I thought, The City of Dusk, was decent. I thought it was well written overall but was a little long and slow in some places. I did also enjoy the diverse cast of characters.

Great combination of mystery, fantasy, and darkness. The magic system is quite interesting and the imagery is strong. I thought it was a tad long for a first installment, but I found myself enjoying it anyway!

This is a great fantasy. The world building was deep while being easily understandable. I loved the magic building. The atmosphere was the perfect amount of spooky and dark.

I've been trying to work my way into fantasy with books that aren't overly saturated with super complex world building and magic systems so I don't bite off more than I can chew. While I think this was a good place to start, I just had a pretty hard time getting through it. This book has all the ingredients for something I should love, but it just fell a little flat for me. There are some really interesting ideas and plot points at play here, but I think that the pace and the sheer length of the book makes it hard to stay invested in the characters or their story arcs. I also struggled with this reading too much like a YA story, which isn't a bad thing in and of itself, but it was not what I was looking for out of an adult fantasy.

Big thank you to Orbit and NetGalley for an e-arc of this book!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4612235716?book_show_action=false

Thank you to Orbit Books for the opportunity to read this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

The City of Dusk by Tara Sim is a gripping, thoughtful, and explosive debut adult fantasy, the first in a trilogy. A self-described “goth fantasy,” it is epic in scope, refreshingly queernormative and diverse, features multiple points of view that are equally compelling, and it was a story I could not put down.
I very much enjoyed this book. The worldbuilding — the architecture, the vivid cultures, the gods and the four realms — was quite immersive, the plotlines and mysteries kept me guessing and invested, and I loved the characters, their relationships, and the arcs they go through. The prose was enchanting, compelling, but also straightforward. I also loved the book’s structure of the dramatic personnae and the epigraph at the beginning, the prologue and epilogue, and the alternating viewpoints. There is necromancy, familiars, gods, defying destiny, love, hate, morally grey characters, and an ending that made me want to immediately read the next instalment.
I would highly recommend this book to fans of epic (and diverse) fantasy.

I wrote a full, in-depth review for Strange Horizons here: http://strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/the-city-of-dusk-by-tara-sim/

Thank you to Orbit Books, Netgalley, and Tara Sim for an advanced review copy of The City of Dusk in exchange for my honest review.

The City of Dusk is the first in a new Adult Fantasy series by Tara Sim. It follows the four heirs of the noble houses of Nexus. The heirs are descendants of the gods of Life, Death, Light and Darkness who each ruled over their own realms when they were more accessible to the mortals, years ago.

The magic system in this novel is highly confusing. There are also multiple places mentioned in this book for which I am still unsure if they are within the same realm being discussed or outside of it. Maybe they are neighbouring cities? Basically, I had a hard time following the setting and system in this book.

The City of Dusk – with a title like that, has a darkness about itself to show for it. This fantasy series is extremely dark. So dark, I don’t think I could picture the sun even when Taesia was sitting in it.

I liked the character/group dynamics in the story however no individual character really stuck out to me or made me root for them. I also liked the slight twists and turns in the story because they were pretty much out of the blue which made them unpredictable which I always appreciate.

Overall, I was disappointed and felt the story to be extremely slow and long and pretty confusing.

So this one was a bit darker than I tend to go, which is my fault’s, not the book’s, but it did mean I had a tough time getting through it. It also had the unpleasant reality of being read around the same time as I was discovering a new fantasy that I adored, which can make things tough. There’s a lot to love here, and I know this book will be a good fit for some people — Taesia was the star for me, and the entire cast of characters was easy to fall for. I loved the exploration of their relationships with each other and with their families, plus the author did a great job exploring the pressure that’s on these heirs. Ultimately though, I was just confused the whole time — the world felt like one the author had been building in her head for so long that she forgot everyone else doesn’t know exactly what’s going on there. But other people did really seem to love the world and the magic systems, so that’s probably a me problem!

4.5 stars

There were some parts that dragged a bit, but otherwise this was an excellent read with an interesting magic system. The heirs are the 4 main points of view that we flit through, and they wend and weave. They each have their motivations and their demons. There's a lot of mystery and intrigue. Each character has a romance, but I wouldn't call this a romance novel, so if that's not your bag, don't let it deter you. On the other hand, if that is your bag, there's enough there to keep you interested. I laughed a few times while reading this, which isn't common for me. I also got a bit sniffly. The writing is great and the characters multifaceted. If you're looking for sexy bits, there is one scene that's a fair bit erotic but no proper smut. I highly recommend this if you like politics, magic, intrigue, and morally grey characters.

