The Shuddering City

by Sharon Shinn

​In the city of Corcannon, everyone has a secret.
Madeleine is planning her wedding to Tivol, but she's really in love with Reese.
Jayla has become the guardian of a child named Aussen, but she knows that Aussen possesses a mysterious and dangerous power.
Brandon is a temple soldier keeping the enigmatic Villette a prisoner in her own home, but finds himself risking everything to keep her safe.
Pietro is pretending he's surprised every time the city is wracked by tremors, but he'll do anything to stop the devastation.
Even Corcannon itself has a secret. It's built on a lie, and that lie is about to come tumbling down.

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Science Fiction, Fiction, Adult, Fantasy Romance, Audiobook

358 pages, Paperback

First published November 22, 2022

About the author

I’ve been writing stories and poems since I was eight years old. My first poem was about Halloween: "What is tonight? What is tonight?/Try to guess and you’ll guess right." Perhaps this inauspicious beginning explains why it took me till I was in my thirties to sell a novel. It occurred to me early on that it might take some time and a lot of tries before I was able to publish any of my creative writing, so I pursued a degree in journalism at Northwestern University so I’d be able to support myself while I figured out how to write fiction.

I’ve spent most of my journalism career at three trade and association magazines—The Professional Photographer (which, as you might guess, went to studio and industrial photographers), DECOR (which went to frame shop and art gallery owners), and BizEd (which is directed at deans and professors at business schools). My longest stint, seventeen years, was at DECOR. Many people don’t know this, but I’m a CPF (Certified Picture Framer), having passed a very long, technical test to prove I understood the tenets of conservation framing. Now I write about management education and interview some really cool, really smart people from all over the world.

I mostly write my fiction in the evenings and on weekends. It requires a pretty obsessive-compulsive personality to be as prolific as I’ve been in the past ten years and hold down a full-time job. But I do manage to tear myself away from the computer now and then to do something fun. I read as often as I can, across all genres, though I’m most often holding a book that’s fantasy or romance, with the occasional western thrown in. I’m a fan of Cardinals baseball and try to be at the ballpark on opening day. If I had the time, I’d see a movie every day of my life. I love certain TV shows so much that knowing a new episode is going to air that night will make me happy all day. (I’m a huge Joss Whedon fan, but in the past I’ve given my heart to shows all over the map in terms of quality: "Knight Rider," "Remington Steele," "Blake’s 7," "Moonlighting," "The Young Riders," "Cheers," "Hill Street Blues," "X-Files," "Lost," "Battlestar Galactica"...you can probably fill in the gaps. And let’s not forget my very first loves, "The Partridge Family," "Here Come the Brides" and "Alias Smith & Jones.")

I don’t have kids, I don’t want pets, and all my plants die, so I’m really only forced to provide ongoing care for my menagerie of stuffed animals. All my friends are animal lovers, though, and someone once theorized that I keep friends as pets. I’m still trying to decide if that’s true.

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

For all that this story is concerned with literal earthquakes, there's nothing groundbreaking about The Shuddering City...and that's okay. I don't read Shinn for innovative and challenging stories. I want likable characters striving to do the right thing and a well-built fantasy world that, for all its troubles, still has pockets of coziness.

The Shuddering City is a standalone fantasy with an ensemble cast of characters who are all decent people making decisions based on the best information they have. If this sounds low in drama, there's also a city literally tearing itself apart and things that could be done about it if the right people had the right information.

The plot is on the clunky side, but the characters and their intersections are interesting, with just enough depth to avoid stereotype: mysterious elderly wanderer Pietro, back in the city after a ten year absence; ingenue Madeleine, who might be sheltered but isn't stupid; a child named Aussen with the ability to make dirt glow between her palms.

Shinn's worldbuilding is always solid, with a lot of attention paid to cultures and religions. There's an intriguing hint of science fiction to the setup for a world that now interprets its past as religion, but it remains just that: a hint. I do appreciate the way her world is quite an accepting one - sexual orientation is a non-issue, for one - yet has plenty of its own religious and classist tensions. There's not even a whiff of preachiness.

