I appreciate the publisher allowing me to read this book. I really enjoyed this one the plot kept me interested until the end which is not easy, and the characters were engaging and believable. I highly recommend this book.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

What a fantastic book.

This is a fantasy murder mystery police procedural set in this beautiful, vivid alternative South-American setting. I didn't know I needed this in my life till now.

Just after reading the first chapter of this book, I knew I was going to love it.

Rocio and Hala were so likeable and had a great dynamic. I loved how different they were in their approach of investigating and how they balanced each other out all the while still complementing each other as well.

The setting and world was one of my favourite things. It is so unapologetically diverse and I'm here for it. In this world, there is no racism, sexism, homophobia etc. People just....exist and it was super refreshing. Please can there be more of this.
Don't get me wrong, I appreciate it when books add social commentary and incorporate these things in their books and hopefully also challenge them, but it was great to see a fantasy book with older female detectives who did face challenges but not because of their sex.
There is a gender neutral way of addressing people, poly relationships are a thing, same sex relationships etc.

There were also a lot of food descriptions and if there's one thing I love in books, it's that.

The plot was super interesting to me as well and I truly was never bored. Definitely did not see certain things coming at all.

The ending was definitely open and I can't wait for more in this world with these characters

Fantasy and mystery / police procedural - combining two of the best genres is a win! Interesting and engaging read. Recommend to anyone who is a fan of Ben Aaronovitch. Great read

beautiful cover and love the author!!! i enjoyed how this book was written and i was able to read this book in one sitting. i enjoyed the storyline and cannot wait to read the final copy.

Shadow of the City is the first book in a new fantasy alt-earth mystery (crossing my fingers) series by R. Morgan. Released 27th April 2021, it's 420 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

I've been reading a lot more fantasy and speculative fiction lately, but I will always love well crafted murder mysteries. This is the best of both worlds. It's an alternate Earth South (or possibly Central) America and the main protagonists are two 40-something cops who are friends and colleagues. They're intelligent, diverse, with different strengths and very different backgrounds. They work well together and support one another. There's an ensemble cast and again, the author has done a very good job with the characterizations and dialogue.

There were some slight pacing issues for me. It took me a lot longer to finish the book than it should have because I found the plot wasn't keeping me engaged and I kept being distracted by other reading tasks. I believe it's because of the background and world building necessary to the beginnings of an immersive series on a grand scale and that the setup takes time. The author is quite adept technically and I felt that the last half of the book moved a lot more smoothly and kept me interested. I am very much looking forward to future books featuring these two engaging smart detectives. Reading about the interplay between the different official governmental agencies and how they helped (or mostly hindered) one another was fun and I'm looking forward to the next volume.

I also liked the inclusiveness and non-binary-friendly setup and world building. It wasn't splashily written in the book, but pronouns are often of the non-gender-specific "-x" suffix such as "ministrix" and "senorx". Polyamory seems to be unexceptional and accepted. It was a breath of fresh air that it wasn't an issue. The author isn't strident or preachy, it's just written into the social structure and generally allowed to remain in the background.

The language is fairly clean; there's cursing, but it's mostly in Benerex idiom. There is some possibly triggering content, psychological abuse, dismemberment (but contextually important to the plot development), and kidnapping for example.

Four and a half stars. I enjoyed this one very much and would recommend it unreservedly to fans of fantasy mysteries.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Opening this novel felt like waking up in the middle of a clock tower, surrounded by turning cogs, with no idea how I landed up there. I know that is an incredibly specific and ambiguous description, so let me elaborate.
Set in an alternate urban fantasy environment, Rocio and Hala are Detectives, investigating a series of crimes that seem beyond explanation.
The richness and diversity of the characters in this novel was wonderful to see, and it made the world feel vibrant and lively.
That said, there was just so much going on in this novel. I often felt that the exposition was so detailed and explicit that I lost sight of the larger picture, and that made it difficult to really connect with the characters. As I said earlier, it really did feel like being surrounded by cogs in a machine; there were SO many elements of this story that were phenomenal, and yet, I found it incredibly difficult to piece them all together, and simply enjoy my read.

ARC Provided by the Publisher; all thoughts and opinions are my own.

trigger warning
<spoiler> kidnapping, gore, mutilation, gaslighting, emotional abuse and it's results </spoiler>

At first, it's about a break in and possible theft in a forgotten room. Then, there's a kidnapping - and then, corpses start to turn up, missing some body parts. Is it possible that these cases are connected?

