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The House War #1
The Hidden City
In this epic fantasy series for fans of George R. R. Martin and Robin Hobb, Jewel Markess must contend with deadly court politics, and visions of looming magical threats.
Orphaned and left to fend for herself in the slums of Averalaan, Jewel Markess—Jay to her friends—meets an unlikely savior in Rath, a man who prowls the ruins of the undercity. Nursing Jay back to health is an unusual act for a man who renounced his own family long ago, and the situation becomes stranger still when Jay begins to form a den of other rescued children in Rath's home. But worse perils lurk beneath the the demons that once nearly destroyed the Essalieyan Empire are stirring again, and soon Rath and Jay will find themselves targets of these unstoppable beings.
Orphaned and left to fend for herself in the slums of Averalaan, Jewel Markess—Jay to her friends—meets an unlikely savior in Rath, a man who prowls the ruins of the undercity. Nursing Jay back to health is an unusual act for a man who renounced his own family long ago, and the situation becomes stranger still when Jay begins to form a den of other rescued children in Rath's home. But worse perils lurk beneath the the demons that once nearly destroyed the Essalieyan Empire are stirring again, and soon Rath and Jay will find themselves targets of these unstoppable beings.
754 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published March 4, 2008
193 people are currently reading
3509 people want to read
About the author
Michelle West
73 books467 followersSee also:
Michelle Sagara West
Michelle Sagara
Michelle is an author, bookseller, and lover of literature based in Toronto. She writes fantasy novels as both Michelle Sagara and Michelle West (and sometimes as Michelle Sagara West). You can find her books at fine booksellers.
She lives in Toronto with her long-suffering husband and her two children, and to her regret has no dogs.
Reading is one of her life-long passions, and she is sometimes paid for her opinions about what she’s read by the venerable Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. No matter how many bookshelves she buys, there is Never Enough Shelf space. Ever.
She has published as Michelle Sagara (her legal name), as Michelle West (her husband's surname), and as Michelle Sagara West (a combination of the two).
Michelle Sagara West
Michelle Sagara
Michelle is an author, bookseller, and lover of literature based in Toronto. She writes fantasy novels as both Michelle Sagara and Michelle West (and sometimes as Michelle Sagara West). You can find her books at fine booksellers.
She lives in Toronto with her long-suffering husband and her two children, and to her regret has no dogs.
Reading is one of her life-long passions, and she is sometimes paid for her opinions about what she’s read by the venerable Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. No matter how many bookshelves she buys, there is Never Enough Shelf space. Ever.
She has published as Michelle Sagara (her legal name), as Michelle West (her husband's surname), and as Michelle Sagara West (a combination of the two).
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March 2, 2020
At Rath’s age, the past was a bitter terrain, and the elements that loomed large cast sharp shadows along the thin edge between history and story. He could not be certain which of the two drove him; the facts – for he prided himself on rationality – or the emotions those facts evoked; the certain sense that he had made his choice, and must abide by it, or make a lie of the whole of his adult life, or the gnawing uncertainty that the choice itself was suspect, that pride, with its bright and bitter edge, held him now, cutting him and strengthening him, always with cost.
I picked up this book out of the dollar bin clearance rack at a used bookstore on a total whim and I’m glad I did. I’d never heard of the series or the author and it was only later when I got home and did some research that I realized that I was, in fact, familiar with the author. I just knew her under the name Michelle Sagara, the name under which she writes the Chronicles of Elantra series. Now, I read the first book in that series years ago and didn’t care for it enough to continue with it. I liked this book quite a bit, however, so I do plan to continue this one for the foreseeable future.
It’s a prequel I guess, of sorts, to the author’s Sun Sword series. According to the author, the first three books in the House War series take place before the Sun Sword series, even though they were published after the Sun Sword series was completed. So, it’s the old quandary of what reading order to follow: publication order vs chronological order. Me? I’m all about reading chronologically whenever possible.
No lesson ever went one way; lessons were not like rivers, flowing toward the ocean. They were, like his sword, a thing of two edges. He was learning, once again, to live in the world.
This is the story of Ararath Handernesse, Rath for short. Though his age is never specifically stated, I gather that he’s somewhere in the upper range of “middle age”. He’s a man who has turned his back on his past and who now earns a living in the poorer parts of the city finding and selling antiquities. His reasons for walking away from his former life are not immediately known but they are hinted at just enough to make the reader want to know more and the slowly peeled back layers make for satisfying discovery. When his path crosses that of Jewel ‘Jay’ Markess, a ten-year-old orphan eking out a living on the street, Rath is, against his better judgement, intrigued enough to take her in. As anyone who has ever had children can attest, once kids enter the scene, one’s life is never the same. So it is with Rath, who finds that Jewel functions as an oftentimes uncomfortable mirror for him and his life’s choices, both past and current.
This is also Jewel’s story and if she never comes across like a ten-year-old child – and she definitely does not (more like a 30-year-old) – there are subtle hints in the narrative that imply there are reasons why this is so. Generally speaking, when reading fantasy books that start a major protagonist off as a child I tend to not like the coming-of-age portion of the story very much. Here, however, I found myself quite interested and invested in Jewel and her choices. Perhaps part of that is, again, the fact that she never comes across like a true child but I also just respected her sheer practicality and her quiet strength. She’s not a fighter and she neither enjoys nor looks forward to inflicting violence, even when she knows it’s necessary. She’s, so far anyway, shaping up to be the type of heroine who demonstrates the myriad other ways that a female character can be strong that don’t necessarily involve being a weapons master or an expert in martial arts.
This isn’t an action heavy book though there are some fight sequences and some tense moments. What the story does do, and does quite well in my humble opinion, is examine the psyches of both Rath and Jewel, in addition to a few of the other secondary characters. I always appreciate those deeper dives into what makes the characters tick, to better understand why they do the things they do, and why they make the choices they make. In this manner, this book is definitely more of a character driven story rather than an action or a plot driven one.
That said, this book is clearly setting up a longer plot arc as Rath and Jewel find themselves bumping up against darker forces that appear to be marshalling on the peripheries of their society. We get some tantalizing tidbits about the history of the culture and the land that just beg to be expanded upon so hopefully additional installments will continue to add to the world building started here. Overall I really enjoyed reading this book, both the writing style and the characters kept me engaged from start to finish and I absolutely want to see where they all go from here. I’m especially hoping I get to meet one character in particular who, although mentioned several times, never made an appearance.
This was the better way: to find joy, to find the single beam of light in the darkness; to see it, know it, absorb it. To know that it was just as real as the bad things; that the bad did not destroy all good.
I picked up this book out of the dollar bin clearance rack at a used bookstore on a total whim and I’m glad I did. I’d never heard of the series or the author and it was only later when I got home and did some research that I realized that I was, in fact, familiar with the author. I just knew her under the name Michelle Sagara, the name under which she writes the Chronicles of Elantra series. Now, I read the first book in that series years ago and didn’t care for it enough to continue with it. I liked this book quite a bit, however, so I do plan to continue this one for the foreseeable future.
It’s a prequel I guess, of sorts, to the author’s Sun Sword series. According to the author, the first three books in the House War series take place before the Sun Sword series, even though they were published after the Sun Sword series was completed. So, it’s the old quandary of what reading order to follow: publication order vs chronological order. Me? I’m all about reading chronologically whenever possible.
No lesson ever went one way; lessons were not like rivers, flowing toward the ocean. They were, like his sword, a thing of two edges. He was learning, once again, to live in the world.
This is the story of Ararath Handernesse, Rath for short. Though his age is never specifically stated, I gather that he’s somewhere in the upper range of “middle age”. He’s a man who has turned his back on his past and who now earns a living in the poorer parts of the city finding and selling antiquities. His reasons for walking away from his former life are not immediately known but they are hinted at just enough to make the reader want to know more and the slowly peeled back layers make for satisfying discovery. When his path crosses that of Jewel ‘Jay’ Markess, a ten-year-old orphan eking out a living on the street, Rath is, against his better judgement, intrigued enough to take her in. As anyone who has ever had children can attest, once kids enter the scene, one’s life is never the same. So it is with Rath, who finds that Jewel functions as an oftentimes uncomfortable mirror for him and his life’s choices, both past and current.
This is also Jewel’s story and if she never comes across like a ten-year-old child – and she definitely does not (more like a 30-year-old) – there are subtle hints in the narrative that imply there are reasons why this is so. Generally speaking, when reading fantasy books that start a major protagonist off as a child I tend to not like the coming-of-age portion of the story very much. Here, however, I found myself quite interested and invested in Jewel and her choices. Perhaps part of that is, again, the fact that she never comes across like a true child but I also just respected her sheer practicality and her quiet strength. She’s not a fighter and she neither enjoys nor looks forward to inflicting violence, even when she knows it’s necessary. She’s, so far anyway, shaping up to be the type of heroine who demonstrates the myriad other ways that a female character can be strong that don’t necessarily involve being a weapons master or an expert in martial arts.
