Interesting modern fantasy with numerous narrators, which makes it easy to separate characters, it has a flavour of ‘His Dark Materials’ with daemons and magic.

I would have enjoyed more depth to the characters and world building, also the introduction of how she ends in this world seems a bit rushed as did the ending.



I loved that the main characters were POC, as they are extremely underrepresented in this genre. The storyline kept me hooked in and was fast paced, I will definitely be reading the next in the series.

3.5 rounded up

Savage City is an engaging story, if not a bit underdeveloped. Either way, it is always refreshing to see Black women as the MCs in adult fantasy novels (especially when the author is also Black). The first two chapters were off to a rocky start, things were hard to follow at first; it evens out pretty fast. The writing is straightforward and simplistic, which isn't a bad thing. I think the story does a good job in providing worldbuilding details as needed and I never felt overwhelmed with it. What I did feel overwhelmed with was so many bland background characters who didn't have anything distinctive about them, and so they were forgettable. To be honest, the secondary main character Ryin is also forgettable. Talia, the primary MC, was flat. She is kind of adrift in a plot and doesn't really take much action of her own that's meaningful to the plot's development. Things just happen to her. And she's a bit one-dimensional.

While I did enjoy this story overall, I do have some minor gripes like the development of the romantic subplot (it was supportive and non-toxic, which I appreciate, but I didn't really believe they were in love). There were a few other moments in the story that I felt were glossed over and maybe needed to be developed more. The ending felt a bit rushed. Sometimes the dialogue felt overly formal and stiff, even for the main character, who is from our Earth in modern times.

Speaking of worldbuilding, I can't quite understand why there are royals in an alternate world that seems to be post-apocalyptic modern Earth set in the United States. This isn't something that is addressed, but I did wonder why they would resort to kings and queens in a place with a history like the U.S. And if this alternate Earth had a different history, that wasn't addressed so the readers are left to wonder. Not necessarily a bad thing, just something that caught my attention.

Also of note: I did also listen to the audiobook of this series while reading along, but I stopped listening to the audiobook because I felt the performances of the readers - particularly the voice of Ryin - was stilted and made reading unenjoyable. I think for this book if you're debating between audiobook and ebook, maybe pass on the audiobook!

Either way, I enjoyed reading it and am looking forward to the sequel.

Trigger content warnings: brief mentions of a bad car accident and then another mention of a pedestrian being struck and killed by a car; slavery, torture, violence, sexual content (between consenting adults), imprisonment.

I received the audiobook and ebook versions in advance in exchange for my honest review via Netgalley.

Thank you L. Penelope and OrangeSky Audio for an audio Arc of Savage City!
4.5 stars rounded up to 5.
3.5 stars on spice.

The audio book was about 9 hours, and both the male and female narrators were great. Chapters were split between Ryin and Talia. The only con I have with the audio book is that the first chapter was somewhat hard to follow on audio but I was able to fill in the gaps with later chapters.

If you're a fan of these tropes:
Alternate Universes
Enemies to Lovers
Slow Burn
Fantasy

The story itself was somewhat decently paced and kept you going. Both Talia and Ryin as characters had growth and were easy to love. The story was somewhat predictable but not in a terrible way - I would read it again in a heartbeat. It kept my interest. I cannot wait for the next installments of this series.

I enjoyed this book. The world was different and unique. I like the parallel universe coming into play for this story. I really wished I loved it but it just fell a little flat for me. Talia and Ryin were fine characters but I didn't feel anything heat leap off the pages or feel any chemistry between these two characters. It sort of felt rushed at the end as well. It was pleasant read just being picky.

I received an Audio eARC from the publishers through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. It has not affected my opinions.
I listen to this book in 2.0 speed, and it’s the usually speed I listen to. The narrators did a good job.
Savage city is a different story, then the usually one. And this I liked and made me want to know more about the story. I felt entertained and I would like to know what happens next in this series.