It's not a technically great book (and did every main character have to have their own romance? can't they share or something?), and yet it was just what I needed at the start of a much-needed holiday on a rainy day. There's something indescribably comforting about being immersed in one of Shinn's worlds, like putting on a fuzzy sweater on a cold day or slipping into bathwater of exactly the right temperature, that keeps me coming back. 3.5 stars

[Lizzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as strong as any of Sharon Shinn's greatest hits, but damn, I still really enjoyed this, despite its sometimes distracting flaws. I will go into the flaws first, so I can end this review on a good note :)

There were several seriously underdeveloped main characters here, and a plethora of secondary ones that were very obviously only included in the story to get the main characters where they needed to go for plot purposes (although some of these secondary characters did make me laugh, so that's a plus). Cody was definitely the blandest and flattest, and Jayla not much better. Pietro was an improvement, but aside from a handful of 5-star passages (Pietro's conversation with Harlo was a standout scene for me), I still didn't feel like he had the strength of character to equal the amount of narration devoted to him, though he was certainly necessary for the plot. Madeleine's passages were the strongest, the biggest emotional pull of the book, and I found myself wishing Shinn had devoted most of the narration for her, because divided as the POVs are between all the different characters, Madeleine's story moves far too quickly for me to really be embedded in her struggles. She is caught in a love triangle between two boys, and I actually didn't mind this, because Sharon Shinn handles confusion and heartbreak so brilliantly, but I wish both love interests had been given more weight, and I wish it hadn't been so obvious from the get go which one she was going to end up with. As written, everything happens so fast, and it's definitely not NOT sweet, but it's not as engrossing as Shinn's other love stories. The final POV from Brandon was the most successful. His scenes were brief, but they were the perfect length for his personal character development and the weight they had on the plot overall.

In short, almost none of characterization in this book is on par with Shinn's other work, which is a little weird, because her characters are usually the best part of her writing. And if you give me a good set of fantastic characters, I will happily take pretty much any absolutely fucking apeshit plot points you can throw at me (which is also something Sharon Shinn does). There were several characters I wish had been more than just plain grade A asshole villains--but even as I write this complaint, I'm remembering some absolutely fabulous A+ dialogue scenes between these villains and Madeleine, our main heroine. These scenes definitely made the book for me and showcase just how brilliant Sharon Shinn can be. She is SO GOOD at writing the end of relationships of all kinds, sometimes way better than she is at writing people coming together romantically (or platonically), and she does so with high success here.

There is a mystery underlying this book, and I don't know if it's because I've read so many of Shinn's books, or if she's just a little too obvious of a mystery writer, or something else, but I can always guess where the plot is going, which characters are secretly evil and so on, so nothing is much of a surprise to me. The saving grace is that most (not all) of Shinn's "twists" usually come about 10-20 pages after I've made my predictions, so at least I don't have to sit there *knowing* things for a long time before it all becomes obvious to the characters.

But, even if you're able to guess every single detail, I still think this book would be rather riveting. The stakes are really, really high, and Shinn is so good at nail-biting tension and suspense. I wanted to keep turning the pages all the time, even when I was spending time with characters I didn't really care about. I'm often surprised at how hard it is for authors to build high enough stakes, but Sharon Shinn seems to have very little problem making them as high as they can be. The survival of the world is at stake here. Her characters' lives are on the line, and even though many of them were not as drawn out as I would have liked, even though I knew that all the good people were more than likely to survive, I was still very invested in their well being and success.

I mentioned before that there were some 5-star passages and A+ dialogue scenes in this book, and there are. They are written with a competence and brilliance that I so rarely see from any other writer, and they are SO GOOD (and usually involved Madeleine). Sometimes I'd read a passage and be like, "DAMN, DAMN. !!!!!" However, from a purely objective standpoint, I do not think, with the combination of weaknesses and strengths in this book, that The Shuddering City is greater than the sum of its parts. There were certainly some awesome scenes, but they read as signs of potential, that this book COULD have been great several drafts into the future. And there were many times I was really disappointed by this. I feel like a few simple cues from an editor would have been enough to remedy the issues in this book.

This review makes it seem like I should have rated it three stars, and certainly I'm not sure how much rereading potential the Shuddering City has next to all of Sharon Shinn's other books...but I tell you what, I set aside everything to read this. My bathwater grew cold, my stomach hungry, and my bladder uncomfortably full from the length of time I sat on my butt and refused to move because I just had to know what would happen in the next chapter. I read it with the voracity of a ravenous fiend and was irritated when I had to attend to other tasks in my life. Just for that, I feel like the book deserves four stars. Also I felt that the world building and plot progression was well done, very smooth and fluid. I could imagine everything very clearly, and as always with Shinn, the world was vivid and original.

