I enjoyed this book immensely! Sadly, I couldn't really connect with the characters, which made it a bit of a struggle to get through.

3.5/5 stars

I had really high expectations for this book, and in some ways they were met. It was a fast-paced adventure story about a brutal assassin who does what she has to do to survive, taking on a job that's a little too big, a little too impossible, and sends the cards in her carefully constructed house tumbling. 

On the other hand, there were some things I didn't love — it was almost too action-packed; my favorite moments were the strategizing moments, the ones where things slowed down and the characters became a little more introspective. Those were few and far between though, and this book was a mega adrenaline rush at all time otherwise.

In places it seemed like the characters' allegiances shifted quickly and with little reasoning or set-up.

All told, it was an enjoyable story about a super morally gray female character (which I appreciated), but it didn't quite live up to the expectations I'd built for it.

Amazing character development. When you thought you had figured out a character, there was a twist to prove you wrong. Definitely recommend to people who enjoy fantasy and adventure.

I found this book very interesting I enjoyed reading about a female assassin. I always enjoy a badass MC. The other characters also fairly well developed and complex it has a bit of romance weaved into the story but it feels a littel forced (to me) but I do rather like the slower burns they feel more natural for story progression.

This fantasy is pretty violent Aina becomes an assassin to survive and she does so with vivdly intense fight scenes but she does have dimension to her character and although she is a very good assassin she isn't unfeeling or cold blooded. She lives in a kill or be killed world navigating it with a dogged determination to survive. I enjoyed this book and I look forward to the next book in the series. I receved this book from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an honest review.

This seems to be the author's first book with it catching my eye. It intrigued me to read about a female assassin and why the job. You are given the why with the present unraveling before you. The other characters also catch your eye. Now Diamond city is another thing that will swallow you up. Follow Aina as she faces the biggest challenge with it pulling at us as she does. Romance is woven into it also with it making this even more of a nose to the page turner. If you love one with magic this is the stop then. Hope to catch this author again.

This fantasy is one bloody one. Aina becomes an assassin to survive, and she's really good at it. Her fights are movie-ready (I could totally picture myself watching this book as a movie), full of action and bloody. 

I love magic stories and this one is really good. It also shows another perspective on blood magic: none of the main characters can do magic, but their lives are still tainted by it.

Book 2 will be AWESOME, I'm so sure of it, since book 1 ends with a lot of promises (not a spoiler).

Many thanks to St. Martin's Press for the complimentary e-copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Diamond City was a suspenseful, action-packed read that explored themes of love, loyalty, and freedom. Aina may be an assassin, but she's not really a cold-blooded killer, just an ambitious and desperate survivor in a world where it's kill or be killed, sooner or later. Her character growth in recognizing the toxic ideas that kept her tethered her boss Kohl was satisfying to watch, as was the change in her goals to orient toward the bigger picture and the possibility of justice in a corrupt and oppressive society. I enjoyed the shifting and complex relationships between Aina and the supporting characters, especially Ryuu, who made an excellent foil to Aina, with his combination of privilege and idealism. The big reveal of the evil at the heart of the city was impactful because of how believable/realistic it is, with the real world parallels to consider. Though the beginning felt a bit slow and aimless in terms of the overarching stakes beyond singular missions, the latter half brought the crucial pieces of the story together nicely enough to compensate. I'm eagerly anticipating the sequel and seeing how Aina's quest for revenge and justice plays out.

I really tried with Diamond City. Magic, assassins, crime syndicate? Sounds great. Except, for me, it wasn't.

I'll start with Aina, the main character. I found her unlikeable. Not to mention lacking in the stealth and precision usually associated with a top notch assassin. I knew that I wouldn't be getting further in the book when she got injured and I didn't care.

My other problem with the book was the random and unexpected flashbacks. While I understand the purpose, to provide background and information, I felt they were often poorly timed. And the transition from the present day of the story to a flashback was jarring at times.

I finally had to call it quits. I just couldn't bring myself to go another further. I know some people loved this book. I just wasn't one of them.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC ebook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for sending me a free advanced reader copy of this book for an honest review. Diamond City debuted January 28th.