Thank you to NetGalley and OrangeSky Audio for this advanced audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Story:
Savage City has an interesting premise but overall I felt like it fell short of what I'd hoped for. I liked the idea of her dying and showing up in this other dimension, a dimension that was similar to the San Francisco area that she came from but different. Dystopian but with spiritual partnerships (daemons) that exhibited magical animals and powers. That was SUPER cool! Along with the concept of multiple souls and what happens if you lose one and the challenges that are associated with that. That established intriguing conflict. Overall, however, I thought the plot and build up was lacking. I thought the characters were lacking as well, there wasn't a ton of depth to them and some plot points that just didn't seem to go anywhere. I didn't get any sort of investment in them or the relationship they seemed to have built. Plus it kind of wrapped up in the first book where I am having a tough time seeing where the conflict would go for there to be a sequel. I don't see myself continuing the series.

Audio:
I appreciated that the audio had a female narrator for Talia and a male one for Ryan. That's always a nice touch when there are multiple narrators for multiple characters! However, I felt like the narration was lacking like the plot. While Ryan's narrator was a little better, Talia's narrator had minimal inflection between dialogue and non-dialogue sections.

Okay, loved that all the characters were people of color. I felt like this is one of the first books that is true fantasy that are also clearly all people of color. So that was great.
I didn't think there was enough world building for my taste, but that true is the only draw back. Love Talia and Ryan love their daemons (spelling?) just all in all a good concept for a book.

Thank you NetGalley and Orange Sky Audio for the audible version of this book!

I really enjoyed the premise and the set up for this story. I think it's such a unique idea and many of the different aspects of the world/magic system was interesting.

Unfortunately, our MC Talia felt a little flat and we didn't get a whole lot of character development throughout the story. Additionally, the final 20% of the book felt very rushed as both romantic and plot lines developed much faster than the beginning 80% was paced. Overall, I would have appreciated another 100 pages for the storyline to continue growing at the pace that was initially set.

When Talia is in an accident she dies and wakes up she realizes she is in another world. In this world she is mistaken for a missing princess and to stay alive Talia plays along. At the same time a captured warrior isn’t sure the returned princess is who she says she is.
I listened to the audio version of this book for Netgalley. It was a fast-paced book, which did not waste a second with unnecessary information. The characters are described in such detail that I can picture them with ease. I don’t always like multiple point of views, but this story bounced between the two points of views in a flowing way. The author created a unique fantasy world that like the characters was easy to picture. My only issue with the book is that I just don’t feel like the romance in the story because to me it was realistic. The romance part of the story was rushed.

Thank you to netgalley and OrangeSky Audio for an early copy of this audiobook! All opinions are my own!

I think what I loved most about this book was how different it is! It feels dystopian but has fantasy elements and sci-fi elements as well, and I devoured every part of that! It felt like nothing I've ever read before, and that was super refreshing. The worldbuilding was a little slow and patchy at first, but once I got into it, everything made sense and I was able to get past that and more into the story.

I really enjoyed the relationship between Talia and Ryin. They both were learning a lot about themselves and their world, and the fact that they just kind of fell together was very sweet. Their relationship developed as sort of a side thing as they were both learning bout the world and who they wanted to become. Talia was so strong and brave even though she had no idea what was going on, and she took her story and made it into her own without needing Ryin to save her. I loved her character and growth as a whole!

The way that this book tackled a lot of deeper topics like death, grief, slavery, was done really well. It integrated these things into Talia and Ryin's stories and made them feel more real and raw. They held a lot of depth but didn't overpower the story itself, and I really appreciated that.

If you're a fantasy lover, or a sci-fi lover, or a dystopian lover, you definitely need to check this series out!

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this book.

I thought this was a very interesting book overall- good pacing, pretty well developed world building. I did find the main characters a little bit on the flat side, but not horribly so. The narrators did a great job. I will be keeping my eye out to read whatever comes next in this series!

