Where to begin! This story follows handfuls of characters, each interwoven through the various magic systems and claims to power within their city.

I definitely felt connected to a number of the characters, and even those that were of less interest to me were still locked in with the overall plot well enough that I was always captivated by what was happening.

It did feel a little young in its dialogue and character interactions at times, though I feel a great deal of that is due to the age of the characters. I am hopeful that we gain some additional maturity in book two from our cast.

I almost gave up on the book because of how much is packed in at the beginning, specifically in regards to the culture, the intrigue, the multiple different magic systems, and the connections to the gods, but I'm glad I continued on, as the entirety of the reading experience was quite enjoyable.

I wasn't super sure how I would like this book but I am happy to say it was fantastic. It was dark and gritty and I loved the heirs to the houses. I can't wait to read more

***Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher, who provided me with an electronic copy of this book in return for an honest review.***

I love how so many things happened in the book. I could not keep myself from the book because it was so good

I received a copy of this book for a fair and honest review. I found there were a lot of things to like about this book. The first thing that pulled me in was the world and how it was described. It added to the story and did not way it down. There were a lot of characters and I have to go back and re-read a little bit to keep track of them all. The magic system was well thought out and made sense. There is one number that came up a lot in this book and that is the number 4. There are four realms, four houses, four gods, and four heirs. They are vying for the throne but they want to keep their homes alive and with a loose-knit friendship they set out to follow the king's orders. I don't want to tell too much for this is a book that should be experienced. I had to force myself to put the book down I did not want to finish it too quickly before I can get the next one.

I haven't read fantasy in a while and this book... really amazed me! the mythical aspect of the four gods and everything, i was really hooked!!!! give it a try and lmk your thoughts

This book was amazing. I coudn't put it down. It was magical. Higly recommended! The characters, the plots, the writting: wonderful and perfect.

I received this book from NetGalley in return for a honest review.

Four houses, all vying for the throne, must come together to solve a spooky and threatening problem. Conjurers have begun animating corpses and attacking civilians. The heirs of the four major houses are intertwined in different ways, and all have different gifts. While the premise of this book was appealing, I found myself absolutely slogging through it. It took me ten days to read 40%, because j found myself not interested in picking it up and very easily distracted when I did manage to read. The first four chapters were slow, very long introductions to each of the main characters. While things picked up a little after these chapters, it just wasn’t enough to hold my interest, and I stopped reading the book at 40%. Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more at a different time, but when I find myself dreading picking up my book, I know it’s time to move on.

This one didn't work for me - I got through about 25% of the book and was too confused 9which is rare for me as a fantasy reader, I can normally just stick with it and get the payoff at the end) to keep going and just didn't care about any of the characters.

Loved this book and hope to continue.

I was lucky enough to get the fairyloot adult version and it's absolutely stunning. Look forward to other works.

THE CITY OF DUSK kicks off with an explosion of immersive writing, gorgeously detailed world-building, complex magic, and deliciously queer characters you can't help but root for. The story follows four houses who possess four distinct abilities, each with their own blessings/curses to contend with. There are vengeful gods - each sealed away in their own holy spaces - and shifting alliances as a member from each house - Angelica, Nik, Teasia, and Risha - fight for the throne in their kingless realm. The stakes were quite high as everyone stood to lose on both a personal and cosmic level. Loved all the melancholic, grim vibes and the way the book's decadence felt realistic.

Though I absolutely loved the story, the one thing I would say is this reads more like YA than adult fiction to me. There are ways the characters perceive the world that still have that YA perspective to it, but this didn't take away from the story. Just something that won't appeal to some.

This book was marketed as Adult, but I didn't feel like there were many parts that would have pushed it into the Adult category. All of the main characters were described as being between 20-25 and none of them seemed to act their age. I also felt like this book was trying to do too much. There were 4 different magic systems, 4 gods, 6+ POVs and it felt like all of them were only done half way.

this was such an interesting book!! i felt the plot was great and i could connect to the characters. it did take me a little while to get through the book but it was definitely worth it !

I started this book three times, but I could not get into it. There are several narrators and it feels like the Game of Thrones series, so those who enjoyed the format of the latter (or any epic fantasy) may enjoy this one. Each time I started it, the story didn't hook me - I did not finish it.

Tara Sim has done it again. Highly complex characters, and even higher stakes, The City of Dusk blends together everything that makes you desperate for more time with the characters. The book follows multiple POV’s, and if you enjoy more darker, more complex worlds, you NEED to pick this up.

I liked the idea behind The City of Dusk, but the execution didn’t work for me. It was way longer than it needed to be and the pacing was all over the place. I think with some more editing the writing could have been tighter up to fix these issues.

I’m not positive how old the characters were supposed to be, or if we were told, but I agree with other reviews that they seemed very childish. In a YA novel where the characters are 16, this make sense and tracks, but in adult fantasy where they characters are presumably full grown adults, I expect a bit more maturity.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC in exchange for a review!

There is four realms-Life, Death, Light, and Darkness. There is a god for each realm and for each god there is a heir. But, the realms are dying and the heirs believe the only way to save the realm is to perform a ritual. Will they be able to save their realm or will terrible things happen?

This book has been on my radar since it was announced and I ended up getting the arc off of Netgalley. However, Fairyloot announced this would be their April Adult book. So, I waited for my Fairyloot copy to come. I found the first hundred to two hundred pages to be slower, but it was due to a lot of world building, exploring the characters, and setting things up for later in the book. I happened to enjoy the many point of views. My favorite heirs are Roshar and Taesia. I would get excited for their chapters. The twists were well done and I couldn’t guess what would happen. The ending was amazing and I just need the sequel, like now.

3.5/5

I really enjoyed this and I can't wait to continue the series! I wish I would have gotten a physical copy of this, so I could annotate it. That would have 100% improved my reading experience. There's so many different characters, magic systems, and histories to keep track of that it felt very convuluted at times. I couldn't tell you what was going on for the first half of the story, I was just along for the ride.

Detailed epic worldbuilding, great cast of characters and fun to follow plot, liked reading this epic fantasy! I just couldn't connect emotionally with the characters.

This is an urban fantasy YA book with an interesting premise that keeps you invested from start to finish. While it didn't pull me in as strong as some of my favorites, it was a nice easy read that I could put down and pick up again without too much confusion.

This is not going to be your typical hero's journey fantasy novel. It's a bit coming of age, a lot of teenage drama, and a bit of trying to save a crumbling world. The characters are all a bit twisty and flawed, morality is questioned, and betrayal is rampant.

While overall a good read, the one complaint I would have is that the characterization is not subtle at all. All the main characters have strong personalities and every single sentence is like being slapped in the face with characterization, to the point that the main characters feel like a caricature of what the author intended them to be. Comparatively, the worldbuilding was great and dripped additional detail and color about the world over the course of the novel, while giving enough information up front to make the story accessible to a broad audience.