I requested an ARC for Diamond City because I’m a Sarah J. Maas fan, and (flawed though it may be) I think the conflicted lady assassin trope is pretty fun. The first chapter or two of Diamond City started in an okay spot, but it unfortunately went swiftly downhill from there. Where Maas was able to make her main character assassin mostly work, Flores unfortunately flounders; the MC in this book often wonders things like, Would my parents be proud of me even though I kill people for a living? or Do you think this cute boy and I might have a romantic future even though I tried to kill his older brother?

As people funnier than me have said, the short answer to both these questions is no. The longer answer is noooooooooo.

I just can’t buy the main character. She’s a badass assassin, but she’s deathly afraid of spiders, opts for knives over guns, and spares key characters’ lives at multiple points in the book. It’s an issue I often see with these types of killer characters: they’re supposed to be oh-so-hardcore, but the author can’t let the characters be their brutal selves on the page because it will turn off readers.

But even beyond the characters, I couldn’t find much to recommend this book. The world-building is a confusing mishmash of heritages and cultures that were difficult to keep straight, all with a vague backdrop of an outlawed religion and magic system that places heavy importance on diamonds–diamonds which are traded at high price on the black market, but actually there are oodles of them around. (???) The language of the book, too, did not help matters; the fight scenes especially were wooden and very “this happened, then this, then this”–not good for a book about assassins where there’s bound to be a lot of fighting. There’s also not much of an artistic or lyrical quality to the prose, and I found myself predicting plot points at every turn, so… without compelling characters, beautiful language, a riveting plot, or engaging world-building, I really came up empty on this book. I do feel bad about the poor review for this debut author, but Diamond City is in need of significant revision and critique.

Aina is a great character that you cant wait to know more about. Her story felt so real and possibly relatable for teen readers. The fact that she wants to give up several times but keeps going after her goals. The world revolving on diamonds brings in so many different parts of culture and society, which is fantastic. Plus the cover is so eye catching!

This was a fast-paced fantasy with a morally-grey, badass MC that I quite enjoyed. It was refreshing to see a self=declared female assassin in a YA book that actually killed people and did bad things (ha). Aina, the MC, is driven to prove herself and become even more powerful than her boss, the Blood King. Only then will she be able to leave behind the homeless, addiction-battling child she used to be. When she takes on a job that promises just that, she is thrilled. All she has to do is kill one man: Kouta Hirai.

She enlists the help of her best friend, Teo, and together they form a plan. But when Aina is seen by Kouta's brother, Ryuu, she becomes the most wanted person in the city. Worse, it seems she wasn't successful in killing his brother after all, and now he's disappeared. When Ryuu attempts to buy Aina's loyalty to help him find his brother, she accepts, but ultimately intends to betray him. She *needs* to kill Kouta in order to get back in the Blood King's good books.
 
Like I said, I enjoy a driven female character, especially when the stakes are personal. She doesn't want to save the world in a grand gesture - she wants success purely for herself. Overall it was a pretty decent book, but I did have a few issues, the first being Ryuu's intention to hire Aina. I'm sorry, but I just don't buy it. He literally watched her cut his beloved brother's throat, then catches her a second time when she comes back to try again, and decides he should offer her money to help him find the same man she's clearly desperate to kill? WHAT. Even if he believed money was a big enough factor that he could trust Aina not to double-cross him, why would he want to work with her? It happened so quickly, too: there's no getting to know her and *then* deciding to ask her to help him. No, he does it immediately. And if I were her, I wouldn't trust him for asking, tbh. Considering that's a central plot point in the book, I feel like like I ought to have been able to believe their motivations a little more. 

I was also a little confused about who the love interest was in this book, if in fact there was one at all. Was there supposed to be? I don't know. It seemed like it was Ryuu, and then it seemed like it was Teo, and it kept kind of bouncing back and forth. Perhaps that was intentional, but I was a little lost as to what I, the reader, was supposed to be feeling. If that WAS intentional, say, to reflect the MC's own confusion, then well done. If it wasn't... uh. Well. 

Next, the ending. There was a lot going on here, and I feel like the real Big Bad should have had a larger role to play in the rest of the story. I feel like it was supposed to be a real twist when it's finally revealed who was behind the murder plot, but like.... do we even care about this character? As such, the tension just wasn't really there for me, and everything happened so quickly after that, I didn't really have time to breathe and *care* enough. That may be ideal for people who like fast-paced action and really tight plotting, but I personally like things a little more spread out. 