This book originally intrigued me due to the description. Ive been on a fantasy fiction kick and this definitely satisfied that in me. I really enjoyed the the multiple POVs as I personally find this gives more depth to books especially when there are potential love interests involved. The world the author built was very interesting, I only wish there was a little more to the development of it. I read through the book thinking there could have been a little more to it, then again im on the side of reading where i love attention to detail and having the author weave these into the story throughout the novel or series. Unfortunately, there was a plot twist near the end that I wasn't the hugest fan of. It seemed like there was no build up or reason really tying this event to the overall book other than "just because".

Overall id say it was a really cool book for the world built, but could use some fine tuning to bring the ideas together more cohesively.

Did I like it: 4★
Does it fit the genre: 5★
Does it do what it's trying to do: 5★
Storyline: 5★
Writing style: 5★
Characters: 5★
Plot Twists: 5★
Pacing: 5★

Overall: 5★

WOW: Honestly, looking at the page count for this book I can barely even believe it! I feel like a million things happened, which just goes to show how great the pacing was. A full and amazing story. The worldbuilding, while confusing at first, was so utterly fantastical when the end tied it all together. I'm a little disappointed that Talia didn't get to <spoiler> become the Queen in the end. I feel like it was her full right to. </spoiler> The plot twists were completely amazing. From the king, to the brother, TO WHY TALIA WAS THERE. Completely had me swooning.

Star off of my own opinion of the book was for the completely unnecessary and out-of-place sex scene. We definitely already knew that they were head over heels for each other without it. If the author wants to write sex scenes, go into that genre. But I honestly did adore the book aside from that.

This was such an interesting and fun book! I’ve never read anything like it. Instead of going to the afterlife she ends up in a terrifying city being mistaken as a missing princess and that’s just the start. I had a blast listening to it. I thought the writing style was great. I sometimes struggle with fantasy but this was well written and I could picture everything. Definitely recommend it.

Readable but nothing outstanding. Felt slow at times and very YA, even though it supposedly isn’t. An easy read but a bit superficial for me..
Thank you NetGalley.

“I am a dragon… hear me roar”
This book was absolutely amazing!!!!
I had the chance to experience it through audiobook form and I really enjoyed it!!!!!
The combination between romance, sci-fi and fantasy all together made a beautiful story I could stop listening to!!!!!
Talia was a great character and I fell for Ryan as soon as his name was pronounced !!!!
They both had so many Poppy and Casteel vibe I couldn’t just not love them !!!
This book had the right amount of spice, just enough to make you relax right before putting you through such terribly real and still discussed themes such as slavery and power dynamics between who’s considered to be good and bad !!!!
And the most important thing of all … SUCH AMAZING POC MAIN CHARACTERS !!!!
It’s true that there was an amalgama of different cultures and populations but, at the end, the most important thing this book and this author highlighted was that we’re all humans !!!!
We can be fae, shifters, white or black but we all should be treated with respect !!!
And another important theme was family and love … honestly this story was just something so great.
I’m left absolutely speechless !!!!!
Truthfully the only thing Talia wanted was to be loved and cherished and Ryan felt something special in her, something worth protecting !!!!
Watch out for this book because you won’t regret it !!!
Oh and watch out for a certain side character that may hide something for the future I’m more than interested in !!!!

When Talia dies she ends up in another world, so different from her own..

I gave this book three stars!
At first I didn't really feel particularly interested in the story, some elements where a bit confusing. But then i started to enjoy it.
It has mistery, adventure and romance (although i feel it was all a bit rushed) and the last chapters are really intense.

All in all i feel that i would love to know how the story will continue so i'll wait to read the next book of the series, hoping to find it even better than this one.

Savage city is a unique and exciting story full of mystery, romance, magic and gripping adventure. The continuation of Ryin and Talia’s story is definitely one I will be adding to my “can’t wait for the sequel” list!

"The first time I die, my life doesn't flash before my eyes in a rush of images. All I see is a single moment from the past."