Our setting is kinda Latin America, but with magic. Every region has their own magic, but it's localized. If you happen to move to another area, your magic won't work, but you have the possibility to learn the regional variant, if you chose to. Most people don't, because they're far too busy.
La Bene is a seaport city, which means it's home to many immigrants, who add a bit of their own culture to the landscape.

What I really liked was that homosexuality, being trans and polyamory seem to be widely accepted. There's a police person who's at the reception desk since they're recuperating from a gender reaffirment surgery, and it's no big deal. People are called senorx, or in case of ministers, ministrx. I can work with that.

A huge topic are class differences. One of the two protagonists came from an upperclass family but fell in love with the theatre, only to wind up with the police and despite having worked herself to the rank of Detective, her parents are constantly telling her she could do "better" if she only followed their advice.
She thought it would not impact her work, but then a new recruit is placed under her care. A recruit who comes from the upper class herself.

Another level of conflict comes from the fact that there is another kind of police force, kinda like the regular police and the FBI in the USA, though it was not made very clear which of them is responsible for what.

The plot centers around the possibilities of magic, and I am always here for magical crime and the people who try to find out who, what, when and why.

I liked it. I would read on. I would recommend it. It had some plaws, especially in the area of pacing and sometimes it felt like not even the author knew what's going on, but that felt like something more experience would fix.

The arc was provided by the publisher.

The cover is beautiful and the storyline was decent. I didnt love it and I struggled a bit to get through.

I REALLY wanted to like this book. My first thought on reading the book blurb was basically, how awesome, a Latin America-type setting with magic. But the problem with this book for me ended up being the worldbuilding. For example, I love the idea of diversity and the concept of a world without racism. But it read like the author was just checking off the boxes, not like there was real meaning to it.

As far as the writing style, I couldn’t really get into that. There were long winded awkward sentences and scenes and sentences that don’t really have a point because they don’t lead anywhere.

I hate writing negative reviews, but this book unfortunately but didn’t work for me.

The setting of this book is exceptional, incredibly detailed and thought out, with a rich multicultural feel, integrations of many little elements that make it utterly believable. I truly wanted to love it because of it. The subtle magic touches was nice too. But I just kept putting the book down and had trouble staying interested. While the characters are also unusual and the type I would have normally liked, 2 strong women detectives, with very different vibes, they still weren't enough to keep me engaged. I think it's the tone, or my lack of involvement in the initial mystery. I don't know for sure what it was, but I didn't manage to finish the book. Sometimes I guess a book is just not for you.

I liked this story and I want to read other books by this author.
Good world building and character development, an engrossing and entertaining plot.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

DNF at 22%. I REALLY wanted to like this. I thought it sounds a little like a South American version of A Master of Djinn and I was keen.

Unfortunately, although the ideas are there and the world is interesting, I found the writing so hard to read I gave up at 22%. Sentences go on and on in a jumble, scenes begin but then lead no where, and, whilst Morgan gets points for diversity, it comes across as almost a tick-box exercise. I also didn't really care for any of the characters (though that might have changed had I given it more time).

A shame. Given revisions and a good edit, I'd be tempted to come back to this because it has potential.

A word about the worldbuilding first, since that's what I had the most trouble with.

The setting is an alternate-world South (or Central) America. Several analogs of European countries are mentioned (with names that struck me as linguistically unlikely in some cases - Enkladt for England?), and while the Spain analog did not colonize South America as such, it did have a cultural influence at least on La Bene, the city where the story is set. Some names and words are Spanish, there are theatres and various other European-style cultural features, and so forth. However, nobody is Catholic (and the character with the Arabic-sounding name isn't Muslim); everyone - except for a recent immigrant - practices a form of ancestor-worship which allows them to speak to their departed ancestors, and at least some also practice what seems to be some kind of paganism.

At the same time, the cultural norms and mores of the city's inhabitants are a remarkably close match for US progressive politics as at right this moment. I managed to be more amused than annoyed by that, though it means the book will date very quickly.