Anyway, despite the fact that I like to ramble on about the issues I had with books (lol), I still liked this overall. Just not enough that I'll be clamouring for the second.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing this book in exchange for my honest review.
I love me a female assassin and was super excited about the premise of Diamond City by Francesca Flores. Sadly, it didn’t live up to the expectations for me. Although I enjoyed the world building, the intense depictions of class inequality and religious persecution, I had a tough time with some of the character development and pacing.
Diamond City is a YA urban fantasy about a young kid-turned assassin after her parents are murdered when she was 8 years old. She is taken in by a wealthy young man who is building his own empire. He trains her to not only be the best assassin but to be smart. We meet Aina, the assassin, at age 18. Her boss has tasked her with the hardest assassination every attempted and when things go wrong, she is forced to team up with her enemy to fight her boss…
I found Aina difficult to get behind. I love a morally grey character who is struggling to do what’s best for her but as a highly trained assassin I found some of her decision to not only be stupid but flat out ridiculous. She’s supposed to be intelligent enough to have survived in this war-torn world, but she makes some reckless decisions that I just found frustrating. Which led me to think, how has this girl survived.
My other problem was not so much with the MC but with the love square that is introduced. Aina is in love with her boss but she doesn’t realize is. He is abusive and toxic which is as old as time and I’d love to meet a female character who falls for the bad boy who doesn’t abuse her. Find me those characters please. On top of her boss, she also has feelings for a couple other characters. She’s young and still figuring herself out but in a book I want a better idea of who the love interest is. That can change but give me more than a tease of three different people.
In the end the premise interested me and although I enjoyed the idea of an assassination going wrong and the MC having to find new allies to survive, the story overall fell flat for me. I’m sure many will love the world that Francesca Flores build and Aina but sadly I may not be one of them.

Honestly, I think the cover does a bit of a disservice to the book. It suggest that it’s more urban fantasy/Ocean’s 11-ish than the more straight-up fantasy it is.

“Congratulations, Aina. You’re the best Blade in Kosín, and when I watch you cut holes in people, I think I hear angels singing.”


After the murder of her parents, Aina’s survived by becoming one of the best assassins in Kosín. Driven to prove herself to the boss of their tradehouse, Kohl, who’s trained her personally, she’s eager to take on the latest assignment – killing a Steel, one of the business magnates who runs the city. An assassination gone wrong gutters all her dreams, however, and her only hope at reclaiming her place is by finishing the job, even if it means tricking her target’s younger brother into helping her. Nothing goes as planned, however, and she’s forced to confront her assumptions about herself, her friends, and her life.

“All these years, I’ve been saying I’m not afraid anymore, but I still am. I say that I know how to defend myself and that I’ll be safe, but that’s not actually doing anything about the terrible things going on here. That’s hiding, and letting it all happen because it’s too frightening to try to stop it. But now I want to end the things that scare me.”


It’s hard not to compare this book to other YA fantasy heists, like Six of Crows, though I think the comparison is a little faulty. The book is told solely from Aina’s point of view, and while she does assemble a team, the focus is more on her journey, on finding a purpose for herself, whether she’s an invincible Blade or a vulnerable street girl. I absolutely loved Aina, flaws and all, and it hurt so much to see how she was forced to grow and change over the course of the book. I liked that, at her core, she had good intentions, even if the way she went about them was often completely wrong. I thought her motivations – getting back in Kohl’s good graces, avoiding ending up back on the streets – were strong and I really understood why she made the choices she did. Aina’s bi, though her love “interests,” though they never really get beyond brushing limbs at the most, are all male in the book. While I’m a big romance fan, I’m not so much a fan of love triangles, and though I recognize it was perfectly reasonable for Aina to be confused and have feelings for multiple people, it’s a pet peeve for me.

“It’s easy to get anyone to do something if you put enough money in front of them.”
She tilted her head to the side. “Must be nice to buy solutions to your problems.”
“Must be nice to threaten your problems,” Ryuu countered with a raised eyebrow.”


The snappy dialog really stood out for me, as did the side characters. I especially loved Teo, Aina’s gunslinger friend. Ryuu, the young Steel who ends up bankrolling Aina’s mission to “save” his brother, was also fun, though at times he felt a bit preachy. My main issue was with the flashbacks. The setting would change between one paragraph to the next without warning, sometimes going back to the previous day or even years ago, and each time it happened it was confusing and completely jarred me out of the narrative.