This isn’t an action heavy book though there are some fight sequences and some tense moments. What the story does do, and does quite well in my humble opinion, is examine the psyches of both Rath and Jewel, in addition to a few of the other secondary characters. I always appreciate those deeper dives into what makes the characters tick, to better understand why they do the things they do, and why they make the choices they make. In this manner, this book is definitely more of a character driven story rather than an action or a plot driven one.
That said, this book is clearly setting up a longer plot arc as Rath and Jewel find themselves bumping up against darker forces that appear to be marshalling on the peripheries of their society. We get some tantalizing tidbits about the history of the culture and the land that just beg to be expanded upon so hopefully additional installments will continue to add to the world building started here. Overall I really enjoyed reading this book, both the writing style and the characters kept me engaged from start to finish and I absolutely want to see where they all go from here. I’m especially hoping I get to meet one character in particular who, although mentioned several times, never made an appearance.
This was the better way: to find joy, to find the single beam of light in the darkness; to see it, know it, absorb it. To know that it was just as real as the bad things; that the bad did not destroy all good.
October 18, 2014
200 pages of plot, 500 pages of one dude singing about his feelings.
At one point, one of the characters thinks, "So few words, and yet so many."
Dear character, I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU MEAN.
And considering said character is in the middle of a 40-page conversation with the hero (they literally just sit in a room and talk for. Forty. Pages.) there should be a sense of irony, and yet there's not. There's just... more words.
Rath, our hero, is a grumpy asshole. We know this because he prides himself on grumpiness, and because he states that he adopted a street child in order to remake her, because she reminds him of his sister, who he is super estranged from. This estranged relationship, summed up by Rath through most of the book as "Who am I? And what will become of the house of Handernesse?" is a constant theme. And by constant I mean that every two pages, minimum, Rath stops and sings about his feelings, by sitting down and asking himself, "Who am I? Who is Rath? And what will become of the house of Handernesse?"
It is... long. And it's a pity, because a) I love grumpy asshole heroes, and b) I can see, underneath 500 pages of singing about Rath's feelings, that there's a quite good fantasy story trapped in a well. If there had been a smart editor about, they would've read the 750+ page manuscript, chopped it down to 200 pages and mailed it to the author with a fistful of xanax and their home phone number.
The urchins are awesome. The city -- what we see of it, because there's precious little time here spent on world-building while everyone needs to sing about Rath's feelings -- seems awesome. The villainy is chewy and complicated. Rath will be awesome afterhis best friend Andrei tosses him facedown on a flat surface and [REDACTED] the stuffing out of him some therapy. Rath will be awesome after therapy.
But 500 pages of everyone, not just Rath, but everyone singing about Rath's feelings is not awesome.
Other things that are not awesome:
--Jewel, who sounds about twenty-three, but, we are given to understand, is ten. This is explained several times; moreover, Rath has to spend a lot of time singing about why he rescued Jewel as part of his navel-gazing, constantly comments on how childlike she is. THIS WILL BE IMPORTANT IN A MINUTE.
--Hand-wave-y magic system. Is mages! Is talent-born! Is... maker-born? Ok! Is fire because demon, yes? Now back to Rath: "Who am I?I'm Jean Valjean! What will become of the house of Handerwringing?"
--Lack of world-building. Lack of time spent on characters of other orphans who are, quite honestly, pretty interesting, so that just felt cheaty as fuck.
--The ending (tw: child rape).
Now, y'all.
I read a lot of horribly depressing and explicit crime fiction. A lot of it. So when I tell you that Jewel's rape by Lord Waverly, while ostensibly taking place mostly off-screen is one of THE most squicky things I have ever read, understand that I am not easily squicked by crime things.
But everyone has spent 700 pages on how Jewel is a child and then we have an anti-hero off-screen listening to Jewel being raped and glorying in it (which I can grant you makes sense for that particular character -- give credit for consistent storytelling where credit is due) and then Jewel gets up and is like, "I'm fine, I'm good," as the rest of the urchins arrive, and then MAKES THE ANTI-HERO HER BODYGUARD BECAUSE AS WE CAN SEE, THAT'S JUST GONE REALLY REALLY WELL, while all her urchin friends and her father figure Rath are standing there staring at her all half-naked and well, just raped and it is seriously, seriously not okay. Not even a little.
--Plus we pause the action while the anti-hero has the rapist on the floor with a knife at his throat to all have a discussion of how we feel about whether she should kill him. This is not actually how action sequences go.
A pox on everybody's house. I'm out.
At one point, one of the characters thinks, "So few words, and yet so many."
Dear character, I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU MEAN.
And considering said character is in the middle of a 40-page conversation with the hero (they literally just sit in a room and talk for. Forty. Pages.) there should be a sense of irony, and yet there's not. There's just... more words.
Rath, our hero, is a grumpy asshole. We know this because he prides himself on grumpiness, and because he states that he adopted a street child in order to remake her, because she reminds him of his sister, who he is super estranged from. This estranged relationship, summed up by Rath through most of the book as "Who am I? And what will become of the house of Handernesse?" is a constant theme. And by constant I mean that every two pages, minimum, Rath stops and sings about his feelings, by sitting down and asking himself, "Who am I? Who is Rath? And what will become of the house of Handernesse?"
It is... long. And it's a pity, because a) I love grumpy asshole heroes, and b) I can see, underneath 500 pages of singing about Rath's feelings, that there's a quite good fantasy story trapped in a well. If there had been a smart editor about, they would've read the 750+ page manuscript, chopped it down to 200 pages and mailed it to the author with a fistful of xanax and their home phone number.
The urchins are awesome. The city -- what we see of it, because there's precious little time here spent on world-building while everyone needs to sing about Rath's feelings -- seems awesome. The villainy is chewy and complicated. Rath will be awesome after
But 500 pages of everyone, not just Rath, but everyone singing about Rath's feelings is not awesome.
Other things that are not awesome:
--Jewel, who sounds about twenty-three, but, we are given to understand, is ten. This is explained several times; moreover, Rath has to spend a lot of time singing about why he rescued Jewel as part of his navel-gazing, constantly comments on how childlike she is. THIS WILL BE IMPORTANT IN A MINUTE.
--Hand-wave-y magic system. Is mages! Is talent-born! Is... maker-born? Ok! Is fire because demon, yes? Now back to Rath: "Who am I?
--Lack of world-building. Lack of time spent on characters of other orphans who are, quite honestly, pretty interesting, so that just felt cheaty as fuck.
--The ending (tw: child rape).
Now, y'all.
I read a lot of horribly depressing and explicit crime fiction. A lot of it. So when I tell you that Jewel's rape by Lord Waverly, while ostensibly taking place mostly off-screen is one of THE most squicky things I have ever read, understand that I am not easily squicked by crime things.
But everyone has spent 700 pages on how Jewel is a child and then we have an anti-hero off-screen listening to Jewel being raped and glorying in it (which I can grant you makes sense for that particular character -- give credit for consistent storytelling where credit is due) and then Jewel gets up and is like, "I'm fine, I'm good," as the rest of the urchins arrive, and then MAKES THE ANTI-HERO HER BODYGUARD BECAUSE AS WE CAN SEE, THAT'S JUST GONE REALLY REALLY WELL, while all her urchin friends and her father figure Rath are standing there staring at her all half-naked and well, just raped and it is seriously, seriously not okay. Not even a little.
--Plus we pause the action while the anti-hero has the rapist on the floor with a knife at his throat to all have a discussion of how we feel about whether she should kill him. This is not actually how action sequences go.
A pox on everybody's house. I'm out.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 9, 2015
Amazon says this book is 768 pages. If that's accurate, then this book is a criminal waste of space.
The entire plot is: Jewel finds an orphan and takes them home. Rath makes a :/ face. There is some allusion to the kids being ~important~, but no actual proof. Rinse, repeat, add in some vague conspiracy stuff involving a child brothel.
But after ten? Twelve? orphans, they still don't get any personality. We don't know their favourite colours, we don't know their backgrounds (because asking about their past would be anathema to street kid rules) we don't really know what they do all day beyond maybe learn to read. 768 pages that's supposed to set up these street kids as important and tight knit, and we get NOTHING to make us believe that or give a damn beyond Jewel's say-so. And that's pathetic.
Also, the entire book is written in Important Pauses.
"It's all written like this," Jewel said. Then she stopped and turned to look at her friend, who was not her friend, yet, but might be. Someday. If she found the words. "Every single conversation is like this."
