
This one is told entirely from the point of view of Ari, a young man who, when he died, was reborn as a dove-spirit with numerous magical gifts including supernatural strength, immortality and the ability to heal others’ wounds. Oh, and he’s got wings and can fly. He also knows that he must have sold his memories to the powerful Lord Umber, who rules over the city of Serenity where Ari resides – but he doesn’t know why he sold them, or remember anything about his past life. He doesn’t even know how long he’s been in Serenity, but of late, he’s been thinking more and more about the possibility of regaining his memories – not that he has the faintest idea how to go about it or if it’s even possible. When a beautiful young man – Hei - literally falls into his arms, Ari is inexplicably drawn to him, and becomes even more preoccupied with the idea of finding out about his past. When Ari and Hei are together it feels somehow right – but when Umber takes an interest in Hei, Ari realises that there’s more to Hei’s sudden appearance in his life than random chance, and the two are drawn into an epic battle for Serenity.
It’s fairly easy to work out who Hei is – or who he is to Ari at least – and even though we only see Hei through Ari’s eyes, the reader is made aware that he knows much more than he’s letting on. There’s epic magic, the evilest of villains and the worldbuilding is sound – it’s not scrupulously over-detailed but not written in such broad strokes that it all feels superficial. I liked the author’s exploration of the relationship between self and memory and knowledge; the city of Serenity comes to life in all its decadence and strange other-wordliness, and best of all, the chemistry between Ari and Hei is pretty intense and there’s a real sense that theirs is a love that endures and never, ever gives up.
BUT. The pacing flags in places, there are pockets of repetition and sometimes the descriptive prose gets in the way of the events playing out (again). Maybe I’m just stupid, but I didn’t quite understand what happened at the end, and – is it a spoiler when I say that Ari does regain at least some of his memories, but we never find out how he died or why he sold them? (Or at least, I can’t see that he did.)
After two books which I can only give middling grades, I’m going to say this author probably isn’t for me. I found the storylines in both this and the previous books to be interesting, I liked the characters and the worlds in which the stories are set, but the writing just doesn’t work for me. I feel a bit like the Emperor Joseph II, who said there were “too many notes” in Mozart’s opera Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, because, to my mind, this author uses too many words! While Mozart quite correctly responded that he used as many notes as were necessary, May Peterson’s wordiness comes at the expense of clarity. And I’m saying this as someone who is generally verbose!
Opinions on Lord of the Last Heartbeat seem to have been divided between those who loved it, and those who, like me, had issues with the writing; I suspect the same will be true of The Immortal City. Ultimately, the book’s imaginative storyline is done a disservice by overly dense, flowery prose that leads to a lack of lucidity.
I read and reviewed May Peterson’s début novel Lord of the Last Heartbeat last year, and although I liked the concept behind the story, the world it was set in, and the main characters, I found the author’s overly florid writing-style difficult to navigate; the words got in the way of the story to the extent that it was almost impossible, at times, to work out what was happening, and the language was so overblown and dense that it was hard to picture the events in my mind’s eye.
So why did I pick up The Immortal City, book two in The Sacred Dark series? I was intrigued by the premise – an immortal being with no memories dreams of being able to regain them – and I wanted to see if perhaps the author had reined in the flowery prose and made it easier to actually understand her story without having to re-read two sentences out of every three in an attempt to make sense of what was going on.
Well, there was some success on that score because I did find The Immortal City to be more accessible than the previous book in that I found the story easier to follow; and incidentally it’s not connected to Lord of the Last Heartbeat by setting or characters (other than a couple of brief mentions of Vermagna and a “great lord of bear-souls” there), so I don’t think I missed out on anything by not being able to precisely recall the events of that book.
This one is told entirely from the point of view of Ari, a young man who, when he died, was reborn as a dove-spirit with numerous magical gifts including supernatural strength, immortality and the ability to heal others’ wounds. Oh, and he’s got wings and can fly. He also knows that he must have sold his memories to the powerful Lord Umber, who rules over the city of Serenity where Ari resides – but he doesn’t know why he sold them, or remember anything about his past life. He doesn’t even know how long he’s been in Serenity, but of late, he’s been thinking more and more about the possibility of regaining his memories – not that he has the faintest idea how to go about it or if it’s even possible. When a beautiful young man – Hei - literally falls into his arms, Ari is inexplicably drawn to him, and becomes even more preoccupied with the idea of finding out about his past. When Ari and Hei are together it feels somehow right – but when Umber takes an interest in Hei, Ari realises that there’s more to Hei’s sudden appearance in his life than random chance, and the two are drawn into an epic battle for Serenity.
It’s fairly easy to work out who Hei is – or who he is to Ari at least – and even though we only see Hei through Ari’s eyes, the reader is made aware that he knows much more than he’s letting on. There’s epic magic, the evilest of villains and the worldbuilding is sound – it’s not scrupulously over-detailed but not written in such broad strokes that it all feels superficial. I liked the author’s exploration of the relationship between self and memory and knowledge; the city of Serenity comes to life in all its decadence and strange other-wordliness, and best of all, the chemistry between Ari and Hei is pretty intense and there’s a real sense that theirs is a love that endures and never, ever gives up.
BUT. The pacing flags in places, there are pockets of repetition and sometimes the descriptive prose gets in the way of the events playing out (again). Maybe I’m just stupid, but I didn’t quite understand what happened at the end, and – is it a spoiler when I say that Ari does regain at least some of his memories, but we never find out how he died or why he sold them? (Or at least, I can’t see that he did.)
After two books which I can only give middling grades, I’m going to say this author probably isn’t for me. I found the storylines in both this and the previous books to be interesting, I liked the characters and the worlds in which the stories are set, but the writing just doesn’t work for me. I feel a bit like the Emperor Joseph II, who said there were “too many notes” in Mozart’s opera Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, because, to my mind, this author uses too many words! While Mozart quite correctly responded that he used as many notes as were necessary, May Peterson’s wordiness comes at the expense of clarity. And I’m saying this as someone who is generally verbose!
Opinions on Lord of the Last Heartbeat seem to have been divided between those who loved it, and those who, like me, had issues with the writing; I suspect the same will be true of The Immortal City. Ultimately, the book’s imaginative storyline is done a disservice by overly dense, flowery prose that leads to a lack of lucidity.
August 3, 2020
I think the most important thing for me to say up front is that KJ Charles also liked this book and if you won’t take my word for it, listen to KJ Charles. Please go buy it, or request it from your local library. I received this as an arc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I’ve thought a lot about how to describe this treasure of a book. I keep coming up with movies for comparison. Imagine if Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire, Blade Runner, Momento and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind had a baby, and the baby had it’s own internal glow. May Peterson blends the alienation, gritty mystery and corruption with an ethereal lightness. It’s equally lush and spare.