While this is obviously the first in the series, there’s a satisfying closure to the main plot. Overall, I’d give this 3.5 stars, rounded down to 3 due to the flashbacks. I’m interested enough in Aina’s story – I want to see what she’ll do now that she has a real mission! – that I’ll probably pick up the next book. Recommended for anyone looking for a kickass heroine who learns to break the system and finds a family in the process!

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Man, I dig a morally ambiguous lead character as much as the next person (V. E. Schwab's Villains series, the badass coven of Hannah Capin's upcoming Foul Is Fair) but this was waaaaay not that. Aina Solis is an orphan whose parents were killed for practicing their pacifist religion in Kosin, the titular Diamond City. After years of living on the streets and sniffing glue, she's recruited by the Blood King, Kohl Pavel, to became a member of his crew, more specifically an assassin known as a Blade. Fast forward six years and Aina has become Kohl's right hand. He promises her permission to open her own tradehouse (basically, her own gang) if she completes one last lucrative job for him: assassinate Kouta Hirai, one of the richest men in the city.

Naturally, things go wrong, and Aina soon finds herself discarded and worse by the man she's always looked to as a role model and object of affection. Determined to prove herself to him, she enters into a treacherous alliance with Ryuu, Kouta's youngest brother, to fulfill her mission and regain Kohl's trust and the future he's promised her.

I mean, if this is meant to be a book about not trusting people who promise you whatever you want in some hazy future so long as you accept abuse in the present, then I guess it's job well done (tho it legit boggles my mind that she thinks he's going to allow her to set up a rival shop in the same city. Maybe in another city, but in the same one? There's just no way.) And there are moments of reflection that are truly insightful, into the welter of teenage emotion and romance and class consciousness. But oof, the lack of rigor that went into building, well, everything else.

First, Aina is a terrible assassin. She's hyped up as this super badass but all you see in this book is her botching mission after mission while Kohl's often conflicting advice plays in her head. But she's given incredibly stupid opponents to make her look better, like the guy who comes looking for her in the bar. No way in hell would a guy who runs a gambling den a) do his own dirty work, especially if b) he doesn't even know how to use the gun he's waving around. We keep being told she's awesome despite evidence to the contrary, which is just as annoying as her constant musing over whether her "life is sacred" parents would be proud of her work as an assassin. I'm gonna guess that's a hard no, Aina! 

And she wears a scarf that she constantly dyes in the blood of her victims like that isn't super disgusting, both stink- and hideous brown-grey color-wise. She wanders around in it and no one gags and points at her all "wtf?!" Instead, she actually gets compliments over the color, which is mind-boggling to anyone who's ever had to stress over period stains. Actually, a lot of the attitude to dress here makes no goddamn sense, as she pretty much swans around in the same outfit whether crawling through sewers or attending a high-class ball, all in the same night, and no one fucking says anything! The world-building details also make no goddamn sense, especially in the technology: photography is rare but used for cleaning crew ID (but not security guard ID?!) and plastics are used primarily to make the bags that addicts use to sniff glue. Oh, <i>and she can dodge bullets</i>. No bog-standard human, no matter what setting, can dodge bullets, not without some sort of physical augmentation. The world-building is entirely one of convenience for the protagonist's journey, and it makes me livid. Just because it's a fantasy novel doesn't mean the laws of logic don't apply.

Also? I found Aina's sense of tribalism incredibly off-putting. She kills dozens of people, innocent or otherwise, in this book but the only time she shows mercy is when her intended victim either shares a background or religion with her. That is literally as gross as a mass shooter not wanting to hurt someone because they're also white.

Diamond City tries for edgy but just ends up flat and unbelievable, to the point of ludicrous. The writing itself isn't terrible, and there are some decent ideas in there, but someone really needs to hold Francesca Flores to a minimum standard of sense-making.

Although the concept sounded right up my alley, with a mix between Six of Crows and Jade city, the book itself turned out to be too cliché for my taste. I love tropes when they are done well, but in Diamond city I found very few memorable moments. I found myself getting easily bored in the action scenes, which is never a good sign, and the plot was unoriginal. Too many flashbacks, unbelievable alliances, and a worldbuilding that told too much and showed too little were my main problems.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

An intriguing concept of diamonds being a source of magic that has now been forbidden. The backdrop being a industrial city with an interesting political system. There are elements of magic, conspiracy, murder and revenge but they don't alway flow together in a cohesive way. 