"It doesn't sound much like ten year olds," snapped Duster.
"No."
They kept walking. Someone was wearing a nice dress, and Jewel hated them for buying nice things instead of feeding every poor person ever. She thought about actually talking and developping character with her bajillion foundlings, but found she could, instead, neatly summarize them with a passing sentence about who was in the kitchen feeding people, and who was learning to read.
"I don't think they'll ever actually develop personality," she said regretfully. Then winced. They were the wrong words. Always the wrong words. She remembered her Oma saying something bitter and cutting but deeply insightful. Oma always had exactly the right words.
"I have personality!" Duster snapped. She always snapped, or sneered, because this was her role in the narrative. Except when she was being nice to mute guy, but Jewel had never bothered to try finding out what she was saying because that would involve a conversation that wasn't written in momentous pauses, and this was a book with deep themes about redemption.
-
Lastly, that ending where was, in my opinion, very unnecessary, and certainly eyebrow raising about what the author considers needed for someone who was going to help others find redemption. Very Christ-like in the whole suffering as you have suffered. I'm not Christian, and I find those beliefs repulsive, and I found this ending repulsive. I don't think I'll be buying the sequel.
Gorgeous cover though. Kudos to the artist.
The entire plot is: Jewel finds an orphan and takes them home. Rath makes a :/ face. There is some allusion to the kids being ~important~, but no actual proof. Rinse, repeat, add in some vague conspiracy stuff involving a child brothel.
But after ten? Twelve? orphans, they still don't get any personality. We don't know their favourite colours, we don't know their backgrounds (because asking about their past would be anathema to street kid rules) we don't really know what they do all day beyond maybe learn to read. 768 pages that's supposed to set up these street kids as important and tight knit, and we get NOTHING to make us believe that or give a damn beyond Jewel's say-so. And that's pathetic.
Also, the entire book is written in Important Pauses.
"It's all written like this," Jewel said. Then she stopped and turned to look at her friend, who was not her friend, yet, but might be. Someday. If she found the words. "Every single conversation is like this."
"It doesn't sound much like ten year olds," snapped Duster.
"No."
They kept walking. Someone was wearing a nice dress, and Jewel hated them for buying nice things instead of feeding every poor person ever. She thought about actually talking and developping character with her bajillion foundlings, but found she could, instead, neatly summarize them with a passing sentence about who was in the kitchen feeding people, and who was learning to read.
"I don't think they'll ever actually develop personality," she said regretfully. Then winced. They were the wrong words. Always the wrong words. She remembered her Oma saying something bitter and cutting but deeply insightful. Oma always had exactly the right words.
"I have personality!" Duster snapped. She always snapped, or sneered, because this was her role in the narrative. Except when she was being nice to mute guy, but Jewel had never bothered to try finding out what she was saying because that would involve a conversation that wasn't written in momentous pauses, and this was a book with deep themes about redemption.
-
Lastly, that ending where was, in my opinion, very unnecessary, and certainly eyebrow raising about what the author considers needed for someone who was going to help others find redemption. Very Christ-like in the whole suffering as you have suffered. I'm not Christian, and I find those beliefs repulsive, and I found this ending repulsive. I don't think I'll be buying the sequel.
Gorgeous cover though. Kudos to the artist.
April 16, 2010
Back when I used to post my book reviews on my LJ, whenever I reviewed a book by Michelle West (regardless of the name she was writing under at the time - West, Sagara, or Sagara West), I'd preface the review with a warning that this was my absolute favourite fantasy author *EVER* so the reader could take it as read that I'd love the book, and that any review that followed would be glowingly positive because... well... that's just how things are.
I wasn't *quite* sure if that would still be the case with The Hidden City, because although I loved the Sun Sword books with a passion, Jewel Markess ATerafin was never my favourite character... that honour was split somewhere between Kallandras and Avandar, with a few of the supporting characters (e.g. Auralis and Kiriel, and *of course* Isladar) coming in not far behind. Y'know - the broken, morally grey, interesting ones who still manage to be supremely competent despite being completely and utterly messed up psychologically. Jewel always seemed too... balanced and certain of herself, even when she was doubting herself, and allround GOOD, to push my either my broken-but-competent or competent-controlled-and-amoral buttons. And because of that, she was often "just another heroine" to me and I focussed on the other characters who interested me more.
I'm happy to say though, that despite this first House War series book revolving around Jewel as the central protagonist, I still really like most of the book, and I thoroughly LOVED the last 200 pages or so of it. Jewel as the 10-year old she is in this book is very much the same as Jewel as the 30-something she is in the Sun Sword set, but I can live with that: she struck me as a very young 30, and here, she strikes me as a very old 10, so the voice-consistency works for me...
Although Hidden City doesn't have the cast of thousands than the Sun Sword set had, the supporting characters it does have are, for the most part, awesome; with several of them feeling as though they're offering me foreshadows of characters I know I'm going to meet later in the Sun Sword set (or at least, Jewel's interactions and dynamics with them offer those foreshadows). For example, in Rath, and Jewel's interactions with him, I see foreshadows/echoes of her dynamics with Avandar; and in Patris AMatie, I see distinct echoes of Isladar.
Not surprising, given his moral greyness, I loved Rath as a character. But he was far from the only highlight for me. My two other favourites were the painfully broken Duster (whom I remember meeting as one of Jewel's memories, and in whom I see echoes of the Kiriel who will come later); and the other is a character who never actually appears in person, but nevertheless informs a huge amount of who Jewel is and why she becomes the person she is, so I feel as though I know her as well as I know Jewel herself: her twisted, angry, resentful, and-yet-somehow-still-loving Oma (either Aunt or Grandmother - I wasn't clear, but I also didn't find the distinction really mattered). All of these characters are so wonderfully complex and *real* in their flaws and strengths that their depth quite simply takes my breath away at times.
Then again, Michelle West's strengths, for me, have always been in the richness and the complexity of her characters - that, and her ability to wield small, well-selected groups of words so skillfully that her phrases occasionally leave me stunned, or tearing up, or aching, and always wishing I had a tenth of her writing talent.
Contrasted against the characterisation, I found the actual plot of Hidden City pales. That said, however, I like that I can see how events that are going to happen in the Hunter & Sun Sword sets are being set up in this book, but it's a long, slow setting up, and most of the plot that's internal to this book, for me, seemed to happen in the last couple of hundred pages of it. Without wanting to create major spoilers, the point at which Jewel makes it clear she's willing to do what's necessary to help Duster achieve what the latter has been living for ever since the two of them met is the turning point of this book for me. That's the point it changes from a book I really liked just because it allowed me to be back in the world of Averalaan and the Twin Kings again , with characters I loved to spend time with, into a story that I couldn't put down and resented anyone or anything that took me away from it till I found out how it ended.
Had the first part of the book been as compelling and complex and demanding on my emotions as those last 200 pages, I would have given the book a 10/10 and complained that the scale didn't go high enough. As it is, I'm still giving it a 9/10 with a note that I'm *really* glad the next book (City of Night) became available from the library the day before I finished this instalment. I'm just not sure how I'm going to cope when I finish that one and then have to wait another year or so before House Name (Book 3) comes out!
I wasn't *quite* sure if that would still be the case with The Hidden City, because although I loved the Sun Sword books with a passion, Jewel Markess ATerafin was never my favourite character... that honour was split somewhere between Kallandras and Avandar, with a few of the supporting characters (e.g. Auralis and Kiriel, and *of course* Isladar) coming in not far behind. Y'know - the broken, morally grey, interesting ones who still manage to be supremely competent despite being completely and utterly messed up psychologically. Jewel always seemed too... balanced and certain of herself, even when she was doubting herself, and allround GOOD, to push my either my broken-but-competent or competent-controlled-and-amoral buttons. And because of that, she was often "just another heroine" to me and I focussed on the other characters who interested me more.
I'm happy to say though, that despite this first House War series book revolving around Jewel as the central protagonist, I still really like most of the book, and I thoroughly LOVED the last 200 pages or so of it. Jewel as the 10-year old she is in this book is very much the same as Jewel as the 30-something she is in the Sun Sword set, but I can live with that: she struck me as a very young 30, and here, she strikes me as a very old 10, so the voice-consistency works for me...
Although Hidden City doesn't have the cast of thousands than the Sun Sword set had, the supporting characters it does have are, for the most part, awesome; with several of them feeling as though they're offering me foreshadows of characters I know I'm going to meet later in the Sun Sword set (or at least, Jewel's interactions and dynamics with them offer those foreshadows). For example, in Rath, and Jewel's interactions with him, I see foreshadows/echoes of her dynamics with Avandar; and in Patris AMatie, I see distinct echoes of Isladar.
