Adrian Tchaikovsky is a great storyteller, a master at creating smart, twisted plots. However, sometimes he goes a bit too far, so in love with his smart plot that he forgets that an enjoyable story is not only a matter of plot.
This is the impression I got from City of Last Chances. A great world-building, with infinite possibilities to explore. But it fell flat on me.
Every chapter is narrated from a different point of view, and the story advances with a good rhythm, like a choir song. But in the end, you don't have the possibility to emotionally attach to any character, you don't feel the pull to invest in going through the complex plot, because you don't care for them.
A missed occasion. I hope however to see more works situated in that world.

3.5 stars

City of Last Chances is one of those books that I don't really know how to feel about. I enjoyed parts of it, especially the creepiness of the Reproach and the inking of other worldness we get from the Anchorwood. But I also had a really hard time getting into the book. The world is so vast but we are only given tidbits at a time -- too little, really -- to fully comprehend it.

The book also throws us into multiple POVs and in the beginning its extremely hard to keep track as they just barely relate to one another. Its the formula where all these characters starting off at different points and end up converging to one massive conclusion, but we're given so little of their stories at a time that I found it hard to get really immersed into to any of the characters until well past the half way point of the book.

The writing is dense, but well written. There are a lot of great details and descriptions, but this is not a book that can be easily binged through. This book will require a slower read to really absorb what is going on, else its quite easy to find your mind wandering.

Oddly, I did find myself wanting to read more at the conclusion. Its hard to believe that this will be a true standalone as the world is so rich and has so much potential for expansion.

Thank you NetGalley and Head of Zeus for the e-ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

New fantasy of politics, with magic but relatively few bugs (an insect god plays the largest bug role). A city that has been conquered by fascists who aim to eliminate everyone else’s culture, language, and religions has been chafing under that rule, especially since it was already full of refugees from places they’d previously conquered. But the city has a curse—maybe more than one—that make ruling it complicated. Divisions among the conquered, meanwhile, make fighting back even more complicated. It’s a complex world, including some intrusions from apparently completely different places and magics (the bouncer character searching for his wife has, with excellent narrative results, wandered in from a place that is very much elsewhere). But it cries out for more, so don’t expect more than minor arc resolutions.

This was the first Adrian Tchaikovsky book I’ve read, and I really quite enjoyed it. It was very descriptive, which at times I did find a struggle and have to re-read parts to fully grasp it. The characters where interesting, and well developed. I also really loved the premise!

<b>Possible Triggers:</b>
Death | Torture

<b>Characters:</b>
This is where it gets difficult to describe the book. The story is told from a multitude of perspectives. Hopping from one to the next through the chapters, especially in the first half of the book where it feels like it alights on a random consciousness that's party to whatever event is happening at the time, before dropping into something completely different than the next. There are recurring character views, but the story is not told predominantly from them.

<b>Positives:</b>
+ The world building. HOLY CRAP. Everything is covered. Weird beasties? Done. History? Check. Religion and Politics? Check check! Various cultures? CHECK! This is everything I love about Adrian Tchaikovsky's writing. There are just so many well thought out and interesting details.
+ Urgh that writing, so freaking intelligent. I love a good fantasy that also challenges my vocabulary. Yay for learning about new worlds and cultures while at the same time expanding my own knowledge base on archaic or infrequently used words.
+ Such horrifying madness and beasties. I think part of what makes what's happening in the story so scary is the fact that it's just off enough to know that you are descending into madness as it's happening and you can't really do anything about it. That's some real life nightmares right there.
+ The bad guys are fantastic, and I LOVE the priest/deity relationship in this book.

<b>Negatives:</b>
- I feel like this book is made for a different audience than I. It requires you to have (and enjoy) seeing the big picture from a non-focused lens. You don't have any specific character perspectives to latch on to, though you do end up seeing some figures throughout the book that are part of huge things going on throughout the story.

<b>Final Thoughts:</b>
This book is so many things and I have SO many feelings about it. It is exceptionally written, has gorgeous world building, awesome fights, glorious magic, horrifying curses . . . and yet, this story was not really for me. I felt somewhat lost a large part of the book because so much was going on from so many points of view that I struggled to hold onto (or even figure out) what was important. The ending of the book was freaking amazing and about ¾ of the way through the book I thought I had finally firmly grasped what was going on. This story reminds me of the feelings I had while I was reading Steven Ericksons ‘Malazan’ Series; amazing in scope and breadth, but very much a WIDE LENS view of a thing instead of a focused single or small group view. I am interested in reading more in this world as it seems SO open to MORE. Strongly recommend to people that enjoy larger views.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC copy of this book! This book was everything you want out of a high fantasy book - unique and in depth world building, interesting and diverse characters, and a captivating plot. I very much enjoyed this and will add it to me re-read list.