Overall, I liked the concept and found the flow to be face paced enough to keep me wanting to know what happened next. I would recommend this for those that love YA and are looking for a new author/series that will hopefully develop more in the next book.

Magic and diamonds are closely connected and forbidden to the extent you could be put to death if you’re not supposed to have them. Our main character/assassin/Aina has no qualms about selling them especially since her life is already in constant danger. She is a tortured character and constantly struggles with who she is. I liked that part because her main conflict is should she go deeper into the assassin’s world or forge her own path. 

This is light on romance (even though attraction is noted several times) and heavy on action. Get ready for Aina’s life to be turned upside down as she figures out who she can really trust.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press/Wednesday Books for a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a struggle for me. What started off as a potentially fun assassin/heist book, turned into a poorly developed world with morally-grey characters that were unlikable and lacked being sympathetic. The book is called Diamond City. Diamonds are considered highly illegal and there's a black market trade just for them. People are executed just for having diamonds. But the reader never learns why they are so important and valuable.

I was really looking forward to reading this book. The description was so promising: Magic, murder, conspiracy... What I actually read was a frail attempt at a redo of Sarah J. Maas's Throne of Glass. With weak world-building, ridiculous backstories, and a highly unsympathetic main character, I really disliked this book.

What I Was Mixed About:
Abusive Relationships:

The main character is an orphan who is taken in by an older teen who promises to protect her if she becomes his assassin (remind you of another book?). He alternately praises her, and hits her. At the beginning of the book, she can't see that this is abusive, and is even attracted to him! I found this very disturbing.

I did like that this is eventually acknowledged as unhealthy. The book also shows how complex these situations can be. If one is in the middle of an abusive relationship, it can be hard to even recognize it. One might feel that they deserve to be treated badly. Ultimately, I couldn't judge her for getting sucked into a toxic situation.

Pacing:

While I thought there were some truly exciting action sequences, there were also times when the exposition got in the way of the story. There is one particular action scene at the end of the book that is full of tension and explosions. And then, in the middle of the scene, the action comes to a screeching halt in order to explain the big reveal.

There was should be no need to explain anything at that point. Clues should have been sprinkled throughout the book so that when we find out the big secret, the reader thinks, "Oh, I should have realized this!"

What I Didn't Like:
World-Building:

One of the fun aspects of reading about a magical world is learning I how the magic works. Apparently, some people can use diamonds to use magic. But how they do it (or why they needed diamonds, in particular) was never fully revealed. There's not even much of an explanation of what the capabilities of the magic are. This was really frustrating as a reader.

Also, the magic doesn't really play an important role in the overall plot of the book. None of the main characters can use magic. And the plot is driven more from a massive conspiracy, rather than anything magical.

Cringe-worthy Backstories:
Aina meets Ryuu, a wealthy orphan who's brother is her target. Ryuu explains how their parents died and Ryuu's brother had to take over the family empire...at TEN YEARS OLD!

No Moral high ground:
Of course, any book about assassins will be filled with murders. But usually, the main character has some sense of guilt about killing others. But Aina seems to accept her mentor Kohl's ridiculous reasoning about killing. Don't blame the assassin, they are just the weapon. Blame the person who ordered the assassination. Shouldn't we blame both? Saying that they are just doing their job is a moral cop out. It doesn't erase a person's culpability.

Eventually, Aina begins to understand that killing is wrong. She even says, that life is precious. But then, in the next chapter, she is back to killing random people without a second thought!!! What???

When a character has a moral epiphany, they can't then backslide without consequences! In this case, the consequence was me losing any warmth for the main character.

I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review from Netgalley. 

Ok. Well, this book was not what I hoped it would be. However, it had a premise that was interesting. To be honest, I enjoy a good coup or revolution, but the characters simply weren't compelling enough to entirely care. The issue for me was Aina's relationship with Kohl. I get that he "saved" her and was her boss, but it was just uncomfortable. In general, there were a lot of places I wish were clarified- the relegious practices and splits, the sale of jewels, the political angles. I felt like there were places things could have been fleshed out, or characters fleshed out, but it didn't happen the way I want. It wasn't a terrible book, but it wasn't one I couldn't put down and walk away from.