I was lucky to receive an e-ARC of this book, which was one of my most anticipated releases of 2022. It certainly did NOT disappoint! With fantastic world-building, unexpected twists, and characters I would die for (every single one of them, but Taesia and Angelica especially!) The City of Dusk has cured me of a months-long reading slump and renewed my love of complex high fantasies. I can’t wait for the next book in this series that has quickly become a favorite!

The first thing I'll say about The City of Dusk is that although it is marketed as an adult fantasy, it didn't really feel like it. I didn't mind it too much in the end, but while reading it definitely seemed weird to me.
The writing wasn't my favourite and this book could have been much shorter than it was.
Overall, I did enjoy it, but I feel like it read more like a debut than a book by a well established author.

3.5

I struggled to get into this book partially because there are a lot of POVs and getting invested in them takes time, but in the end I liked so much more of this than I didn't.

Firstly, I loved the diversity here. There is a wide range of queer representation and the author blends her Desi heritage into one of the houses/main characters. Also, these main characters are messy in the best way AND there are meddling gods (probably my all time favorite trope) in a dying world. So despite my initial struggles I ended up devouring the last half of this book and am anxiously awaiting news of the sequel!

Side Note: I've seen several reviews say that this is mismarketed as adult- I disagree. Yes it has some crossover with YA especially in the beginning, but the characters are not teenagers and the pacing and worldbuilding are more inline with adult SFF.

Per the author's twitter, there is:
🌙 Complicated queer women
✨ Sad queer boys
🌒 Uncanny valley gods
🌟 Divine magic systems
💀 Skeletons
Rep: bi m/f, f/f, m/m, ace m/f
Tropes: monster romance, bodyguard romance, supernatural romance, and minor enemies to lovers

I really enjoyed this story! I can't wait to see what's to come.

The book took me a while to read just by virtue of being an appropriately large epic fantasy, but I loved the world building and getting to know our vast cast of characters. I was expecting the focus to be on our main 4 characters and was pleasantly surprised when others were introduced and given robust personalities and weren't relegated to simply side characters but were very plot relevant. It was cool seeing relationships start (and end but also not) and grow through the course of this adventure. I look forward to the continuation of that next book.

The magic systems are fascinating, and I enjoyed that readers are both introduced to magic the characters are familiar with/used to and to magic that the characters are just themselves unlocking/discovering they possess.

Overall this is a great epic fantasy that I highly recommend to fans of the genre (and to anyone who enjoys lots of plot and some dark elements to their stories).

This book was personally not my thing because of how character driven and long it felt. I wish I could have enjoyed it more given how interesting it sounded. I will try to reread it soon to see if I like it better when I’m in a more character based fantasy mood but for now it will stay at this rating.

The City of Dusk is an adult fantasy about the heirs of the world’s four gods. They each have the motivations as they converge on a holy day for the land.
And I was just… bored.
I tried my best with the first 20% and last 25%, I really tried to feel something for the characters or plot, but I was just bored with the majority that I skimmed. And unfortunately, I can’t even point my finger as to what it was that it lacked. I think the character introductions were just boring and then I never latched on after that point.
While the worldbuilding didn’t suck me in, there was this past event the characters kept referring to called The Sealing that barred the gods from entering the character’s realm. Whenever I read about it, I often wished the book was taking place when that event happened.
I read a couple of other people’s reviews and I don’t really see their complaints of the book feeling “YA” or whatever. The violence described is definitely that of an adult novel.
I did appreciate how queernorm the world was. That and the fact that most of the cast were people of color is always nice to see in fantasy books.
I rated this book 2 stars. Maybe this book works better for the fans of political fantasies.

Wow wow wow. This book took me a minute to read but IT WAS SO WORTH IT!!

Four realms to create The Cosmic Scale.
Four gods ruling the realms.
Four descendants of the gods, each with a specific power.

Nik is descended from Phos, bringer of light.
Risha descended from Thana, harbinger of death.
Tae descended from Nyx, summoner of darkness
Angelica descended from Deia, manipulator of the elements.

Before The Sealing, everything was in perfect harmony. Now the gods refuse to come out from hiding and the realms are no longer linked. Everything is withering and dying. Life cannot sustain itself much longer.