Not surprising, given his moral greyness, I loved Rath as a character. But he was far from the only highlight for me. My two other favourites were the painfully broken Duster (whom I remember meeting as one of Jewel's memories, and in whom I see echoes of the Kiriel who will come later); and the other is a character who never actually appears in person, but nevertheless informs a huge amount of who Jewel is and why she becomes the person she is, so I feel as though I know her as well as I know Jewel herself: her twisted, angry, resentful, and-yet-somehow-still-loving Oma (either Aunt or Grandmother - I wasn't clear, but I also didn't find the distinction really mattered). All of these characters are so wonderfully complex and *real* in their flaws and strengths that their depth quite simply takes my breath away at times.
Then again, Michelle West's strengths, for me, have always been in the richness and the complexity of her characters - that, and her ability to wield small, well-selected groups of words so skillfully that her phrases occasionally leave me stunned, or tearing up, or aching, and always wishing I had a tenth of her writing talent.
Contrasted against the characterisation, I found the actual plot of Hidden City pales. That said, however, I like that I can see how events that are going to happen in the Hunter & Sun Sword sets are being set up in this book, but it's a long, slow setting up, and most of the plot that's internal to this book, for me, seemed to happen in the last couple of hundred pages of it. Without wanting to create major spoilers, the point at which Jewel makes it clear she's willing to do what's necessary to help Duster achieve what the latter has been living for ever since the two of them met is the turning point of this book for me. That's the point it changes from a book I really liked just because it allowed me to be back in the world of Averalaan and the Twin Kings again , with characters I loved to spend time with, into a story that I couldn't put down and resented anyone or anything that took me away from it till I found out how it ended.
Had the first part of the book been as compelling and complex and demanding on my emotions as those last 200 pages, I would have given the book a 10/10 and complained that the scale didn't go high enough. As it is, I'm still giving it a 9/10 with a note that I'm *really* glad the next book (City of Night) became available from the library the day before I finished this instalment. I'm just not sure how I'm going to cope when I finish that one and then have to wait another year or so before House Name (Book 3) comes out!
August 17, 2015
Bitchy Aragorn adopts a Circle of Magic kid (who can see the future, and is determined to save all the other street kids, resulting in Bitchy Aragorn being saddled with many kids). Plus schemes and demons and hidden cities.
April 30, 2016
2.5 stars.
Well, in one word, I would have to call this tedious.
First, let me just mention what I did enjoy: I appreciated how imaginative the writing was, and also how much effort was put throughout the book into characterization.
Now, this book was all about characterization, and almost nothing else, so there was no way I could have finished it if I didn't enjoy even that much of it. I am all for character-driven stories usually, however, I did feel like character development, or even character-introduction, was focused on to the point that there was nothing else much left to the story. The action was limited, laying-of-basics for the magic system was perfunctory at best, and the story as a whole just... lagged.
In a general sense, I would say the whole book felt like little more than a stretched-out prologue, with one never actually getting to the point of the actual story. It felt like extra background information that never proved exactly necessary; it would have been had I cared enough for the characters, but unfortunately, for all the extensive and expansive characterization, most of it still fell flat: It felt like a whole lot of telling in the expense of showing. A study in delineating every single character's thoughts and feelings to every single nuance of an event, even those that proved to be mostly expendable.
To be perfectly honest (and admittedly rather harsh), I think that this story would have benefitted from a drastic cutting-out of words. Situations depicting dynamics between characters, if less wordy, might have gotten the message across 1) more subtly, 2) poignantly and 3) while not slowing down the pacing to sheer nonexistence.
The thing, like I said, is that I did like Michelle West's writing for the most part. There was, I think, just too much of it to be good.
I am still harboring an interest as to the fate of the characters introduced in this first volume, but at this point, I am hesitant to decide whether I would continue with it or not. I might give her another chance, sometime in the future.
Well, in one word, I would have to call this tedious.
First, let me just mention what I did enjoy: I appreciated how imaginative the writing was, and also how much effort was put throughout the book into characterization.
Now, this book was all about characterization, and almost nothing else, so there was no way I could have finished it if I didn't enjoy even that much of it. I am all for character-driven stories usually, however, I did feel like character development, or even character-introduction, was focused on to the point that there was nothing else much left to the story. The action was limited, laying-of-basics for the magic system was perfunctory at best, and the story as a whole just... lagged.
In a general sense, I would say the whole book felt like little more than a stretched-out prologue, with one never actually getting to the point of the actual story. It felt like extra background information that never proved exactly necessary; it would have been had I cared enough for the characters, but unfortunately, for all the extensive and expansive characterization, most of it still fell flat: It felt like a whole lot of telling in the expense of showing. A study in delineating every single character's thoughts and feelings to every single nuance of an event, even those that proved to be mostly expendable.
To be perfectly honest (and admittedly rather harsh), I think that this story would have benefitted from a drastic cutting-out of words. Situations depicting dynamics between characters, if less wordy, might have gotten the message across 1) more subtly, 2) poignantly and 3) while not slowing down the pacing to sheer nonexistence.
The thing, like I said, is that I did like Michelle West's writing for the most part. There was, I think, just too much of it to be good.
I am still harboring an interest as to the fate of the characters introduced in this first volume, but at this point, I am hesitant to decide whether I would continue with it or not. I might give her another chance, sometime in the future.
November 26, 2014
I don't know what this will be like for future readers who take all of these books in internal chronological order. Me, I've read all the other related series already. So even on the first time through, the plot was something like coming back to a book you've already read. If you're not someone who ever does that, maybe this won't do all that much for you. But why I reread books - why I'm rereading this one right now, actually - is for the writing and the characters. And the more time we spend with Rath, knowing where this is all heading .... aah, it's heartbreak. Maybe inevitable in some form or other, but still. Plus Jewel and all the others. Time in their company is well spent.
October 6, 2020
While the characterization is very good, it is the overall writing that makes this book extraordinary. So much so that I forgave the book it's somewhat hackneyed 'kids join together to combat evil' theme.
Btw, not a book for those who want happy-la-la endings. There is some grit here. Nice dark tones.
Btw, not a book for those who want happy-la-la endings. There is some grit here. Nice dark tones.
March 17, 2011
So amazing. I am still shaky from the emotional involvement in this book. Character driven epic fantasy like this is hard to find, had to write well, and hard to pace properly - I feel like this one hit all the right buttons with me. I'm both excited and terrified of what the next book will bring.
February 2, 2016
This book was really excellent. The main characters are a 10 year old girl and a 40ish man who used to be a noble and has given that up to live in the slums of his city. He meets the girl when she tries to pickpocket him, and even though he prefers to be alone, he ends up taking her under his wing. She ends up being more than she seems and they end up getting involved in a strange mire of circumstances. There is an incredible amount of tension and suspense in this story, and the writing and prose is absolutely superb. The dialogue is written a little strangely, but mostly because it doesn't give backstory or history between characters and is written the way that people actually carry on conversations. I'm looking forward to reading more of this series!
December 23, 2012
It's been years since I last read a novel by Michelle West and I had forgotten how good a job she does at making you like the people that populate her novels.
No big battle, no great quest in this novel, just the storie of a 10 year old orphan girl gathering others orphans around her. And was I enthralled..
I can see how this could not appeal to everyone but a solid 4 stars for me.
The only thing that bothers me is that I read the Sunsword serie more than 10 years ago when it came out and this new serie is going to interweave with it and my recollection of the previous books is very spotty and they have not yet been made available as e-books by Daw...
No big battle, no great quest in this novel, just the storie of a 10 year old orphan girl gathering others orphans around her. And was I enthralled..
I can see how this could not appeal to everyone but a solid 4 stars for me.
The only thing that bothers me is that I read the Sunsword serie more than 10 years ago when it came out and this new serie is going to interweave with it and my recollection of the previous books is very spotty and they have not yet been made available as e-books by Daw...
March 1, 2023
1.5 avis à venir
Avis Lecture 🧐 📖 "The Hidden City", The House War 1, Michelle West ⚔️
C'est la caca, c'est la cata, c'est laaaaa Catastrophe ! 😱😆😂
J'ai lu ce premier volume du Cycle The House War, dans l'univers de la serie Essalieyan, qui se compose de : la duologie The Sacred Hunt, The Sun Sword et du cycle cité plus haut, plus un recueil de novellas (total de la série : 17 volumes).
Pour commencer c'était déjà un peu beaucoup le bordel mais heureusement, l'autrice nous conseille de... ne pas suivre l'ordre de parution 🤣(respire, bordel respire ! 🤪😵) et donc de commencer par les 3 premiers tomes de The House War avant de (je vous dis pas le schmilblick) mélanger totalement les cycles car, pour la citer "Tout s'entrecroise". Bon OK, j'ai fait math sup' (non c'est pas vrai 🤣) mais j'ai tout compris.