Ari died and as happens sometimes in this world, came back to life as a dove-soul. He has wings, the ability to heal, and no memory of his life before a couple of years ago. Many people come to the mountain city of Serenity to lose their memories or to seek life after death. The lack of memory, not knowing himself, leaves Ari numb and disconnected. Ari meets Hei and feels a pull of attraction. As Ari tries to piece together who he is and how Hei fits into his life, he comes to see the corruption in Serenity.
Hei is seen entirely through Ari’s eyes. It takes a bit before Hei becomes a multi dimensional character, because it takes awhile for Ari to see him that way. Ari initially thinks he is sweet, tender, and vulnerable. Hei is all of those things, but he is a sweet, tender, murder baby. Hei has come to Serenity looking for two people and vengeance. Hei’s passion is like a beacon in the mist for Ari. It gradually becomes clear that Ari and Hei were lovers before Ari died and Hei has come to avenge his death.
The Eternal City is as much about love as it is about trauma. Ari’s lack of memory makes him vulnerable to manipulation, but he still chooses Hei. Despite the amnesia, he has a bone deep connection. It made me think of visiting my Granny in her later years when she didn’t remember me. She would start telling me stories about her brown-eyed great grandbaby who she loved so much. She didn’t know me, but I made her think of someone she loved and that made her happy. I bring up this personal anecdote because Ari’s connection to Hei doesn’t feel like a “fated mates” situation, but like a muscle memory. It’s never that Hei and Ari are meant to be together, but that they choose each other. Hei chooses the Ari that doesn’t remember him, and Ari chooses Hei even when he is uncertain of Hei’s motives.
This isn’t a light book, but for all the trauma it delves into, it never feels heavy. I really hope this book finds it’s audience. I would like to read more May Peterson.
I’ve thought a lot about how to describe this treasure of a book. I keep coming up with movies for comparison. Imagine if Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire, Blade Runner, Momento and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind had a baby, and the baby had it’s own internal glow. May Peterson blends the alienation, gritty mystery and corruption with an ethereal lightness. It’s equally lush and spare.
Ari died and as happens sometimes in this world, came back to life as a dove-soul. He has wings, the ability to heal, and no memory of his life before a couple of years ago. Many people come to the mountain city of Serenity to lose their memories or to seek life after death. The lack of memory, not knowing himself, leaves Ari numb and disconnected. Ari meets Hei and feels a pull of attraction. As Ari tries to piece together who he is and how Hei fits into his life, he comes to see the corruption in Serenity.
Hei is seen entirely through Ari’s eyes. It takes a bit before Hei becomes a multi dimensional character, because it takes awhile for Ari to see him that way. Ari initially thinks he is sweet, tender, and vulnerable. Hei is all of those things, but he is a sweet, tender, murder baby. Hei has come to Serenity looking for two people and vengeance. Hei’s passion is like a beacon in the mist for Ari. It gradually becomes clear that Ari and Hei were lovers before Ari died and Hei has come to avenge his death.
The Eternal City is as much about love as it is about trauma. Ari’s lack of memory makes him vulnerable to manipulation, but he still chooses Hei. Despite the amnesia, he has a bone deep connection. It made me think of visiting my Granny in her later years when she didn’t remember me. She would start telling me stories about her brown-eyed great grandbaby who she loved so much. She didn’t know me, but I made her think of someone she loved and that made her happy. I bring up this personal anecdote because Ari’s connection to Hei doesn’t feel like a “fated mates” situation, but like a muscle memory. It’s never that Hei and Ari are meant to be together, but that they choose each other. Hei chooses the Ari that doesn’t remember him, and Ari chooses Hei even when he is uncertain of Hei’s motives.
This isn’t a light book, but for all the trauma it delves into, it never feels heavy. I really hope this book finds it’s audience. I would like to read more May Peterson.
July 27, 2021
I have to give it to the author, she produces very detailed world-settings - and this second book of the series finds our MCs (Hei and Ari) smack-bang in the middle of an isolated city perched amidst frozen mountain ranges ... imagine a purgatory-like landscape blended with aspects of Shangri-La that is populated by paranormal beings and hedonistic, amnesiac humans. At times, I felt like I was reading apocalyptic-mystical passages from the Book of Revelation
However, initial interest began to wane by the third chapter as I struggled through dense text and highly baroque language e.g. "The cusp of the night-streets greeted me within minutes like a discolored grin, giving off sparkling gas." Reading flow became bogged down by repeated pauses so as to glean meaning and find context from many such sentences. I'm glad I persevered and pushed through three (3!) almost DNF points ... mainly because I needed to know the why and hows behind the inexplicable connection/fate for our MCs meeting up. There was some emotional 'pay-off' by the end with the fight-to-the-death sequences with the bad-guys. The eventual 'reveal' of Ari and Hei's (as well as several other secondary characters) back-stories also proved interesting.
All in all, this was 'hard work' reading. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3.
"She was perhaps no taller than Hei, and yet the sight of her was as vertical and mystifying as that ever-rising vault. Her hand had assembled this circling parade of stars, and the light of their memories shone on her like adoring subjects. Most of all, a silence pervaded her."Having paranormal super-powered blended animal-human beings added to that feel. Readers should really skip ahead at the start to the 'glossary' of terms found at the end ... I think I would have benefited from being refreshed/reminded of the paranormal magic/powers featured in this 'world'.
However, initial interest began to wane by the third chapter as I struggled through dense text and highly baroque language e.g. "The cusp of the night-streets greeted me within minutes like a discolored grin, giving off sparkling gas." Reading flow became bogged down by repeated pauses so as to glean meaning and find context from many such sentences. I'm glad I persevered and pushed through three (3!) almost DNF points ... mainly because I needed to know the why and hows behind the inexplicable connection/fate for our MCs meeting up. There was some emotional 'pay-off' by the end with the fight-to-the-death sequences with the bad-guys. The eventual 'reveal' of Ari and Hei's (as well as several other secondary characters) back-stories also proved interesting.
All in all, this was 'hard work' reading. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3.
August 1, 2020
received a copy of The Immortal City from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
The Immortal City by May Peterson is an adult fantasy romance and the second book in The Sacred Dark series. Despite being in a series, The Immortal City can be read as a standalone, as it focuses on different characters in a different part of the world than book one, Lord of the Last Heartbeat.
The titular immortal city is Serenity, an isolated mountainside city occupied primarily by the living-again: those returned from death by a noble spirit and granted immortality, shape-changing, and supernatural gifts. Some mortals travel to Serenity to die, hoping to be reborn in the immortal city, but the city has a dark side: it’s tightly, violently controlled by a crow-soul with the ability to take memories.