The author's note at the end makes it clear that the reason sexism, racism, homophobia, European colonialism, and organized religion don't exist in this setting is that the author was sick of them and wanted to write a setting that just didn't contain them. Which is not an illegitimate wish, but if you edit out so much of what has shaped our world, you're going to end up with a world that is difficult to account for.

Magic plays a key role, and part of the setup is that magic works differently in different places. It's never explained why this is, or what the underlying mechanism might be. It's clear that magic works differently based on where you are geographically, because immigrants' magic only continues working as it usually does for a short time before shifting to work like the local magic, but the divisions coincide with political, not physical, geography. La Bene has previously been part of both of the neighboring empires (which appear to be uninterrupted local empires; one of them uses the Mayan calendar). I had the impression that it had swapped between the empires several times, before being settled by refugees and allowed to become its own entity as a buffer between the empires (which itself felt somewhat unlikely to me). Yet the magic in La Bene is distinctly different from the magic in both of the empires.

So I had some significant questions and hesitations about the worldbuilding. Apart from that, it's a decent mystery novel in which good-hearted detectives face their own issues while tracking down the criminal. I felt that the pacing of the mystery plot did suffer from the amount of time devoted to the protagonist's personal conflicts, which, while well portrayed, were not as interesting (or important) to me as the resolution of the crime. What that did provide, though, was more depth to the characters; there was more of that than I usually see.

A competent editor has done a good (but, inevitably, not completely perfect) job with the manuscript; in the pre-release review copy I received via Netgalley for review, the errors were few.

Overall, then, a sound plot (if with some pacing issues for me), characters with depth, and capable prose. If the worldbuilding had been less of a problem for me, it would have landed easily on my Best of the Year list. As it was, it still gets four stars.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Shadow of the City by R. Morgan is a stunning blend of fantasy and police procedural. When I was reading this book, I was instantly reminded of two similar books that I've read recently: Goddess of the North by Georgina Kamsika and A Master of Djinn by P. Djeli Clark, both of which I read on NetGalley. It seems like this genre has either been hiding from me, or 2021 is the year of fantasy mysteries! If it is, I am totally here for it. This is a genre combination that I didn't know that I needed.

Shadow the City takes place in a Latin-American-inspired city where magic is real, and people use magic as part of their everyday jobs. One highlight of the book is how inclusive and diverse it is. For example, all people are referred to as Senorx, which is a gender-inclusive term I believe that author created for this book, and at least one of the main characters is queer. In addition, although the main character Rocio is coded as Hispanic, I believe her partner Hala is coded as Arab. There are other minor characters who are coded as Rus/Russian and Chinese.

Here is an excerpt from Chapter Three, when Rocio and Hala arrive at a crime scene:

"Rocio put a restraining hand on Pepe's shoulder. "We're not in anyone's pockets, senorx ...?"
"Piotr Arkadyevich Prokofiev," he said, drawing himself up, his nostril flaring. He had a sharp nose, high cheekbones and pale eyes. "How do I know?"
"Senorx Prokofiev, we do community justice here in the Miraflores district of La Bene, which means we know the people who live and work here well. It looks strange to outsiders, but we serve everyone equally, including new arrivals."

The world-building in this diverse and inclusive society is great, but I never felt lost or confused. The personal aspect of the story focuses on the two titular characters as Rocio receives a new apprentice/rookie, who she doesn't necessarily like. Meanwhile, the police procedural aspect focuses on a missing person (possible murder victim). Overall, I highly enjoyed this mash-up of fantasy and police procedural. If that sounds interesting to you, check out Shadow the City when it comes out at the end of this month!

I received an eARC of this title from The Forth Gorgon Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I was not compensated other than receiving the book and all opinions are my own.

This book is centered around two women Detectives, Rocio Dias Rossi and Hala Haddad Sosa. They both work for the Miraflores Community Justice Center. The story follows their investigations throughout the city of La Bene that include missing persons, animal mutilations and magic all leading to murder. The are great partners and their friendship is shown throughout.. I love how this story integrates their personal lives with their work lives and includes family and friends. Some parts of the books seem wordy and almost to descriptive. I will say that the author also describes everything to the nth degree and you are never confused as to what is going on.

The world building is superb and I love the magic within this novel. I would say the book is recommend for people over 18 due to some graphic descriptions and violence. If you love crime and fantasy this book is for you. This book ends with a few questions but it is not considered a hangover and will lead nicely into the next book.