Review: The City of Dusk by Tara Sim

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Title: The City of Dusk

Author: Tara Sim

Publisher: Orbit

Published: March 22, 2022

Pages: 512

Format: e-galley, thank you Orbit!!

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Goodreads Synopsis:

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

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

But the gods have withdrawn their favor from the once vibrant and thriving city.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

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

But their defiance will cost them dearly.”

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My Review:

A book about gods, magic, and noble heirs forming an alliance to save a city?! Sign me up! This book was one that I was really excited about. There are some things that I didn’t love but by the end of the book, I was extremely pleased.

From the very beginning, this book hooked me into the magical, dark, and secretive world. There’s a very unique premise and the world-building was interesting and done well. The aspect of having four noble houses with their own magic and responsibilities was really great. We get all kinds of magic from shades, elementals, necromancers, and magic with the Light. Just a heads up that there are some really brutal and gory parts.

The heirs were such a diverse group of characters. They are all trying to work together yet trying to find out who they are and what their magic can do. Some of them were much darker and more evil than others. I enjoyed getting to know more about their magic and relationships. Taesia was definitely one of my favorites! She’s such a strong person but her character arc is intense and really good. Nik is kind of the puppy of the group. His Light magic really fits him because he’s such the peacekeeper. Risha is really cool and her powers were insanely awesome. Angelica was one that I didn’t love at first but by the end, I did. You get to know so much about these characters and their family dynamics. Tara Sim really did a great job writing these characters and fleshing out their characters really well.

This book was too long and the pacing was a bit rough. It just dragged so much before the plot actually took off. I understand there’s a ton of world-building and introductions to all the houses and politics but it was a lot. There were so many POVs that it took a while to get names and things down. Once we got past the halfway point this book exploded though. There was so much action and a lot of twists and turns. I had such a hard time stopping. The ending is full of action and chaos, it was entertaining!

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and thought it was very unique! This is a dark and brutal world with a lot of dark magic. At the same time, we have a diverse cast of characters, you can’t help but root for them. I hope that in book two the pacing is better.

*Many thanks to Orbit for providing me with a Netgalley arc for review. All thoughts/opinions are my own and in no way influenced.*