Ari, a reborn dove-soul with healing powers, remembers nothing of his mortal life and is tormented by that absence. What was in his past that compelled him to sell his memories? And how can he be sure that he agreed to give up everything that was taken? Disconnected from his sense of self, Ari drifts along the edges of Serenity society until a mysterious mortal draws his attention.
Hei has come to the immortal city for his own reasons, but Ari is drawn to him from the moment their paths cross. As their bond deepens, Ari’s desire to restore his memory becomes more urgent, and it seems their purposes might entwine: Hei knows how to find an ancient immortal who may be able to return Ari’s history to him – a history Hei already knows.
This is a really lush fantasy, with evocative description and an almost stylized writing style. There are layers to everything, and because of that the beginning might seem a little dense or difficult, but as the story unfolds it becomes well worth it to persevere. This is a dark fantasy that explores the seedy underbelly of the city and the trauma in the characters’ pasts and presents, but it manages to do so without becoming grim. The relationship between Ari and Hei is a complex one and I enjoyed seeing it develop as Ari shifts from seeing Hei as just another fragile mortal tourist to a full-fledged person with his own objectives and secrets.
I liked this a lot.
The Immortal City by May Peterson is an adult fantasy romance and the second book in The Sacred Dark series. Despite being in a series, The Immortal City can be read as a standalone, as it focuses on different characters in a different part of the world than book one, Lord of the Last Heartbeat.
The titular immortal city is Serenity, an isolated mountainside city occupied primarily by the living-again: those returned from death by a noble spirit and granted immortality, shape-changing, and supernatural gifts. Some mortals travel to Serenity to die, hoping to be reborn in the immortal city, but the city has a dark side: it’s tightly, violently controlled by a crow-soul with the ability to take memories.
Ari, a reborn dove-soul with healing powers, remembers nothing of his mortal life and is tormented by that absence. What was in his past that compelled him to sell his memories? And how can he be sure that he agreed to give up everything that was taken? Disconnected from his sense of self, Ari drifts along the edges of Serenity society until a mysterious mortal draws his attention.
Hei has come to the immortal city for his own reasons, but Ari is drawn to him from the moment their paths cross. As their bond deepens, Ari’s desire to restore his memory becomes more urgent, and it seems their purposes might entwine: Hei knows how to find an ancient immortal who may be able to return Ari’s history to him – a history Hei already knows.
This is a really lush fantasy, with evocative description and an almost stylized writing style. There are layers to everything, and because of that the beginning might seem a little dense or difficult, but as the story unfolds it becomes well worth it to persevere. This is a dark fantasy that explores the seedy underbelly of the city and the trauma in the characters’ pasts and presents, but it manages to do so without becoming grim. The relationship between Ari and Hei is a complex one and I enjoyed seeing it develop as Ari shifts from seeing Hei as just another fragile mortal tourist to a full-fledged person with his own objectives and secrets.
I liked this a lot.
August 7, 2020
I received this as an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
How to put my thoughts about this book into words.
Its daring - dangerously imaginative. We explore a city (both lost and removed from time) within a world we only catch glimpses of. Like Ari - one of our main protagonists, we don’t fully know what is happening around us until 63% of the way through the story. May Peterson somehow makes that work.
Ari, an immortal re-awoken in the city of Serenity, who has lost all of his memories to his previous life in exchange for his re-awakening as a moon soul, has taken his second chance at life not as a new start but as an early grave. The complete amnesia leaves him vulnerable to the iron-grip forces that govern Serenity: Lord Umber and his lackey the cat-soul. But then we, alongside Ari, meet Hei, and serenity doesn’t stay dead - Ari begins to feel alive. With hidden motives, Hei and Ari are inexplicably drawn towards each other as Hei pursues his own quest through the city.
Their relationship isn’t about being soulmates, or a love that transcends the stars, no Ari’s love is like muscle memory and their relationship develops as more of the past is uncovered. Ari’s trauma and Hei’s spirit must succeeded against forces that govern not only Serenity but their own identities and yet through perseverance, their bond only becomes stronger.
The Immortal City explores magic based in payment and bargains, where everything comes at a price but who gets to decide the cost. Peterson’s lush world development on moon-souls, susceptibility to silver, and the immortal vs mortal relationships created a fresh new and exciting place to explore and I would love to read more about the world outside of Serenity. There is an interesting cast of secondary characters - Kaiwan and Tamueji, but I wish for almost more about them.
Note: this book does contain strong themes regarding trauma.
How to put my thoughts about this book into words.
Its daring - dangerously imaginative. We explore a city (both lost and removed from time) within a world we only catch glimpses of. Like Ari - one of our main protagonists, we don’t fully know what is happening around us until 63% of the way through the story. May Peterson somehow makes that work.
Ari, an immortal re-awoken in the city of Serenity, who has lost all of his memories to his previous life in exchange for his re-awakening as a moon soul, has taken his second chance at life not as a new start but as an early grave. The complete amnesia leaves him vulnerable to the iron-grip forces that govern Serenity: Lord Umber and his lackey the cat-soul. But then we, alongside Ari, meet Hei, and serenity doesn’t stay dead - Ari begins to feel alive. With hidden motives, Hei and Ari are inexplicably drawn towards each other as Hei pursues his own quest through the city.
Their relationship isn’t about being soulmates, or a love that transcends the stars, no Ari’s love is like muscle memory and their relationship develops as more of the past is uncovered. Ari’s trauma and Hei’s spirit must succeeded against forces that govern not only Serenity but their own identities and yet through perseverance, their bond only becomes stronger.
The Immortal City explores magic based in payment and bargains, where everything comes at a price but who gets to decide the cost. Peterson’s lush world development on moon-souls, susceptibility to silver, and the immortal vs mortal relationships created a fresh new and exciting place to explore and I would love to read more about the world outside of Serenity. There is an interesting cast of secondary characters - Kaiwan and Tamueji, but I wish for almost more about them.
Note: this book does contain strong themes regarding trauma.
April 19, 2021
I liked this book even more than the previous one, Lord of the Last Heartbeat. For me, the amnesia plot wasn't a problem, nor was the dark setting of the novel, which basically takes place in an alternate version of a world that exists for those after death. Sort of. In any case, I'm glad that there were content warnings at the start.
Ari is a dove-soul which basically means he has died as a human in the past and then come back to life again. This only happens with those who have some sort of inner strength, enough to make the transition. He has wings and the ability to heal others. What he doesn't have is his memories from before he came to Serenity.
I like the way that May Peterson deliberately did not set this in our world. She makes a note about this in the authors note at the beginning as well, and the result was that we had a world without real world expectations superimposing on top of it.