Together, they must set aside their differences for the good of the realm.

There’s only one problem: there’s a missing link and they are running out of time.

Listen, Risha YOU BADASS NECROMANCER. Omg. I loved her. Every description of her power had me sucked in wanting MORE MORE MORE.

Tae. Tae is my favourite. She’s THRIVING in her villain era, okay? How cool would it be to summon darkness? She reminded me of a darker Medusa.

There are SO MANY AMAZING things about this book that I am almost speechless. My brain initially wanted to short circuit with the info dump and world building but I was committed early on and this book went BEYOND my expectations.

Oh and before I forget, we have some sapphic rep! Which I love seeing more and more in books.

Also, who doesn’t love a good cosmic battle featuring gods? Think Lore meets Crescent City.

I can’t wait for the next book!

Thank you to Hachette for my ARC!

This is the first book that I've read from this author. Sadly, I thought it was just average. I'm pretty bummed about it because I was so excited for this one. I enjoyed the characters and I really liked the different types of magic each House used. Other than that, I was kind of bored.

Please note in an exchange for an honest review, I received an advance reader copy (ARC) from NetGalley.

I'm not sure if it was just marketing but this book is not what is advertise. I remember reading the description saying it was the author's "debut dark adult fantasy noble" but don't see that in Goodreads/Amazon/Netgalley. Though if you google it, it is very clear that it was marketed as such before.

They possibly changed it but again, I requested it under the impression of reading an adult book so I judged it as such.

Do I recommend it? If you're expecting a dark adult fantasy book, you're not going to get it. You are getting a new adult/young adult fantasy book and if you're into that, by all means get it. But if you're like me, you're not going to enjoy it. The characters are childish, there seem to be some plot holes, power scaling seems off, and some things were clearly foreshadowed that the twists had no effect.

What did this book do well? Representation. POC's and Queer characters.

The City of Dusk is Tara Sim's adult fantasy debut from @orbitbooks_us - thanks so much for the e-ARC!

The City of Dusk follows the heirs to four noble houses that represent the four realms and their titular gods. Their realm has been cut-off, sealed from the gods, though their weakened powers still remain. With each passing year, their resources are being depleted, and their realm will soon whither unless the heirs take the once in a century chance.

Oops, it's another book I didn't like. Plot wise, it starts off quite slow and takes the majority of the book to really get going. There were 7 POVs, which also made the book drag for me. It wasn't hard to keep them straight, but I wasn't interested in any of them. With the number of characters it was hard to get a feel for characterization/character development, leaving their actions feeling out of place. The book feels really young despite some of the darker events.

But, what I least enjoyed was the worldbuilding - I have three pages of notes that I'll try to summarize 😅

There was a distinct lack of time/place. From the different cultural bases of the houses, to the fashion, to the society's structure/political system, to the types of plants - there is this lack of cohesion that kept pulling me out of the story.

There was an imbalance in cultural references/terminology. One of the houses has an Indian inspired background and their outfits are called by their actual names. Meanwhile, the stepmother of one of the heirs comes from a fictional Japanese background and we see her clothing (a kimono or a yukata?) described as a traditional wrap dress with long sleeves and a silk sash. It's weird to see terminology attached to one culture, but not another.

The political system, court politics, and the magic system/its limits are poorly defined and the industry and amenities are at odds. It's unclear what kind of industry the country/city has besides agriculture, but the characters interact with modern conveniences like cafes, dress shops, flower shops, etc. which need a level of industrialization/globalisation to function.

Idk 🤷 it all just didn't work for me.

The world-building is beautiful and the writing is perfect for the story. I absolutely loved how atmospheric it is! I don't think I personally connected with the story as much as I wanted to, but I definitely appreciated how wonderfully it is done!

The Four Realms—Life, Death, Light, and Dark—all converge on the city of dusk. For each realm there is a god, and for each god there is an heir. But the realms are dying and the gods have withdrawn their favor from the once vibrant and thriving city. Unwilling to watch the destruction of their world, the four heirs form an alliance to keep their kingdom from descending into war.

I honestly can’t decide how I feel about this novel. There’s honestly nothing wrong with it. The prose is lovely, the plot is well executed, and the characters are engaging. But overall this book felt generic to me. I normally LOVE Orbit and think they have a knack for publishing unique stories. But nothing about this book really stood out. Will definitely read the sequel though.