Interesting example of fantasy in an occupied city on the brink of revolt. Mosaic type structure, with many PoVs and plotlines that intersect. The ending was somewhat rushed and could have used more space for a denouement.

This is a doorstop of a standalone fantasy novel with Tchaikovsky’s trademark rich and immersive world building. Here he has slanted the story telling a little in that it is the city (in other words the setting) which is the important component of the story, while the characters are actors on that vast stage who come and go. This is an interesting take for a western author since we all almost always use the ‘hero’s journey’/ monomyth style of story telling while a setting driven narrative is far more often found in non-western stories (eg many African myths). Some people are going to be put off by that but I found it refreshing and as a standalone it worked well, leaving me wanting more but not bereft that there was no follow up. A different sort of fantasy.

Tchaikovsky's City of Last Chances weaves a complex family and fiction structure into a gloomy, occupied city-scape -- Ilmar has long been without hope, long been a city of divided beliefs and downright debauchery and crime, now occupied by the perfectionist Pals. This work wore its inspirations on its sleeves, heavily reminiscent of the Black Iron Legacy and The Last War. Immediately I was transported back to Jia and Guerdon in these pages, but it was only a passing whiff of their smells, because Ilmar itself was a blend of something in itself.

3.5 stars. I really enjoyed this book! The worldbuilding was confusing at the beginning, but I ended up really loving that part. It's way more dystopian than I expected - I would say even more dystopian than fantasy. Yasnic the priest was by far my favorite character, but I enjoyed the frequent perspective shifts.

I'm so conflicted. On paper I should love this but it just ended up being a bit of an end of day chore getting through it.

There were a couple of things like liked. Firstly, character development will always be this authors strong point, I felt like I was getting to know who I was currently reading about however the 'cast' was too large to really keep track of who fit where and fully invest. Particularly because it took a good long while to plow through.

Secondly, good scene description, again another author strong point.

For me personally it didn't land, I felt a bit lost, I think lately I'm looking for easy reads, so this might be one for people looking to really get their teeth into something meaty.

The City of Last Chances
Adrian Tchaikovsky
Reviewed by Samantha Barthe “books by barthe”

Just imagine the great classic Les Miserable but add magic and demons and you can imagine what it was like reading The City of Last Chances by Adrian Tchaikovsky. A city during a turbulent time, an unsettled lower class, a violent occupying force, and then--for a little extra pazazz--prostitute witches that can conjure demons…

There were multiple POV’s spread throughout a city on the brink revolution, as a reader you are slowly introduced to these characters and their role in this city, you then get to go on the journey of discovering how these characters will eventually intertwine in an overarching event. The writing style in this book was highly sophisticated, every word, every sentence, had a meaning. Tchaikovsky weaves an intricate web of plot under a veil of anticipation. While reading there is an ominous feeling of events about to occur and it lends itself to a unique atmosphere within the book.

My personal enjoyment came from the unique—and quite frankly, horrifying--fantastical creatures, Tchaikovsky’s incredible ability to write a book that is less centered around a classical plotline but more of a static chain of events leading to an end game scenario, and the philosophical questions and conversations that are slyly placed into unassuming conversations between characters.

This is a book a readers will appreciate the more they read!

I think that the book while dense, was very well written. It has a complex narrative with a large cast of characters that for me was slightly confusing at times but worth figuring that out. Overall I think that the novel was a fun, dark, twisting story that readers of more complex fantasy will enjoy.

3.5/5

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Tchaikovsky is one of my favorite science fiction writers and with his fantasy I don't have a great record with as I've DNFed Doors of Eden and had issues with Guns of the Dawn.

This book throws you in the deep end to start as there's a lot going on in the city of Ilmar with a lot of different POVs most of which are in different factions and parts of the city. The number of different characters is a strength and a weakness of the book where there's a lot of interesting things to keep track of and I really enjoyed the beginning to the middle of the book.