Right at the start of the book, Ari meets a human called Hai, someone he is drawn to for reasons he can't explain. Especially without any memory of him. The start of this novel does suffer a little bit from the lag of establishing a new world, but it does well in establishing Ari as a character before really bringing Hai and the romance plot in.
World building takes up a big part of this novel, larger I would argue than the romance itself. This isn't a bad thing at all, because the world that's explored is kind of amazing to read through. Additionally, there's a really good reason for all this exposition as Hai ends up telling Ari bits about the life that he can't remember.
Their relationship is quite sweet and satisfying. Although I would say that Hai's personality is quite soft, he is incredibly kick ass when the situation warrants it. Which, in this story, is a lot.
Ari is a dove-soul which basically means he has died as a human in the past and then come back to life again. This only happens with those who have some sort of inner strength, enough to make the transition. He has wings and the ability to heal others. What he doesn't have is his memories from before he came to Serenity.
I like the way that May Peterson deliberately did not set this in our world. She makes a note about this in the authors note at the beginning as well, and the result was that we had a world without real world expectations superimposing on top of it.
Right at the start of the book, Ari meets a human called Hai, someone he is drawn to for reasons he can't explain. Especially without any memory of him. The start of this novel does suffer a little bit from the lag of establishing a new world, but it does well in establishing Ari as a character before really bringing Hai and the romance plot in.
World building takes up a big part of this novel, larger I would argue than the romance itself. This isn't a bad thing at all, because the world that's explored is kind of amazing to read through. Additionally, there's a really good reason for all this exposition as Hai ends up telling Ari bits about the life that he can't remember.
Their relationship is quite sweet and satisfying. Although I would say that Hai's personality is quite soft, he is incredibly kick ass when the situation warrants it. Which, in this story, is a lot.
January 27, 2021
I reread this recently getting hyped up for the upcoming sequel, the Calyx Charm, and now that the plot is straight in my head again I can write a review!
Despite being set in the same fantasy world as the previous novel, Lord of the Last Heartbeat, The Immortal City starts in a completely new place with new characters; the connection to Rhodry emerges only slowly, but the same mythology of moonspirits and Living-Again are prominent from the first page, full of vivid, unearthly imagery and lovable yet grey-shaded protagonists
The city of Serenity emerges as one of those really fantastic places where a million stories could happen, a city of ghosts and blood-drinking undead shapeshifters who trade their memories for the rudiments of a new life. The gradual reveal of the underpinning of that merciless logic makes up most of the plot of the book.
It's a romance and a loving, spicy one--driven enormously by the passion, compassion, desire and affection of the main characters--but there's a high stakes plot, too. Some really gripping and badass fight scenes! The evil mastermind eschews flimsy plot armor and impossible foresight for simply insinuating himself everywhere and leaving no corner of the world unsoiled, until it seems impossible to purify the heroes and the city of Serenity.
(It's not impossible. HEA guaranteed, folks.)
Despite being set in the same fantasy world as the previous novel, Lord of the Last Heartbeat, The Immortal City starts in a completely new place with new characters; the connection to Rhodry emerges only slowly, but the same mythology of moonspirits and Living-Again are prominent from the first page, full of vivid, unearthly imagery and lovable yet grey-shaded protagonists
The city of Serenity emerges as one of those really fantastic places where a million stories could happen, a city of ghosts and blood-drinking undead shapeshifters who trade their memories for the rudiments of a new life. The gradual reveal of the underpinning of that merciless logic makes up most of the plot of the book.
It's a romance and a loving, spicy one--driven enormously by the passion, compassion, desire and affection of the main characters--but there's a high stakes plot, too. Some really gripping and badass fight scenes! The evil mastermind eschews flimsy plot armor and impossible foresight for simply insinuating himself everywhere and leaving no corner of the world unsoiled, until it seems impossible to purify the heroes and the city of Serenity.
(It's not impossible. HEA guaranteed, folks.)
December 14, 2021
This is book 2 from a series, and I’m a sucker for reading books in the right order 😬
Could you read this book without book 1 🤷🏼♀️ I suppose you can, but I don’t know if all your questions were gonna be questions to begin with if you read book 1 first, does that make any sense?
About the book, I liked the world building and the characters, it was on some parts a bit long, but on the other hand, I appreciated it a lot later in the book 🤗
Overall I liked it and the idea behind it.
Thank you for the arc, 4 star 🌟 read
Could you read this book without book 1 🤷🏼♀️ I suppose you can, but I don’t know if all your questions were gonna be questions to begin with if you read book 1 first, does that make any sense?
About the book, I liked the world building and the characters, it was on some parts a bit long, but on the other hand, I appreciated it a lot later in the book 🤗
Overall I liked it and the idea behind it.
Thank you for the arc, 4 star 🌟 read
November 19, 2025
This is set in a richly detailed fantasy setting with immortals and powers and magic and its' the story of memory and love lost and found as well as a story of the city itself. It's told through a single viewpoint which works extremely well and there is a real sense of time and place and history in this ancient city. I found it engaging and cared what happened to the characters, but I was not overly invested emotionally.
April 2, 2021
DNF at 61%. The world building was intriguing, hence the two stars, but the author's writing style just doesn't do it for me.
June 3, 2023
The Immortal City by May Peterson is the second book in the Sacred Dark trilogy, but it’s really a standalone with only a small link to the first book, Lord of the Last Heartbeat, which I also reviewed. So, if The Immortal City appeals to you more on its own, feel free to jump right in. I will say, having just started the third book, The Calyx Charm, there may be a bit more interconnectedness there, so take this with a grain of salt.
The book opens with Ari, a moon-soul (Peterson’s term for immortal shifters who have died and been granted eternal life as transcendent beings), watching a mortal about to leap to his death just outside Serenity, the titular Immortal City, where mortals come seeking things they might do well to leave alone. First-chapter meet-cutes seem to be a thing with Peterson, and this one’s a doozy. The beautiful, joyful young man glances over at Ari, says “Catch me,” then leaps into the void. Ari (he’s a dove shifter OMG 😍) flies down and snatches him out of the air.
“And his arms clenched me tight, face burying in my chest. The heat of his body was like a knife cutting through me. And for a moment the earth spun, the night air a spiral paring Serenity away. We fell into the clear air, the sky lit up with sparks. He laughed until I was laughing with him, and I caught myself breathing in the warm human scent of his hair and clothes.”
Your Honor, I love them already.
Who is this fragile, joyous, innocent youth who so blithely leaps to certain death, and why has he come to Serenity? Some mortals come here for a chance at immortality; a leap from the rocks means death for most, but others are reborn as moon-souls or other ethereal creatures. Some seek entrance through Serenity’s gates hoping for wisdom, truth, pleasure—the Immortal City has much to offer hungry souls fleeing whatever drab or hateful lives they came from.