There's a lot more I could discuss, like all the familiar tropes Shinn likes to use, or the Shuddering City's obvious potential for sequels, but I'll end it here, with just one final thought...I'm not sure how I feel about the bracelets in this book that describe every character's sexual orientation and employment. They were never really that important to the plot, and I kept thinking that if I ever lived in this world, I'd want one that meant "None of your goddamn business."

[Barb in Maryland · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars
Shinn is one of my few auto-buy authors and I am rarely disappointed. This book is a solid example of her excellent world-building, and her ability to tell a compelling story. I stayed up way too late reading this because I had to know What. Happened. Next.
A thousand years ago the god Cordelan stitched together several different islands and made them into a new continent. But now this construction is starting to shake apart, literally. What follows is a wonderful mix of apocalyptic natural(?) catastrophe, palace/temple politics, romance, and too many secrets to count.
The author gives us 4 different POVs: Pietro, who knows some of the secrets; Madeleine, caught in a romance quandary; Jayla, reluctant guardian of Aussen, a child with a mysterious talent; and Brandon, a Temple guard set to watch over a young woman who is somehow very important to the Temple. I loved Madeleine, who starts off as just a spoiled rich girl with a complicated love life. However, as the story progressed, she gained depth and agency, as it became obvious that she was caught up in several of the Big Secrets. I liked both Jayla and Brandon, but found Pietro a bit hard to warm up to, as his character wasn't as vibrant as the others.
There's a nice group of secondary characters to flesh out the action: I was fond of Cody, the courier whose knowledge of who lives where comes in handy. Madeleine's two suitors, Tivol and Reese, are nicely contrasted (most readers will be in no doubt about whom she will choose). There's an array of authority figures, including Madeleine's father and Harlo, the head divine of the temple, to help or hinder as the plot demands.
The author does a very good job of revealing a secret here, a puzzle piece there, to keep the reader turning the pages. There is one final twist near the end that had me saying 'Aha!, as the missing puzzle piece clicked into place. Well done, Ms Shinn.
I'll be rereading this one. It's a keeper.

[Bhavitha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as compelling as some of Shinn’s other work, largely because the many split POVs don’t let us spend long enough with each character to fully settle into their skin. However I enjoyed it all the same. The interwoven threads of each narrative were brought together seamlessly, and one twist was a delightful surprise, though others remained predictable. By the end I cared for all our main characters and was satisfied to see them conclude as happy as expected, despite the unrealistic nature of both the main conflict and its solution.

Overall a 3 to 4 star read that rounds up for me. I can only wonder what it could have been if Shinn had allowed for more character development and world-building, perhaps spreading the story over a couple books, or at least lengthening this one. Given the many unanswered questions that remain, perhaps she will come out with a sequel or even prequel down the road.

[Nicole Luiken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting fantasy world where long ago small landmasses were stitched together by a god (or magic or possibly technology) into a continent and now that magic is failing, leading to brutal earthquakes. Likable characters and the puzzle of the plot made this a quick read. I am especially impressed with what the author did with one of the plotlines, tricking us into thinking one thing, with a lovely Aha! moment when the truth is revealed and the last puzzle piece slots neatly into place.

[Rosario · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a return to form for Shinn. I loved the imaginative world she has created here and loved the apocalyptic feel of it, with the action taking place amongst constant earthquakes. I also liked how she plays with the 'is this fantasy or sci-fi' idea, which she has done in some of my favourites. I also enjoyed the different characters (we have 4 POV characters, plus quite a few really interesting secondary ones) and how they are operating independently, and also how we slowly find out how they fit together (when I understood exactly how one particular strand fit, I literally gasped).

I did think that the way things were resolved felt a bit too easy, and wondered why no one had ever explored things, but this was not a big deal for me. On the whole, this worked wonderfully, and I can't wait for whatever Shinn does next. This has the feel of a standalone, but I wouldn't mind at all another story in this world.

[Kay Kenyon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the high stakes of this romantic fantasy novel. Though the characters had personal issues, dilemmas, and sometimes hopeless predicaments, love interests were always hovering at the edges. But Everything was going to come crashing down unless the world's physical destiny could be altered. Shinn employed her usual delicious prose and power of characterization in this story. And then turned everything up quite a few notches!

[Kate_Nagy · Rating 5 out of 5]

For some reason, The Shuddering City made me think of Anne McCaffrey's Pern books minus the dragons and 70s-era sexism (I love those books too but you know I'm not wrong) -- exquisite worldbuilding, interesting characters, a plot that hums along, and fantastical elements with a long-forgotten technological underpinning. If you're already a fan of Sharon Shinn, you'll enjoy this book. If you're not -- what are you waiting for?