L'autrice est recommandée si vous avez aimé L'Assassin Royal, mais si vous avez trouvé des longueurs chez Hobb autant vous dire que l'autrice de Fitz est une véritable fusée en comparaison de West ! 😂. Soyons honnêtes et sérieux deux secondes, même sur le style, ces deux autrices n'ont ABSOLUMENT RIEN en commun et moi qui me refuse à déconseiller un livre, chacun pouvant y trouver son compte là où un lecteur a essuyé des tempêtes, je vous le dit clairement "Fuyez pauvres fous !" 🤪😂
Déjà les romans de The House War ne sont plus vraiment édités. Il m'a fallu un an pour les trouver à des prix corrects entre 5 et 10€ hors frais de port (c'est faisable) mais sinon prevenez votre banquier car on est plus sur du 100 300€ 💵 !
L'histoire de ce volume se base sur Rath un espèce d'antiquaire qui sauve Jewel, une jeune fillette des rues... Et... C'est quasiment TOUT ! L'intrigue est totalement inexistante, ou apparaissant vers la fin du tome 1 et si les personnages étaient attachants au départ, l'autrice vous perd dans des dialogues sans fin dont vous n'avez plus RIEN À FAIRE (pour être poli 🙃😬), n'amenant strictement rien au récit. Ne vous attendez pas à trouver l'introspection de Hobb ici, car au final, même si vous lisez des dialogues sur 600p, les personnages sonnent finalement creux à la fin de ce tome 1.
C'est une énorme déception. J'étais très surpris par les notes données sur cette série, avant de me rendre compte que l'autrice avait perdu, au fil des tomes, près de 85% de son lectorat de base... 😬 dont mouuuaaaa 😅
Forcément libre à vous de tester et vous faire votre propre opinion, mais soyons honnêtes là encore, nous n'aurons jamais assez de toute une vie pour lire ce qui nous fait envie...
Et c'est pas les séries de Malaaaade qui manquent ! 😜
C'est donc un abandon le cœur (et malheureusement le portefeuille) plus léger... 😭🤣
Je suis venu, j'ai lu, le livre m'a vaincu ! 💀😂
Avis Lecture 🧐 📖 "The Hidden City", The House War 1, Michelle West ⚔️
C'est la caca, c'est la cata, c'est laaaaa Catastrophe ! 😱😆😂
J'ai lu ce premier volume du Cycle The House War, dans l'univers de la serie Essalieyan, qui se compose de : la duologie The Sacred Hunt, The Sun Sword et du cycle cité plus haut, plus un recueil de novellas (total de la série : 17 volumes).
Pour commencer c'était déjà un peu beaucoup le bordel mais heureusement, l'autrice nous conseille de... ne pas suivre l'ordre de parution 🤣(respire, bordel respire ! 🤪😵) et donc de commencer par les 3 premiers tomes de The House War avant de (je vous dis pas le schmilblick) mélanger totalement les cycles car, pour la citer "Tout s'entrecroise". Bon OK, j'ai fait math sup' (non c'est pas vrai 🤣) mais j'ai tout compris.
L'autrice est recommandée si vous avez aimé L'Assassin Royal, mais si vous avez trouvé des longueurs chez Hobb autant vous dire que l'autrice de Fitz est une véritable fusée en comparaison de West ! 😂. Soyons honnêtes et sérieux deux secondes, même sur le style, ces deux autrices n'ont ABSOLUMENT RIEN en commun et moi qui me refuse à déconseiller un livre, chacun pouvant y trouver son compte là où un lecteur a essuyé des tempêtes, je vous le dit clairement "Fuyez pauvres fous !" 🤪😂
Déjà les romans de The House War ne sont plus vraiment édités. Il m'a fallu un an pour les trouver à des prix corrects entre 5 et 10€ hors frais de port (c'est faisable) mais sinon prevenez votre banquier car on est plus sur du 100 300€ 💵 !
L'histoire de ce volume se base sur Rath un espèce d'antiquaire qui sauve Jewel, une jeune fillette des rues... Et... C'est quasiment TOUT ! L'intrigue est totalement inexistante, ou apparaissant vers la fin du tome 1 et si les personnages étaient attachants au départ, l'autrice vous perd dans des dialogues sans fin dont vous n'avez plus RIEN À FAIRE (pour être poli 🙃😬), n'amenant strictement rien au récit. Ne vous attendez pas à trouver l'introspection de Hobb ici, car au final, même si vous lisez des dialogues sur 600p, les personnages sonnent finalement creux à la fin de ce tome 1.
C'est une énorme déception. J'étais très surpris par les notes données sur cette série, avant de me rendre compte que l'autrice avait perdu, au fil des tomes, près de 85% de son lectorat de base... 😬 dont mouuuaaaa 😅
Forcément libre à vous de tester et vous faire votre propre opinion, mais soyons honnêtes là encore, nous n'aurons jamais assez de toute une vie pour lire ce qui nous fait envie...
Et c'est pas les séries de Malaaaade qui manquent ! 😜
C'est donc un abandon le cœur (et malheureusement le portefeuille) plus léger... 😭🤣
Je suis venu, j'ai lu, le livre m'a vaincu ! 💀😂
March 27, 2024
A new fantasy series I stumbled across.
It sucked me in right away, and the more I read, the harder it was to put it down. I would say there are two main characters, and they were both very well drawn and very compelling. They grew and experienced a lot over the course of the story, and it was a joy to see that shape who they became by the end of this book.
The city where the story is set feels lived in. There is enough detail to bring it to life and make it feel real without either info dumps or reinventing the wheel.
West did a good job balancing action and character building, often combining the two. She also handled giving answers to formerly raised questions without doing so too quickly or too sparingly.
In sum, it was an absolutely fantastic book and I cannot wait to start the sequel.
It sucked me in right away, and the more I read, the harder it was to put it down. I would say there are two main characters, and they were both very well drawn and very compelling. They grew and experienced a lot over the course of the story, and it was a joy to see that shape who they became by the end of this book.
The city where the story is set feels lived in. There is enough detail to bring it to life and make it feel real without either info dumps or reinventing the wheel.
West did a good job balancing action and character building, often combining the two. She also handled giving answers to formerly raised questions without doing so too quickly or too sparingly.
In sum, it was an absolutely fantastic book and I cannot wait to start the sequel.
September 3, 2020
Just what I needed.
I pretty much agree with all the below reviews from the zero to one to five star ones.
It’s character driven fantasy with slow world and character building. Things move slowly and it’s immersive. Things are being set up for a long haul.
Trigger warning though:
The writing is good enough that one of the MCs, Ararath isn’t very likeable so far, but it doesn’t matter. His point of view was more of a vehicle for the story to be told and move the plot along. At least, that’s how it looks to me right now.
I pretty much agree with all the below reviews from the zero to one to five star ones.
It’s character driven fantasy with slow world and character building. Things move slowly and it’s immersive. Things are being set up for a long haul.
Trigger warning though:
The writing is good enough that one of the MCs, Ararath isn’t very likeable so far, but it doesn’t matter. His point of view was more of a vehicle for the story to be told and move the plot along. At least, that’s how it looks to me right now.
April 26, 2022
3.5 stars
January 31, 2018
It is hard to review this book. Let's begin with this: I really, really liked it.
But like all first books in a series - and particularly with a fantasy series (it is so much easier with fiction, because the author doesn't have to establish the particulars of the world when it exists in our real world) - there is a lot of world-building, and character establishing (and this book introduces a HUGE number of core characters). That means that it is weighty, and at times a little slow. But it never felt like a slog.
There's a lot going on. Here's another thing to be upfront about: the core characters in this series are children. Abandoned, poor children who are living on the street. They are abused - and there are glimpses of sexual abuse, in addition to the expected physical/mental - and sometimes it is hard. But it is, imo, tastefully handled... accepted as a reality in their world, in a way which is, at its horrible core, true. To deny that these children would have to deal with this, in the shitty circumstances of their lives, would be to deny something that is critical in shaping them as the people they are. And it would deny something critical about what they need to either fold to - the rage, hate, fear - or overcome.
Michelle West/Sagara writes in a way that is ... it is hard to find good words. Ephemeral and non-linear in its narration. I love that about the Cast series (one of my favorites) and it is just as present here. You wander through the inner narration of characters, the lightning quick leaps of intuition or the meandering of emotion, with the occasional explosion of contrary anger, and it makes them real in a way that books seldom do. The voice in their head is so like my voice. Not linear. Not always rational. The past and the future mashed into a tangled knot that becomes the present.