Like Lord of the Last Heartbeat, The Immortal City shows people running from their pasts looking for brighter futures, but in this case, they are preyed upon by ruthless crow-shifters who feed on their memories in exchange for illusory gains. The atmosphere of the city is part New York City, part Amsterdam, part something from a vampire movie where people voluntarily get partially drained in dark corners of smoky underground clubs. Death and life and everything in between and beyond commingle in a hedonistic menagerie of shadow and light, of memory and forgetting.
“We were a graveyard of cities, of legacies, and thus Serenity itself was as much a living-again as the moon-souls who dwelled in it. The city did not remember all the things it had once been. Our new realms were formed in the cracks of those old identities.”
As I wrote in my review of Lord of the Last Heartbeat, themes of queerness and surviving trauma abound in this trilogy, and they are often inseparable in these books. Leaving old lives and seeking new ones is an ongoing theme, but it’s always complicated, messy, painful, and risky. To me, Peterson’s afterlife has the feel of a queer neighborhood in a big city where people have moved from less friendly places, though I suppose it could just as easily describe any other diasporic community:
“Ghosts tended to form ecosystems of souls as they settled into local haunting patterns, shared fetters, common griefs. Some streets were nothing but effusive hives of vibrant ghosts, joining around their own ethereal brand of needs.”
In the book, we see mortals fleeing situations of war and abuse, landing in Serenity as a last hope, only to end up as unwitting sex workers of a sort to Lord Umber and his crew of menacing crow shifters who control their memories and gaslight them. The main character himself is a victim—the novel is billed as a Fantasy Amnesia Romance—and his quest to recover his memory is a major plot point.
Unlike Lord of the Last Heartbeat, The Immortal City gives us a lot of hot romance—and spice—early and often. This is M/M, by the way, though the way Peterson writes, one doesn’t much care about the gender of the participants. There’s this connection, this tenderness, but also a scorching passion throughout. Sparks fly and flames billow as Ari and Hei meet in the crags and aeries high in the city, making love under glowing crystals. These scenes are hot and tender, and it was a relief not to have to wait until near the end of the book, as was the case with Lord of the Last Heartbeat. No shade on that book or on those who like a slow burn; that’s just not my preference, and this book delivers plenty of spice from the get-go.
As the relationship amps up, we quickly discover there’s more to Hei than meets the eye. As Ari deals with Umber and other figures in Serenity’s underworld, he starts to doubt Hei’s intentions. Things get complicated—there’s a witch who can sort of alter time, some alliances that aren’t quite what they seem, and some big surprises.
And the fight scenes are glorious. Lord of the Last Heartbeat had a lot of ethereal ghostly fight scenes, but these are more physical, with Ari (he’s a dove shifter, remember? But like human-sized. HOW COOL IS THAT?) and crow-shifters, and Hei has some super cool martial-arts skills involving special weaponry that uses a kind of holy water. And a really cool sword. Anyway, from a fantasy action perspective, there’s a lot to like here, and I enjoyed the action scenes a lot. One quibble is that there was a lot of speechification in some of the major action scenes, which I know is hardly uncommon in big fight scenes, but I’m not a huge fan of when the bad guy needs to explain in great detail exactly how and/or why he did what he did, or the good guy either. Maybe that’s a me thing. But it’s a quibble—the big set pieces are glorious, and the finale was worth the buildup.
Peterson’s fantasy is on a very grand scale, magically speaking. When we get to the end of the book, the magic is BIG and IMPRESSIVE and WORLD-LEVEL. That’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea—it’s not necessarily mine, but I like it when it’s beautifully written and rendered with passion, as it is here. The big magic plays into the resolution of the romance plot as well, in ways I won’t spoil for you. Just know going in that you’re here for a big magic ride, so strap in and enjoy it.
I have just begun reading The Calyx Charm, which features a transfeminine heroine, and it’s breaking my heart already. I can’t wait to see how Peterson heals me.
The book opens with Ari, a moon-soul (Peterson’s term for immortal shifters who have died and been granted eternal life as transcendent beings), watching a mortal about to leap to his death just outside Serenity, the titular Immortal City, where mortals come seeking things they might do well to leave alone. First-chapter meet-cutes seem to be a thing with Peterson, and this one’s a doozy. The beautiful, joyful young man glances over at Ari, says “Catch me,” then leaps into the void. Ari (he’s a dove shifter OMG 😍) flies down and snatches him out of the air.
“And his arms clenched me tight, face burying in my chest. The heat of his body was like a knife cutting through me. And for a moment the earth spun, the night air a spiral paring Serenity away. We fell into the clear air, the sky lit up with sparks. He laughed until I was laughing with him, and I caught myself breathing in the warm human scent of his hair and clothes.”
Your Honor, I love them already.
Who is this fragile, joyous, innocent youth who so blithely leaps to certain death, and why has he come to Serenity? Some mortals come here for a chance at immortality; a leap from the rocks means death for most, but others are reborn as moon-souls or other ethereal creatures. Some seek entrance through Serenity’s gates hoping for wisdom, truth, pleasure—the Immortal City has much to offer hungry souls fleeing whatever drab or hateful lives they came from.
Like Lord of the Last Heartbeat, The Immortal City shows people running from their pasts looking for brighter futures, but in this case, they are preyed upon by ruthless crow-shifters who feed on their memories in exchange for illusory gains. The atmosphere of the city is part New York City, part Amsterdam, part something from a vampire movie where people voluntarily get partially drained in dark corners of smoky underground clubs. Death and life and everything in between and beyond commingle in a hedonistic menagerie of shadow and light, of memory and forgetting.
“We were a graveyard of cities, of legacies, and thus Serenity itself was as much a living-again as the moon-souls who dwelled in it. The city did not remember all the things it had once been. Our new realms were formed in the cracks of those old identities.”
As I wrote in my review of Lord of the Last Heartbeat, themes of queerness and surviving trauma abound in this trilogy, and they are often inseparable in these books. Leaving old lives and seeking new ones is an ongoing theme, but it’s always complicated, messy, painful, and risky. To me, Peterson’s afterlife has the feel of a queer neighborhood in a big city where people have moved from less friendly places, though I suppose it could just as easily describe any other diasporic community:
“Ghosts tended to form ecosystems of souls as they settled into local haunting patterns, shared fetters, common griefs. Some streets were nothing but effusive hives of vibrant ghosts, joining around their own ethereal brand of needs.”
In the book, we see mortals fleeing situations of war and abuse, landing in Serenity as a last hope, only to end up as unwitting sex workers of a sort to Lord Umber and his crew of menacing crow shifters who control their memories and gaslight them. The main character himself is a victim—the novel is billed as a Fantasy Amnesia Romance—and his quest to recover his memory is a major plot point.