[Laz the Sailor · Rating 5 out of 5]

4+ rounded up. I've always enjoyed this author, and this story doesn't disappoint. Epic fantasy boiled down to the basic elements, with a couple of magic forces working through mortal agents. Clever steam-punk features mingle with quasi-medieval religious machinations. Sneak in 3 or 4 very slow burn romances, and one very clever twist, and you've got a fascinating story that isn't confounding in any way. Sweet without being sugary.

[Merrin · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took a little bit to pick up for me but man by the middle I was so hooked and by the end I was crying. Sharon Shinn never misses.

[Anne Osterlund · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wanderer with a mysterious past.
A female guard in need of a position.
A courier that can walk a tightrope across a gorge.
A little girl with a dangerous gift.
An aristocrat whose life has become a target.
A prisoner.
And a guard who falls head-over-heels for the woman he is supposed to imprison.

This is the cast of Shinn's The Shuddering City. The setting is a city where the world has been knit together by the god, Cordelan--a god whose demands are as brutal as the magnificence of his gift.

As the earthquakes grow more frequent, a quartet of the cast is brought together. The question is whether this hodgepodge of disparate travelers can put together the pieces before the world is torn apart.

[katayoun Masoodi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable story and likeable chracters

[Faith Erin Hicks]

Good characters in this one. I was interested in their stories and rooted for them to find their way. The worldbuilding was a little goofy (glowing balls of dirt that didn't much come into play?saving the city required a certain person to press against a wall? maybe the gods are actually aliens?), but overall I enjoyed the book.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

The blurb about the book is such a disgrace to the actual story! I enjoyed the adventure and the characters. Ms Shinn rarely disappoints. Thankful for getting it on Libby so I could change the font!

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always like Shinn's characters and this book had an abundance of great ones. I like how they are just regular people getting along as best as they can. I liked the twist at the end which I completely missed and I liked how Pietro was opposed by all his friends, per his instructions.

[Blodeuedd Finland]

Boring.
I think it would work better if I had tried reading

[Peter Tillman]

Jennifer Mo's 3.5 star review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
"There's something indescribably comforting about being immersed in one of Shinn's worlds, like putting on a fuzzy sweater on a cold day or slipping into bathwater of exactly the right temperature, that keeps me coming back. 3.5 stars"

[Rachel Neumeier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four and a half stars.

A fast, engrossing story, low-tension because hey, It’s Sharon Shinn, I think we can all be confident everything will work out. Although I generally prefer stories with a tighter focus on one or a small number of primary characters, I liked all the characters here and had no trouble shifting from one to the next.

Four romances, but they all take place around the periphery of the story. This is a fantastic example of a story that centers friendship and guardian-child relationships while also including important romances. That always appeals to me very much and it certainly did here.

[Janine Ballard]

I just found out about this one and I’m excited! Really looking forward to it since I loved Echo in Emerald.

[Aphelia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sharon Shinn is one of my all-time favourite authors, and I was so excited to see a new release from her! Although lighter and less complex than her usual work, this swift-moving standalone story is a great entry for any new reader; I also highly recommend Summers at Castle Auburn, which is also a standalone.

Shinn excels at creating interesting and relatable cultures and religions, and the bracelet system of identification (pronouns, sexual identity and family make up) used here is elegant in it's simplicity. You just show your bracelets to everyone you meet!

The ancient magic holding the patchwork city of Corcannon together is falling apart. A group of strangers brought together by an earthquake have the power to change the future, if they can figure out how to save their world in time. I especially loved the romantic relationship between wary soldier Jayla and carefree wire-walking courier Cody. A fun, fast comfort read!

[Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me longer than usual to read this book; there's been a lot going on in my life. Since I read actual books; I do not usually listen to audio books, I have to have time when that's all I do. I have chosen to do other things with my time. And that's okay.

I'm a fan of Sharon Shinn's older books. I read somewhere that she doesn't have the same editor or publishing system now. If that's true, it shows. This one has some editing issues. At the same time, I enjoyed reading this book.

It's unique. I like some of the characters. The challenges associated with calming the "shuddering city" are high stakes and troubling. I like the twists. I like the subtle science fiction aspect of this book. I don't think it would be considered fantasy, but it would be hard to classify. I'm not sure I'd recommend it unless you're a big fan of Sharon Shinn. I'm glad I read it.