One thing that surprised me was the amount of horror elements. I really liked this aspect of the book and think Tchaikovsky does this well where it's unexpected and adds some cool elements of chaos to the book.

The ending is a bit weaker though for me as I didn't feel completely satisfied with how everything tied together and some of the mysteries that were set up in the beginning didn't pay off as much as I hoped.

The characters are all interesting and well done, they're sufficiently gray as are the rebel factions where it's a bit more complicated than rebels good, occupiers bad.

Overall I think this was a bit too ambitious for a standalone and needed more time to incorporate the different elements of the book either by being much longer or a part of a series. Also cutting some aspects could have made what's there a bit stronger.

I'm glad I read this book and there's a lot of good stuff in it, it's just a bit hard to review and think with a few changes it could have been much stronger.

I had a really hard time getting into this - the first half of the book is constantly introducing new POV characters and it's hard to latch onto anyone. However, I am glad I stuck it out and I did end up really enjoying City of Last Chances overall. The world-building is fascinating and thought-provoking, a lot of it speaking to immigrant experiences and different conceptions of home. I'll definitely consider reading more by this author.

This is a demanding novel, one that rewarded me with some of the most beautiful scenes I've read, which in the end left me exhausted but still pretty satisfied.

Tchaikovsky's prose is a thing of beauty. It's dense but managed to transport me in the setting. The action scenes, the magical horror scenes and the richness of the inhabitants of this world left me many times in awe. He's clearly an author with a very rich imagination and very talented with words.
His characters are mostly well fleshed out and interesting, and that was not easy I guess, considering there is a myriad of them.

Unfortunately I also had some issues with this book. For starters, especially the first 40%, is really slow. And that slow pace, combined with the dense prose made it a struggle for me to get through it.
Then there is the structure. Every structure for almost the first half of the book is narrated through the eyes of a different character. This makes the whole plot a bit convoluted, until everything becomes more clear in the second half.
The plot was interesting and the ending wraps up things nicely.
There were moments of greatness and I respect that, but I just wish I didn't feel so drained after I finished this.

I would recommend this to anyone who is willing to take his time and absorb this slowly.

Historically, I've had a hard time breaking into Tchaikovsky novels because of the density (and brilliance!) of his science fiction world-building. I found his foray into fantasy to be slightly more accessible, but still bogged down by high levels of complexity that made it tough to find a foothold in the story. I think part of the issue for me was the sheer amount of different perspectives introduced in the first few chapters: it is hard to get used to the world when we are jumping all over the place and required to follow the threads of many different narratives within the first 100 pages. All of these plot-lines were super interesting, but each one could have been its own book.

I absolutely loved this book. I started it having attempted some of Tchaikovsky's harder sci-fi novels, and just found them too much to sink my teeth into. But the extremely simple idea of this book - that every chapter has a new narrative POV, usually introduced in the chapter before - is such an exciting way to explore the city, that I completely fell in love. Highly recommend.

City of Chances by Adrian Tchaikovsky is my first book by the author. The description for the book had me hooked and the cover art is beautiful and full of intrigue.

Overall, this was an interesting read filled with amazing characters and world building. One of the most enticing parts of the story were the character motivations and how these unraveled. I’m a fan of stories with many different POVs as I feel this usually helps the pacing and gives readers a variety of angles on the world and how each person lives in it.

My one struggle, however, in this story was the pacing. I wished some of the parts in the story had more engagement and moved faster. This is a personal preference as I’m more of a mood reader but high paced books pull me back faster. I was interested to see how everything would resolve in this story, but I found myself diving back in a little slower than some stories that are more engaging on that part.

I am eager to read more of Tchaikovsky’s work as the writing style was great and the imagination of it all was fun.

Thanks to Head of Zeus and NetGalley for a copy of this electronic ARC.

Thank you so much for publisher and Netgalley
The first book I've read from Adrian Tchaikovsky is Shards of Earth. It was such a hard book for me. There were so many terms I didn't understand at first. The same goes to this book. It took me a long time to finally undertaking what actually happened. Some terms are so Difficult to remember, but, I don't have to worry about that, this book has glossarium, so I can remember it easily. But, still, it takes a lot of time.

The pacing is quiet slow. But, It's fine, since I enjoy the tense of this book. Overall, it's a great book, but, it Will take a lot of time and effort to finish it.