Unlike Lord of the Last Heartbeat, The Immortal City gives us a lot of hot romance—and spice—early and often. This is M/M, by the way, though the way Peterson writes, one doesn’t much care about the gender of the participants. There’s this connection, this tenderness, but also a scorching passion throughout. Sparks fly and flames billow as Ari and Hei meet in the crags and aeries high in the city, making love under glowing crystals. These scenes are hot and tender, and it was a relief not to have to wait until near the end of the book, as was the case with Lord of the Last Heartbeat. No shade on that book or on those who like a slow burn; that’s just not my preference, and this book delivers plenty of spice from the get-go.
As the relationship amps up, we quickly discover there’s more to Hei than meets the eye. As Ari deals with Umber and other figures in Serenity’s underworld, he starts to doubt Hei’s intentions. Things get complicated—there’s a witch who can sort of alter time, some alliances that aren’t quite what they seem, and some big surprises.
And the fight scenes are glorious. Lord of the Last Heartbeat had a lot of ethereal ghostly fight scenes, but these are more physical, with Ari (he’s a dove shifter, remember? But like human-sized. HOW COOL IS THAT?) and crow-shifters, and Hei has some super cool martial-arts skills involving special weaponry that uses a kind of holy water. And a really cool sword. Anyway, from a fantasy action perspective, there’s a lot to like here, and I enjoyed the action scenes a lot. One quibble is that there was a lot of speechification in some of the major action scenes, which I know is hardly uncommon in big fight scenes, but I’m not a huge fan of when the bad guy needs to explain in great detail exactly how and/or why he did what he did, or the good guy either. Maybe that’s a me thing. But it’s a quibble—the big set pieces are glorious, and the finale was worth the buildup.
Peterson’s fantasy is on a very grand scale, magically speaking. When we get to the end of the book, the magic is BIG and IMPRESSIVE and WORLD-LEVEL. That’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea—it’s not necessarily mine, but I like it when it’s beautifully written and rendered with passion, as it is here. The big magic plays into the resolution of the romance plot as well, in ways I won’t spoil for you. Just know going in that you’re here for a big magic ride, so strap in and enjoy it.
I have just begun reading The Calyx Charm, which features a transfeminine heroine, and it’s breaking my heart already. I can’t wait to see how Peterson heals me.
April 16, 2025
Book two of three, but not connected to the other two at all, so you could easily start here. Ari is a dove spirit, a person who died and then came back to life with powers. He lives in the immortal city of Serenity in thrall to its mafia-esque leader, and his life is in stasis because he’s lost the memories of his former life and has no purpose or direction. When Ari encounters a strange mortal, Hei sends his life into turmoil and drives him to seek out answers about his past with a new urgency.
This is a very odd book. The worldbuilding here is just as chaotic and prone to throwing in new facts without warning as the first book, but I was more familiar with some of it this time around. The setting in this book has a sort of austerity that I’m not sure appeals to me– the characters are limited to the city, which only has a bare handful of important characters and a relatively simple dynamic (run by the mafia). Interesting and novel, but not quite to my taste.
This is a very odd book. The worldbuilding here is just as chaotic and prone to throwing in new facts without warning as the first book, but I was more familiar with some of it this time around. The setting in this book has a sort of austerity that I’m not sure appeals to me– the characters are limited to the city, which only has a bare handful of important characters and a relatively simple dynamic (run by the mafia). Interesting and novel, but not quite to my taste.
November 27, 2020
Dystopian Fantasy
First, the fight scenes are tremendous - well-written, suspense-filled, and rivetting. They were also supremely well set up; I was so engaged with the battles because I cared what happened to the characters.
For all that excitement, this book is bleak. I was intrigued, but I think it was bleaker than I could handle right now when the real world is so fractured.
First, the fight scenes are tremendous - well-written, suspense-filled, and rivetting. They were also supremely well set up; I was so engaged with the battles because I cared what happened to the characters.
For all that excitement, this book is bleak. I was intrigued, but I think it was bleaker than I could handle right now when the real world is so fractured.
January 29, 2022
Written with resonate phrases that capture and refract deep insight into memory, identity and the liminal edges of human experience, The Immortal City is captivating, riveting and unrelenting. Its characters, caught in a gray, rudderless fog of existential despair after having their memories ripped away, are pulled into a vortex of urgent actions as the indefeasible passions of a boy clash with the machinations of immortals. Past, present and future are all put at risk as he seeks vengeance and restitution.
The Immortal City opens with a perfectly envisioned scene outside the gates of Serenity, an immense, ancient, and half-ruined city of immortals, ghosts and human pilgrims that’s carved out of a remote mountain on a snow swept arctic tundra. Ari, who has died and been reborn as an immortal sharing his soul with a dove-spirit, looks down as Hei, an exuberant 20 year old on a grim secret mission, dances up and down on a cliff edge to get Ari’s attention. Their meeting blossoms into a potentially beautiful relationship, but one threatened by violence, blood, and a moral corruption eating away the foundations of the Immortal City.
The Immortal City gives equal weight to the romance, the setting, and issues of memory, power, identity and belonging. But author May Peterson weaves these story threads so tightly that it’s hard to tell where one thread ends and another begins. It’s a glorious piece of integration, of an author in control of each narrative element and where she wants to go with all of them.
It’s a book I didn’t want to put down. The well-done first book in the Sacred Dark trilogy, Lord of the Last Heartbeat, was wonderfully inventive and moving, but, compared to The Immortal City, feels confined, it’s energies swirling within its own narrative universe. The Immortal City, however, feels expansive. It wrestles with issues that are universal, but projects them into Peterson’s unique world in ways that make them feel poignant, intimately familiar, yet new and fresh.
This one is a total win on all fronts.
The Immortal City opens with a perfectly envisioned scene outside the gates of Serenity, an immense, ancient, and half-ruined city of immortals, ghosts and human pilgrims that’s carved out of a remote mountain on a snow swept arctic tundra. Ari, who has died and been reborn as an immortal sharing his soul with a dove-spirit, looks down as Hei, an exuberant 20 year old on a grim secret mission, dances up and down on a cliff edge to get Ari’s attention. Their meeting blossoms into a potentially beautiful relationship, but one threatened by violence, blood, and a moral corruption eating away the foundations of the Immortal City.
The Immortal City gives equal weight to the romance, the setting, and issues of memory, power, identity and belonging. But author May Peterson weaves these story threads so tightly that it’s hard to tell where one thread ends and another begins. It’s a glorious piece of integration, of an author in control of each narrative element and where she wants to go with all of them.