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://wordnerdy.blogspot.com/2022/1...

Shinn's latest is an stand-alone featuring an array of narrators—a former priest, who left the city ten years ago and is now returning; a young woman warrior who needs a job and suddenly has a child in her care; another young woman who may or may not have someone trying to kill her; and a guard whose charge is a woman on house arrest for mysterious reasons, famous for seducing her guards to help her escape. These stories come together in a really interesting way, though some of the reveals were way grimmer than I expected! Still, it’s Shinn, so I had faith things would work out in a satisfying manner. I always love her little details; here, everyone has bracelets that indicate their gender identity/sexual orientation, as well as other bracelets for family members, and everyone is forever lifting up sleeves to be like “here’s my deal” which I liked. A/A-.

[Catherine Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting fantasy

3.5 stars. The blurb for this books was very offputting and not at all how the book unfolded. Sharon Shinn does such a nice job of building interesting fantasy worlds. We follow several main characters as their lives intersect in sometimes surprising ways, in how they come to save the world.

[™ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 - solid read, as usual for this author - enjoyed the characters and plot and worldbuilding, though it suffered a little from having too many characters for them to have as much depth as I’d have liked.

[Kayla Morrissey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couldn't put it down, world building was amazing

[Harald Koch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another novel that’s mostly about the characters (and the occasional romance) with just enough plot to tie it all together.

[Edith Pawlicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sharon Shinn might just be my all-time favorite author. I have read almost her entire opus, several books multiple times. Usually her ideas are so fresh and distinct from each other, that doesn't really matter, but this book felt almost like a summation of her others. I don't mean to say it was unoriginal - the plot was quite different and this is the first book she's written that features four very different third-person POVs interwoven together (usually her books are one first-or-third-person or two third-person) - however, the city reminded me of a combination of Heart of Gold and Elemental Blessings settings and the god/possibly aliens echoed the Samaria series, and the focus on class and marriage reminded me of the Echoes! It was a very ambitious book and felt more "epic" than usual. There were a lot of layers and twists. I did predict most of them easily (maybe because I am so familiar with her work?), but there was one epiphany that surprised me and made me clap my hands because everything clicked so nicely into place afterward. I really enjoyed three of the POV characters, Pietro, Jayla, and Madeleine; all four had romances that were emotionally satisfying and uplifting.

This wasn't my favorite Shinn (which is probably Summers at Castle Auburn or Blood from Quatrain), and I digested it more slowly than usual. Still, for her world-building, excellent writing, and thoroughly likable characters/romances, I consider it a five-star read. I would recommend this book (and all of her others!) to all sci-fi and fantasy fans, especially if you enjoy romantic subplots.

[Debbie Hagan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sharon Shinn’s latest book opens with a stunning earthquake scene. The island of Corcannon violently shakes, leaving those on it injured, killed, and separated from loved ones. When the bridge between Corcannon and the mainland falls, islanders are isolated from food, transportation, and help.

And this is just the opener. Readers quickly become immersed in Shinn's magical world with its legends, secrets, ancient rituals, clever innovations, and deep mysteries. Of course, it would not be a Shinn novel without love and all the complications that come with that, and a female lead character whose life is in danger.

This is a real page-turner.

[Marsha Valance · Rating 4 out of 5]

The beaufiful, powerful city of Corcannon holds many secrets. Every decade the blood of a descendant of their founding god must be sacrificed, or the city will be destroyed. Madeleine, planning her wedding to her betrothed, is unaware that her beloved younger brother was the last sacrifice, & that she is the only person left in the city who carries the god's blood. Woman warrior Jayla, the guardian of a child named Aussen, knows the child possesses a mysterious power. A century earlier, Brandon, a temple solider assigned to keep a young woman prisoner in her own home, finds himself risking everything to keep her safe. The former priest Pietro appears surprised every time the city is wracked by tremors, but he'll do anything to stop the blood sacrifice. Meanwhile the tremors grow stronger.

[Elena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lifelong fan of Sharon Shinn’s work

that being said, this one isn’t my favorite. However, I am so grateful for a new book from her . . . she works full time on a trade journal but I wish she published as frequently as Nora Roberts!
Going to reread her Shapeshifter series next and then Jeweled Fire, which also features a heroine wrestling with the decision of whether or not it is possible for her to live where she will and make her own choices rather than the ones the men in her life have planned for her.