I know it's not a thing that everyone likes - I've seen reviews complain about it in the Cast series - but it is generally a thing that I like very much. It is a tone of voice that is unique to her, in my experience - I've not seen any other author write this way. But it is not for everyone, and if you don't like it in the Cast series, you won't like it here. Also, as I've occasionally mentioned in the Cast series, sometimes it stretches too much. Like, in a critical moment, that you know happens over a handful of seconds, the character can have pages and pages of inner monologue as they respond to the situation / choose what to do / grasp for instinct. At its best, it makes me feel right in it. At its worst, it makes that moment drag, and deflates all the tension in the situation... because what is in reality a lightning-quick thing, feels like a decision made after days of discussion in a committee.
And both are present here, the best and the worst. But the good outweighs the bad by a mile, and I've already jumped into the second book. YMMV.
But like all first books in a series - and particularly with a fantasy series (it is so much easier with fiction, because the author doesn't have to establish the particulars of the world when it exists in our real world) - there is a lot of world-building, and character establishing (and this book introduces a HUGE number of core characters). That means that it is weighty, and at times a little slow. But it never felt like a slog.
There's a lot going on. Here's another thing to be upfront about: the core characters in this series are children. Abandoned, poor children who are living on the street. They are abused - and there are glimpses of sexual abuse, in addition to the expected physical/mental - and sometimes it is hard. But it is, imo, tastefully handled... accepted as a reality in their world, in a way which is, at its horrible core, true. To deny that these children would have to deal with this, in the shitty circumstances of their lives, would be to deny something that is critical in shaping them as the people they are. And it would deny something critical about what they need to either fold to - the rage, hate, fear - or overcome.
Michelle West/Sagara writes in a way that is ... it is hard to find good words. Ephemeral and non-linear in its narration. I love that about the Cast series (one of my favorites) and it is just as present here. You wander through the inner narration of characters, the lightning quick leaps of intuition or the meandering of emotion, with the occasional explosion of contrary anger, and it makes them real in a way that books seldom do. The voice in their head is so like my voice. Not linear. Not always rational. The past and the future mashed into a tangled knot that becomes the present.
I know it's not a thing that everyone likes - I've seen reviews complain about it in the Cast series - but it is generally a thing that I like very much. It is a tone of voice that is unique to her, in my experience - I've not seen any other author write this way. But it is not for everyone, and if you don't like it in the Cast series, you won't like it here. Also, as I've occasionally mentioned in the Cast series, sometimes it stretches too much. Like, in a critical moment, that you know happens over a handful of seconds, the character can have pages and pages of inner monologue as they respond to the situation / choose what to do / grasp for instinct. At its best, it makes me feel right in it. At its worst, it makes that moment drag, and deflates all the tension in the situation... because what is in reality a lightning-quick thing, feels like a decision made after days of discussion in a committee.
And both are present here, the best and the worst. But the good outweighs the bad by a mile, and I've already jumped into the second book. YMMV.
September 3, 2020
As a writer of epic fantasy, Michelle West is sadly underrated. She writes on a large canvas and builds worlds that are messy, flawed, and complex. She populates these messy worlds with characters that might at first seem too small for the situations they're caught in but eventually rise to the occasion. I've seen this in The Broken Crown, and I see it here.
I chose to read this book rather than the next in the Sun Sword series -- though I do intend to continue with that one -- because reading about the deeply misogynistic society of the Dominion is a bit too depressing for me just now. I might have escaped that particular level of soul-wearying misogyny, but I didn't escape the darkness; the world Jewel Markess must find a way to grow up in is gritty, grimy, and violent. Most of the significant action takes place under cover of night. As I pictured the cityscape in my mind, I saw quite a bit of shadow, not much light. But that's the nature of the story West is telling, and she tells it very well.
Despite the grit, however, I didn't find this grimdark. The story centers on friendship and its power to heal and restore. Jewel becomes the fulcrum around which a found family turns, and at the moment when darkness is at its strongest, when the defeat of friendship seems inevitable, it finds a way to triumph. Those readers who enjoy a bit of grimdark edge that avoids full-on nihilism might find this book of interest.
Character-wise, I find Jewel deeply sympathetic here, though she's not without her flaws. Her mentor and guardian, the self-outcast aristocrat Rath, is also intriguing, and I'm interested in furthering my acquaintance with the children she gathers around her. One disappointment: I do wish I hadn't had to read almost three hundred pages before encountering another girl besides Jewel. By the end there were four named female characters, but they're still outnumbered about five to one by dudes. Hopefully the balance will improve in future books.
I chose to read this book rather than the next in the Sun Sword series -- though I do intend to continue with that one -- because reading about the deeply misogynistic society of the Dominion is a bit too depressing for me just now. I might have escaped that particular level of soul-wearying misogyny, but I didn't escape the darkness; the world Jewel Markess must find a way to grow up in is gritty, grimy, and violent. Most of the significant action takes place under cover of night. As I pictured the cityscape in my mind, I saw quite a bit of shadow, not much light. But that's the nature of the story West is telling, and she tells it very well.
Despite the grit, however, I didn't find this grimdark. The story centers on friendship and its power to heal and restore. Jewel becomes the fulcrum around which a found family turns, and at the moment when darkness is at its strongest, when the defeat of friendship seems inevitable, it finds a way to triumph. Those readers who enjoy a bit of grimdark edge that avoids full-on nihilism might find this book of interest.
Character-wise, I find Jewel deeply sympathetic here, though she's not without her flaws. Her mentor and guardian, the self-outcast aristocrat Rath, is also intriguing, and I'm interested in furthering my acquaintance with the children she gathers around her. One disappointment: I do wish I hadn't had to read almost three hundred pages before encountering another girl besides Jewel. By the end there were four named female characters, but they're still outnumbered about five to one by dudes. Hopefully the balance will improve in future books.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 9, 2020
Series are always an investment-both of time and money. This is the start of the House Wars series, but I won't be finishing it. The ending was a bit disappointing, and the plotline alluded to in the title (the "hidden ruins" in the book flap description) is given short shrift. But Rath and Jewel are complex, compelling characters. I love that Jewel isn't sanctimonious in her goodness, and that Rath isn't cliche in his cynicism. The story was good enough that I wanted to see it continue.
So imagine my dismay when I found out that this is part of a FOURTEEN (14!!!) book series! In chronological order that's the Hunter books 1-2, the House Wars books 1-3, the Sun Sword books 1-6, and finally the House Wars books 4-6. What makes me hesitant: The Hidden City, is 768 pages. Roughly 25% of that is unnecessary character development and plot exposition that goes nowhere (it essentially reiterates the character traits of Jewel and Rath as described on the back cover by making them have the same conversation about 10 times). Another 25% is ornate, well written but equally unnecessary detail informing you as to the characters' every single thought, facial expression and gesture. If you don't know ALL of their motivations, regrets, hopes, fears and desires by the end of the book, you simply weren't paying attention.
While I appreciate not being kept completely in the dark, I also like being treated as an intelligent reader who can make my own inferences without being spoonfed every facet of the characters' experiences. In the end, I know that shelling out for the entire saga will come with a lot of frustration at having to wade through books that, while good, are twice as long as they should be. If you have the time on your hands, you probably won't be disappointed. If not, you might be better off with another book.
So imagine my dismay when I found out that this is part of a FOURTEEN (14!!!) book series! In chronological order that's the Hunter books 1-2, the House Wars books 1-3, the Sun Sword books 1-6, and finally the House Wars books 4-6. What makes me hesitant: The Hidden City, is 768 pages. Roughly 25% of that is unnecessary character development and plot exposition that goes nowhere (it essentially reiterates the character traits of Jewel and Rath as described on the back cover by making them have the same conversation about 10 times). Another 25% is ornate, well written but equally unnecessary detail informing you as to the characters' every single thought, facial expression and gesture. If you don't know ALL of their motivations, regrets, hopes, fears and desires by the end of the book, you simply weren't paying attention.
While I appreciate not being kept completely in the dark, I also like being treated as an intelligent reader who can make my own inferences without being spoonfed every facet of the characters' experiences. In the end, I know that shelling out for the entire saga will come with a lot of frustration at having to wade through books that, while good, are twice as long as they should be. If you have the time on your hands, you probably won't be disappointed. If not, you might be better off with another book.