We start off strong with an engaging first paragraph that captivates you and insights curiosity. We are introduced to Talia, the female lead, as she is transported into another world where she is a princess and her father a tyrant king. In order to survive she has to pretend to be the princess and create allies that will help her defeat the evils of the world she was put into. While I liked the female lead, I think she lacked strength and independence. There were various times where I wanted her to stand up on her own and have a more active role in the conflicts but she was passive and afraid most of the book. I, however, can definitely understand why the author wrote her to be so passive. I suspect in the sequels she will come into her own as she experiences new situations.

Ryin, the male lead is very likable. He is strong, sweet, loyal and cute in quirky sort of way. The author writes him as a calm but fierce person who genuinely falls for the female lead. In my opinion, the romance needed a bit more development. The love between the leads felt rushed and artificial and it was hard to understand how they fell in love after a few short conversations. While I would have appreciated more romantic interactions between the characters, what we did get was tender, sweet and memorable.

I commend the author for the unique way she portrayed shifters in this book. It’s a refreshing change from the typical "werewolf or fairy” trope. These characters are strong and powerful, brave and interesting. Ms. Penelope does a great job of world building and gives needed details for the reader/listener every step of the way. I felt myself being pulled into the dystopian city with its mixture of new and old, light and dark. It’s important to point out that the contrast between new and old, real and fantasy, is a recurring theme in this book. You are transported between a futuristic society and the world of today, which I though was unique in itself but you also get historical issues created anew in the context of the book’s setting.

The characters are mostly of color, being described as having “cinnamon” or “honey colored” skin.. I was beyond the moon to see that so many characters of color were written in. Not only are the main characters black but the author includes, Asian and Latinx characters as well. A gay couple is also mentioned. The diversity and inclusivity made my heart happy.

Audiobook performance
I both read this book and listened to the audio performance. While I really enjoyed the story itself, the performance was significantly lacking. The male voice actor had a monotone way of speaking that took the excitement away from some of the most adventurous scenes. He also had a habit of pausing in odd places that impeded the flow of the story. I don’t think I’ve ever listened to an audio book with narrators who took away from the feel of the story itself but I hate to say this one does, especially the male lead’s chapters. The female voice actor was a bit better; though, she did whisper the entire time which was frustrating. Overall, I would recommend reading the book instead of listening to it as the audio performance is amongst one of the works I’ve heard.

Overall I am excited to read the continuation of this series and definitely recommend you check out this book and others from L. Penelope.

*I kindly received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Talia dies but instead of entering the afterlife, she ends up in a terrifying city with kings, dragons and war. She is mistaken for the princesses and is brought to the dragon king that looks just like her real father. Ryin is a warrior that doesn't want to fall with Talia, especially since she is the daughter of the enemy. But the more time he spends with her the more he realizes he isn't who she thought she was.

I think this was a great read and I am excited to see how the rest of this series unfolds. If you haven't added this book to your tbr yet, what are you doing? Despite its flaws, it was enjoyable and I totally recommend this if you love young adult romance but want it more adult.

2.5 stars rounded up

Savage City is the kind of book that has interesting ideas, but feels underbaked in execution. Talia dies but instead of an afterlife, she ends up in a parallel version of San Francisco where two factions of people with magical abilities are at war. Talia is mistaken for the missing princess of one faction and she must survive in a brutal world where prisoners of war are enslaved and people risk their (3!) souls to gain power through a symbiotic relationship with a daemon.

Again, cool ideas. But Talia is very NICE, very concerned with other people being hurt, willing to sacrifice herself on behalf of others. None of which is bad, but she ends up feeling a bit one dimensional. And when paired with a plot that lacks tension for most of the book, we end up with a rather bland reading experience. And while there is a romantic subplot, the characters feel underdeveloped which made it hard for me to care about their romance. Which is unfortunate, because I think the ideas have potential. This just feels like an early draft that needed some fine-tuning, deeper character work, and added plot tension. The audio narration is done well with two narrators. I received an audio review copy of this book via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.