It’s a book I didn’t want to put down. The well-done first book in the Sacred Dark trilogy, Lord of the Last Heartbeat, was wonderfully inventive and moving, but, compared to The Immortal City, feels confined, it’s energies swirling within its own narrative universe. The Immortal City, however, feels expansive. It wrestles with issues that are universal, but projects them into Peterson’s unique world in ways that make them feel poignant, intimately familiar, yet new and fresh.
This one is a total win on all fronts.
August 6, 2020
May Peterson’s debut novel, Lord of the Last Heartbeat, was an absolute stunner, lush in its world building and written in a lavish prose that complemented the dream-like quality of the story. To say that she repeated that success in her latest novel, The Immortal City, would be true, but this book is in no way a mere replica of the last. It’s stunning in its own right, in the landscapes she draws, the characters she creates, and she has left me anxious, yet again, for the next book in the series to see where her imagination might ask readers to follow next.
At its heart, this is the story of a love that defies the limits of reality. Peterson has called upon us to believe in a promise—that the heart never forgets true love—and to follow her characters, Ari and Hei, through tests and trials and a clear and present danger to prove that notion. There are enemies to vanquish along the way, allies to secure, and faith to restore, all while they rediscover a timeless love.
There is a particular magic at work in this book as well as a particular villainy, and Ari and Hei face it all with a fervency that tries their bond but only succeeds in strengthening it as they cross each hurdle. Every scene that leads readers to the crucial moment in which Ari and Hei must face their greatest challenge, and a powerful adversary, is dense with the imagery of a world in which humans and the sublime coexist.
May Peterson is an author who’s books are a welcome addition to my collection of favorites. I loved this book every bit as much as her first.
At its heart, this is the story of a love that defies the limits of reality. Peterson has called upon us to believe in a promise—that the heart never forgets true love—and to follow her characters, Ari and Hei, through tests and trials and a clear and present danger to prove that notion. There are enemies to vanquish along the way, allies to secure, and faith to restore, all while they rediscover a timeless love.
There is a particular magic at work in this book as well as a particular villainy, and Ari and Hei face it all with a fervency that tries their bond but only succeeds in strengthening it as they cross each hurdle. Every scene that leads readers to the crucial moment in which Ari and Hei must face their greatest challenge, and a powerful adversary, is dense with the imagery of a world in which humans and the sublime coexist.
May Peterson is an author who’s books are a welcome addition to my collection of favorites. I loved this book every bit as much as her first.
dnf
November 1, 2020DNF at 48%
I loved Lord of the Last Heartbeat and was eager to see how the series would continue. This is very different in tone from LotLH. This makes sense. It’s about different characters with very different personalities. Also, Ari, our narrator, has amnesia. Not only does he have no idea who he was before he came to Serenity, there’s no one there (save the person who took his memories for a price) who can remind him. However, Ari’s confusion about who he was before and why he’d have paid to lose his memories made me confused as well and I’ve had a hard time connecting with him and the rest of the moon-souls in this world. I also have no idea who it connects to the first book—maybe it’s just another facet of the world I met in LotLH. And then on top of this is the fact that it’s hard for me to persevere with books that do not immediately grip me because of current events. So while I started this a month ago and kept hoping it would hook me, it’s best for me to set this to the side, in the hope of picking it up another time. I still admire Peterson as a writer and look forward to the next book in the series.
Character notes: Ari is an immortal moon-soul. He has dark brown skin. Hei is mortal and an orphan. It’s not clear what their sexual identity is but they are both into men.
CW: suicide (people come to Serenity thinking the immortal city will grant them resurrection if they jump), amnesia, sexual harassment, attempted rape, alcohol
Disclosure: the author and I are friendly online.
I loved Lord of the Last Heartbeat and was eager to see how the series would continue. This is very different in tone from LotLH. This makes sense. It’s about different characters with very different personalities. Also, Ari, our narrator, has amnesia. Not only does he have no idea who he was before he came to Serenity, there’s no one there (save the person who took his memories for a price) who can remind him. However, Ari’s confusion about who he was before and why he’d have paid to lose his memories made me confused as well and I’ve had a hard time connecting with him and the rest of the moon-souls in this world. I also have no idea who it connects to the first book—maybe it’s just another facet of the world I met in LotLH. And then on top of this is the fact that it’s hard for me to persevere with books that do not immediately grip me because of current events. So while I started this a month ago and kept hoping it would hook me, it’s best for me to set this to the side, in the hope of picking it up another time. I still admire Peterson as a writer and look forward to the next book in the series.
Character notes: Ari is an immortal moon-soul. He has dark brown skin. Hei is mortal and an orphan. It’s not clear what their sexual identity is but they are both into men.
CW: suicide (people come to Serenity thinking the immortal city will grant them resurrection if they jump), amnesia, sexual harassment, attempted rape, alcohol
Disclosure: the author and I are friendly online.
October 16, 2020
Wow, this was a real break-your-heart-and-put it-back-together-again story, especially at the end. Its fantasy with mythic & mystical overtones, a star-crossed love story made of stolen moments of tenderness and passion that starts in the most swoonily romantic way, it's full of intriguing mysteries, gripping & well choreographed action scenes, and fantastic world-building. The setting is also as much of a character as the characters. Serenity struck me as a kind of ... coldly dystopian Heaven-that-is-also-kinda-Hell: There's some really interesting fusion and juxtaposing of classically heavenly/hellish imagery happening here - the more I think about this the more I'm struck by this. Seriously, this book would make an awesome subject for a book study, and I consider that high praise! 😊 It's also a story rich with psychological insight & metaphor, and deeply grief infused, but it also has a radiantly joyful, tremulously hopeful and life-affirming HEA. I love this kind of book!
May Peterson has quickly become a must-read author for me. I'm eagerly anticipating her next book in this world.
May Peterson has quickly become a must-read author for me. I'm eagerly anticipating her next book in this world.
August 15, 2020
I've read Lord of the Last Heartbeat as well, and I think that I liked this one best. The Immortal City has incredibly lush writing and atmospheric world building, but even more than that I appreciated the way my two favorite genres are combined in this story. It's been difficult for me to find books that feel like truly Fantasy AND Romance, without one genre or the other taking precedence and either reducing the Fantasy elements to background, or cutting the Romance down to a subplot. This book was the balance of both that I'm looking for, and it makes me excited to read more of May Peterson's work. The plot was intriguing and kept me reading, but the way it unfolded wasn't my favorite. I like to put the puzzle together one step ahead of the characters, and with this story, I felt like I was waiting for the characters to explain the significance of some of the events before I really made sense of them.
Would definitely recommend this to readers who are looking for vivid writing, and an intense Fantasy world paired perfectly with a sweeping Romance.