March 8, 2016
I don't normally write reviews on books, but I have to vent a little. I liked this book right up until a chapter or two before the end. While the author didn't come out and say it or write a scene about it, there was a pretty obvious child rape that happened. Not only that, we have another character standing by... who went through the same damn thing... listening to it happen, and in addition to doing nothing to stop it, actually enjoying what's going on. This is not in any way okay. I didn't read past that part, but this is being marked as 'read' because I'm not going to go any further with it, nor will I be reading any other books by this author. Yes, the author alluded to that sort of thing happening to certain other characters in a past context. I was not, however, anticipating one actively happening even to a secondary character let alone the primary child-aged character. Don't get me wrong. I like twists in the plot as much as the next person. This, however, is not the sort of plot twist anyone short of a pedophile would enjoy. And before anyone gripes at me about spoilers, I don't care. I cannot and will not stay silent about this kind of 'spoiler'. If you want to read this book, go ahead. But know what you're getting yourself in for near the end of it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 4, 2022
This was somewhere in the 3.75 or 4 star range for me.
Content warnings: moderate to severe;
The first half is quite strong, introducing a grumpy old(ish) man, a stubborn orphan with visions, and a complex world that feels alive. The second half is much slower, introducing a lot of secondary characters who don't get time to breathe. I think there would have been more room for that is there hadn't been so many internal monologue segments and guarded conversations about gaining information.
I don't mind when books move slowly, but to me this felt like the focus just wasn't always chosen well; I would have appreciated more character interactions and less long segments of people speculating about what the others are thinking or might do. Some emotional moments also seem slow or over-explained, especially in the second half. I'll probably try the next book for this readalong, but I really hope the pacing is better.
Content warnings: moderate to severe;
The first half is quite strong, introducing a grumpy old(ish) man, a stubborn orphan with visions, and a complex world that feels alive. The second half is much slower, introducing a lot of secondary characters who don't get time to breathe. I think there would have been more room for that is there hadn't been so many internal monologue segments and guarded conversations about gaining information.
I don't mind when books move slowly, but to me this felt like the focus just wasn't always chosen well; I would have appreciated more character interactions and less long segments of people speculating about what the others are thinking or might do. Some emotional moments also seem slow or over-explained, especially in the second half. I'll probably try the next book for this readalong, but I really hope the pacing is better.
April 26, 2009
I love love love this book. If you haven't read anything else in this universe, you'll be just fine. I've read all the previous books, and plan to go back and re-read them as soon as this bit (duology? triloy? I don't know West's plans) is done.
The only thing that kept it from five stars was the repetitive nature of some characters' internal dialogues. I got the point right away, but I suppose some readers might need more. I don't know that anyone needs to be hit over the head with Rath, Jewel, and Duster's issues, though.
In any case, while huge, the book is well worth reading, and I am eager to read whatever comes next.
The only thing that kept it from five stars was the repetitive nature of some characters' internal dialogues. I got the point right away, but I suppose some readers might need more. I don't know that anyone needs to be hit over the head with Rath, Jewel, and Duster's issues, though.
In any case, while huge, the book is well worth reading, and I am eager to read whatever comes next.
March 15, 2008
Much darker and grittier than the other novels under the West name, and there was some seriously dark stuff in some of those. I would definitely recommend beginning with The Hidden City, and not only because it is chronologically first. (So far. Oh dear...)
Coming to The Hidden City with knowledge of what happens to these characters - who lives, who dies, who changes, who doesn't - makes it a very poingnant read. It also makes it difficult.
Coming to The Hidden City with knowledge of what happens to these characters - who lives, who dies, who changes, who doesn't - makes it a very poingnant read. It also makes it difficult.
September 22, 2013
I was going to say I enjoyed The Hidden City, but 'enjoyed' feels wrong. The House War saga is darker than the Chronicles of Elantra, and the multiple points of view made it difficult to find a character to which I could relate. Perhaps I was enthralled, since enthrallment can be a shadowed thing. I am glad my love of Sagara's Silence led me to Elantra, and then to the House War.
July 25, 2017
This is a terrible book. A wonderful book. An awful book, at times. Frequently a tedious book. I had to poke myself to continue at times, and I would put it down and read something lighter...but I couldn't stand to let it be. I wasn't really happy at all with the ending, so less one star. I need a soaking, steaming bath before I try the next book.
April 8, 2024
Honestly, this book was just meh.
There are a couple of reasons for this. Jewel and her den are one of the more interesting facets of the prior set of novels. But the novels before made it sound like she found them one at a time over a long period of time and slowly grew her den while living on the streets and scrounging for food. Well, no, actually, she finds them all within a week of each other, and has them set up fairly decently at Rath's house.
Well, if they were set up fairly decently at Rath's house, and indeed lived with Rath for at least two weeks, then why is it that when she goes back later as a young adult no one acts like they remember him and she has to basically re-introduce him to everyone? That was the impression I got when reading sunsword, that this was someone they had never met. Not the case.
The other major reason is that Jewel hasn't changed at all. In Sunsword she's in her, what, early 20s? In this book, she's 11. And yet she has the exact same voice. The exact same habits. The exact same actions. That's ridiculous. She's eleven. ELEVEN.
So, basically, I've come to the conclusion that Michelle West is terrible at portraying children. This is also probably why the Hunter duology was so bad. It's mostly from the viewpoint of children.
It's either that, or she spent so much time designing Annagar and didn't spend any time at all thinking about all of her other cultures that they are distinctly unbelievable.
And why the demons?!?! If Jewel and Rath had dealt with and killed, by my count, 5 demons, way back in the past when she was 11. How is it that when she is a young adult, neither she nor Rath recognize that they are dealing with the exact same thing...in the exact same place...for the exact same reason? Why does it come as a surprise and something they aren't expecting? Especially because she could 'see' them when she was 11? Then there's the knives themselves. In the Sunsword books, which take place after this book in the chronology of the world, why do the knives have the ability to ward off demonic attacks in this book, but not in the Sunsword books? There's a bunch of internal chronology that is just off.
Anyway, I was super uninterested in reading this book and in finishing this book, and it's a miracle that I finally did. Alas, I'm invested now, so I will probably continue, but I need to take a break for a while. And seriously, the main battle hasn't happened yet!!!
There are a couple of reasons for this. Jewel and her den are one of the more interesting facets of the prior set of novels. But the novels before made it sound like she found them one at a time over a long period of time and slowly grew her den while living on the streets and scrounging for food. Well, no, actually, she finds them all within a week of each other, and has them set up fairly decently at Rath's house.
Well, if they were set up fairly decently at Rath's house, and indeed lived with Rath for at least two weeks, then why is it that when she goes back later as a young adult no one acts like they remember him and she has to basically re-introduce him to everyone? That was the impression I got when reading sunsword, that this was someone they had never met. Not the case.
The other major reason is that Jewel hasn't changed at all. In Sunsword she's in her, what, early 20s? In this book, she's 11. And yet she has the exact same voice. The exact same habits. The exact same actions. That's ridiculous. She's eleven. ELEVEN.
So, basically, I've come to the conclusion that Michelle West is terrible at portraying children. This is also probably why the Hunter duology was so bad. It's mostly from the viewpoint of children.
It's either that, or she spent so much time designing Annagar and didn't spend any time at all thinking about all of her other cultures that they are distinctly unbelievable.
And why the demons?!?! If Jewel and Rath had dealt with and killed, by my count, 5 demons, way back in the past when she was 11. How is it that when she is a young adult, neither she nor Rath recognize that they are dealing with the exact same thing...in the exact same place...for the exact same reason? Why does it come as a surprise and something they aren't expecting? Especially because she could 'see' them when she was 11? Then there's the knives themselves. In the Sunsword books, which take place after this book in the chronology of the world, why do the knives have the ability to ward off demonic attacks in this book, but not in the Sunsword books? There's a bunch of internal chronology that is just off.
Anyway, I was super uninterested in reading this book and in finishing this book, and it's a miracle that I finally did. Alas, I'm invested now, so I will probably continue, but I need to take a break for a while. And seriously, the main battle hasn't happened yet!!!
April 20, 2023
The first 700 pages of this book were great. I found the friendship and the characters to be interesting, and I love a found family trope. The characters are children, and I thought the potential they had for the future books in the series was large. They could become anything and their relationships could grow in so many different paths.
But something horrible happens in the last 50 pages and it made me put down the book in absolute dread and rage. It felt unnecessary and horrible and I don't know if I'll be able to read the rest of this series. I may need a break with something more light-hearted. I don't know. But for now the story deserves a 3 star rating I think.
But something horrible happens in the last 50 pages and it made me put down the book in absolute dread and rage. It felt unnecessary and horrible and I don't know if I'll be able to read the rest of this series. I may need a break with something more light-hearted. I don't know. But for now the story deserves a 3 star rating I think.
March 7, 2020
I've read all of Michelle Sagara's Elantra series and I love them! As a matter of fact, I love them so much that I was afraid I would find this series disappointing. I'm happy to say I I wasn't. The world building is great, with many layers. Rath and Jay are interesting and complex characters.
Want to read
August 17, 2021Aug 2021
I have been meaning to read this series but keep putting it off. Seems as it Daw is not longer going to publish the author. So I am finally getting the book to show some (very late) support
I have been meaning to read this series but keep putting it off. Seems as it Daw is not longer going to publish the author. So I am finally getting the book to show some (very late) support
August 2, 2016
oh, this book was a bad influence on me! I started reading it the evening before an important exam. And I do mean important. I just needed to relax a bit. I went through the whole book that night and still couldn’t stop, so ended up reading the second book and some of the third as well. And then it was 6 ‘o clock in the morning and I had to get ready to leave for the exam and I hadn’t slept for a millisecond. I somehow passed the exam (barely) and still I came home and picked up right where I’d left off.
The hidden city is the first book in a series of interconnecting series set in and around the Empire of Essalieyan. The first few pages might seem uninteresting but once you get past that, it’ll sweep you in. The book starts off with Rath and how he meets Jewel, an Orphan child who leaves an impression on him though he prides himself on absolutely not getting attached to anyone, and finds children especially irritating.
Lies are a tricky thing. And when you tell them to yourself? You can almost believe them. Rath didn’t pride himself on honesty.
The world building is absolutely amazing. You might feel like the novel is a bit lengthy but believe me, when it’s over you’ll feel like you’re going through withdrawal symptoms. And sometimes her writing is lyrical and it pulls you in. Emotionally, it grabs you and doesn’t let go. Jewel is an unusually solemn child and one with secrets. She also believes in repaying her debts, hates charity and tries to be as adult as possible.
“Now,” she countered, “is all we have. All we can be certain we have.” -Jewel
“You haggle like a merchant—a merchant intent on giving away everything of value, rather than selling it to make a living.” -Rath
Jewel carries around the ghost of her Oma (grandmother) in her memories. Always, it is her voice that gives advice, admonishes, guides her.
“You’ll learn, girl. These aren’t scars. They’re nothing. The scars you carry with you? The ones that never leave? They’re all in here.” She’d tapped her chest. “Regret,” she said softly, “for the things you didn’t do. Or the things you couldn’t do. They haunt you enough, and you see things like this,” and she put her hand to her neck, “and they mean nothing.” –Jewel’s grandmother
It’s not even all about Jewel, though she’s the main Heroine. I like Jewel but it’s the other characters that keep me hooked, Rath, the orphans Jewel gathers around her. This feeling of depth to them, this wanting to know about them, of them. The further you get into the series, the more enamoured you’ll get with it and them. And if you have to start somewhere, its best to start with this series and this book.
P.S. – If you should get further into the series then this is my opinion, read the first 3 books, then The Sun Sword series, then continue with the next book in this series.
*This is also the author’s recommendation as well
The hidden city is the first book in a series of interconnecting series set in and around the Empire of Essalieyan. The first few pages might seem uninteresting but once you get past that, it’ll sweep you in. The book starts off with Rath and how he meets Jewel, an Orphan child who leaves an impression on him though he prides himself on absolutely not getting attached to anyone, and finds children especially irritating.
Lies are a tricky thing. And when you tell them to yourself? You can almost believe them. Rath didn’t pride himself on honesty.
The world building is absolutely amazing. You might feel like the novel is a bit lengthy but believe me, when it’s over you’ll feel like you’re going through withdrawal symptoms. And sometimes her writing is lyrical and it pulls you in. Emotionally, it grabs you and doesn’t let go. Jewel is an unusually solemn child and one with secrets. She also believes in repaying her debts, hates charity and tries to be as adult as possible.
“Now,” she countered, “is all we have. All we can be certain we have.” -Jewel
“You haggle like a merchant—a merchant intent on giving away everything of value, rather than selling it to make a living.” -Rath
Jewel carries around the ghost of her Oma (grandmother) in her memories. Always, it is her voice that gives advice, admonishes, guides her.
“You’ll learn, girl. These aren’t scars. They’re nothing. The scars you carry with you? The ones that never leave? They’re all in here.” She’d tapped her chest. “Regret,” she said softly, “for the things you didn’t do. Or the things you couldn’t do. They haunt you enough, and you see things like this,” and she put her hand to her neck, “and they mean nothing.” –Jewel’s grandmother
It’s not even all about Jewel, though she’s the main Heroine. I like Jewel but it’s the other characters that keep me hooked, Rath, the orphans Jewel gathers around her. This feeling of depth to them, this wanting to know about them, of them. The further you get into the series, the more enamoured you’ll get with it and them. And if you have to start somewhere, its best to start with this series and this book.
P.S. – If you should get further into the series then this is my opinion, read the first 3 books, then The Sun Sword series, then continue with the next book in this series.
*This is also the author’s recommendation as well
December 13, 2022
I want to give this four stars... but I can't. I won't post spoilers here, but I am really, really not happy with the way one of the major plot points went down. This book is the start of a HUGE series. We have The House War books 1-3, then The Sun Sword 1-6, then The House War 4-8. I also understand that The Sun Sword books were written first so this is in a way a prequel. So what is written here is background material for what comes later. So I understand it. But I still really, really don't like it.
OK. Enough of that. The Hidden City. Hmmmmm. Think of this book as a John Wayne fantasy. You have a John Wayne (or Clint Eastwood if you prefer) type of character who very early on gets robbed by Shirley Temple. For some strange reason (which we will learn later, but no spoilers here), he decides to sort of adopt her. She then goes on to gather about her a tribe of... little rascals. So you have John Wayne as the father figure to Shirley Temple and the little rascals in a land of swords and magic. But throughout, the book never loses the feel of being a John Wayne novel. Seriously. It is pulled off quite well.
Michelle West has done an excellent job of world and character building in this book. Michelle West has a diverse set of preteen orphans and she has given them distinct personalities far better than Orson Scott Card did with Ender's Jeesh. There is a lot of dialogue and some beautiful descriptive narrative here but it is light on action. At some points the heavy dialogue/light action combo becomes distracting. There is a deeply emotional chapter-long conversation that takes place all while a knife is being held to the throat of a villain, and yet he does not once interrupt or contribute to the conversation.
As I said, the ending is horrible. I really did not like it. But I absolutely loved the journey to getting there. I am certainly going to read on and am hoping this is a good long series that will keep me busy for a good long while. But I might not get past book 2 if I find something similar happening again. So the jury is still out.
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2nd Read addendum.
I have now read this book again after reading the Sun Sword series. I can't help but laugh now at the John Wayne meets Shirley Temple analogy. It is so spot on for the moment, but absolutely not where Jewel's character is headed. I still absolutely hate the way this book ended. It was a completely unnecessary way for the plot to run. At first, I thought perhaps it was necessary for later plot. But no. After reading 3 books in this series and another 6 where Jewel plays a major role, I can say that it was not. Her character and motivations would have been completely the same if it had not happened at all or even if it almost, but did not quite happen. I love Michelle Sagara West, but the decision to write this disgusts me once again.
OK. Enough of that. The Hidden City. Hmmmmm. Think of this book as a John Wayne fantasy. You have a John Wayne (or Clint Eastwood if you prefer) type of character who very early on gets robbed by Shirley Temple. For some strange reason (which we will learn later, but no spoilers here), he decides to sort of adopt her. She then goes on to gather about her a tribe of... little rascals. So you have John Wayne as the father figure to Shirley Temple and the little rascals in a land of swords and magic. But throughout, the book never loses the feel of being a John Wayne novel. Seriously. It is pulled off quite well.
Michelle West has done an excellent job of world and character building in this book. Michelle West has a diverse set of preteen orphans and she has given them distinct personalities far better than Orson Scott Card did with Ender's Jeesh. There is a lot of dialogue and some beautiful descriptive narrative here but it is light on action. At some points the heavy dialogue/light action combo becomes distracting. There is a deeply emotional chapter-long conversation that takes place all while a knife is being held to the throat of a villain, and yet he does not once interrupt or contribute to the conversation.
As I said, the ending is horrible. I really did not like it. But I absolutely loved the journey to getting there. I am certainly going to read on and am hoping this is a good long series that will keep me busy for a good long while. But I might not get past book 2 if I find something similar happening again. So the jury is still out.
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2nd Read addendum.
I have now read this book again after reading the Sun Sword series. I can't help but laugh now at the John Wayne meets Shirley Temple analogy. It is so spot on for the moment, but absolutely not where Jewel's character is headed. I still absolutely hate the way this book ended. It was a completely unnecessary way for the plot to run. At first, I thought perhaps it was necessary for later plot. But no. After reading 3 books in this series and another 6 where Jewel plays a major role, I can say that it was not. Her character and motivations would have been completely the same if it had not happened at all or even if it almost, but did not quite happen. I love Michelle Sagara West, but the decision to write this disgusts me once again.
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