Would definitely recommend this to readers who are looking for vivid writing, and an intense Fantasy world paired perfectly with a sweeping Romance.
May 18, 2021
4.5 stars
This was beautiful. Such a heart-achingly beautiful thing that hurt and healed at once. In some ways I enjoyed this even more than the (mostly unrelated) first book in the series. The love and the loss of memories and the two people finding each other again when only one of them remembers was just beautiful.
The world of this series is also a beautifully and interestingly realized thing and the city of Serenity was absolutely fascinating, as were the cast of characters. It was fascinating reading this story from Ari's viewpoint when he was so unaware of most of it until the end. While I might have liked to see Hei's I think that would not at all have been the same story.
I could ramble a bit about everything I enjoyed in this. I felt the plot wasn't quite as driving as the first until late in the book, but it worked, and in a way I felt the romance even more deeply as well.
Overall I quite loved this one and strongly suspect that I will be back for the third installment at some point.
This was beautiful. Such a heart-achingly beautiful thing that hurt and healed at once. In some ways I enjoyed this even more than the (mostly unrelated) first book in the series. The love and the loss of memories and the two people finding each other again when only one of them remembers was just beautiful.
The world of this series is also a beautifully and interestingly realized thing and the city of Serenity was absolutely fascinating, as were the cast of characters. It was fascinating reading this story from Ari's viewpoint when he was so unaware of most of it until the end. While I might have liked to see Hei's I think that would not at all have been the same story.
I could ramble a bit about everything I enjoyed in this. I felt the plot wasn't quite as driving as the first until late in the book, but it worked, and in a way I felt the romance even more deeply as well.
Overall I quite loved this one and strongly suspect that I will be back for the third installment at some point.
July 14, 2022
It had been a while since I read the first book in this series, and I worried that it would make it difficult to follow this story. Fortunately they seem to largely stand alone, though they are set in the same gothic setting of dark gods and immortal curses. The focus of this story was narrower, concerning Ari and his longing to regain his lost memories, and the fearless mortal who catches his eye. The layers of his past are peeled back in this rich, perfectly paced love story and I found it even more compelling than the first in the series. May Peterson is certainly an author I will be keeping an eye on.
August 4, 2020
This author hooked me on their work with Lord of the Last Heartbeat and just doubled down with the Immortal City. Just the premise of the storyline, Ari being reborn as a dove-soul with healing abilities, drew me in. This wonderfully imagined world is utterly fascinating and highly entertaining. Ari and Hei were wonderfully complex characters and I loved watching them connect and interact with each other. I really enjoyed this return visit to the world of the Sacred Dark and I hope I don't have to wait long for my next one.
*I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by NetGalley*
*I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by NetGalley*
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April 7, 2023Read during #TransRightsReadathon
My favourite of the novels in the Sacred Dark trilogy, and my favourite couple. Ari is so beautiful and sad, I just want to hug him, and Hei is a burst of light and joy and hope. The single point of view (Ari's) works for the plot and also for me; I immersed in his world and his mind and didn't want to come out. Beautiful writing again, gorgeous world building. I was slightly disappointed there was no connection to any of the characters from the first book.
My favourite of the novels in the Sacred Dark trilogy, and my favourite couple. Ari is so beautiful and sad, I just want to hug him, and Hei is a burst of light and joy and hope. The single point of view (Ari's) works for the plot and also for me; I immersed in his world and his mind and didn't want to come out. Beautiful writing again, gorgeous world building. I was slightly disappointed there was no connection to any of the characters from the first book.
August 9, 2020
Wow! I enjoyed this book much better than the author’s first. I found the worldbuilding logic and plot twists more consistent, rewarding, and better explained than in “Lord of the Last Heartbeat.” And Hei and Ari, my goodness, my heart ♥️ I read it in less than 24 hours. I could hardly put it down.
August 21, 2020
This is the second book in a series and it's excellent.
Great character development and world building, excellent storytelling and style of writing.
It's a complex and layered story, engrossing and highly enjoyable.
I can't wait for the next book by this author, strongly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
Great character development and world building, excellent storytelling and style of writing.
It's a complex and layered story, engrossing and highly enjoyable.
I can't wait for the next book by this author, strongly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
November 4, 2020
I liked this one very much. I think it's a better book than the first one. which it turns out I don't actually remember all that much. This one felt more cohesive and I liked the characters and second chance romance things going on. Also liked that it took the separate efforts of more than one character to resolve the last fight/problem.
December 30, 2020
A compelling story that had me gripped. I adored the world building and the descriptive skills were fantastic. I have a perfect image in my head of all the places described. I loved the build up to the relationship and the way it worked with his amnesia although I did wonder about the ethical basis invoked.
Overall I found this a very thought provoking and high concept story that will reward rereads.
Overall I found this a very thought provoking and high concept story that will reward rereads.
Read
August 1, 2020Categories
Fantasy Romance, Alternate World Fantasy, Romance, Male/Male Romance, Dark Fantasy, Romantic Fantasy
Miniseries
The Sacred Dark (Book #2)
Fantasy Romance, Alternate World Fantasy, Romance, Male/Male Romance, Dark Fantasy, Romantic Fantasy
Miniseries
The Sacred Dark (Book #2)
Read
April 6, 2022Oops, I'm not done with this, but I think I should admit I may never finish. I absolutely loved Lord of the Last Heartbeat, Peterson's debut novel, which was full up with tragic hair-brushing, ghosts of dead wives in diaphanous dresses, and an absolute fog of atmosphere. The Immortal City has some of that, but the main plot concerns a magical amnesia, and I'm beginning to learn I cannot handle amnesia plots. Look, I'm as surprised as you by this announcement, given how much I lived for Stefano Dimera brainwashing and wiping the memories of everyone on Days of Our Lives, but apparently it's different when amnesia is used in not a soap opera. It's an ethical black hole for everyone around the amnesiac, and the non-zero possibility of banging a family member makes romantic liaisons more fraught than I would prefer. Maybe some day I'll come back! For now, I'm going to gently set this aside.
December 13, 2020
DNF
Technically, I skipped to the end. I found this book too dense with uncertainty and dark undercurrents to enjoy. The main character wasn’t enough of a personality to keep me invested in his story, but I think the discovering (or re-discovering) of his personality is a huge plot point. If I could use one word to describe what I read of this book, it would be “murky.” Not for me.
Technically, I skipped to the end. I found this book too dense with uncertainty and dark undercurrents to enjoy. The main character wasn’t enough of a personality to keep me invested in his story, but I think the discovering (or re-discovering) of his personality is a huge plot point. If I could use one word to describe what I read of this book, it would be “murky.” Not for me.
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