I am very grateful to have received this as an ARC. It is with great pleasure I leave a 4 star review for this book.

This book is a gem. I should preference this with the fact that I am ordinarily not one to pick up a book if it leans more into poetry or prose. I felt a little overwhelmed in the beginning of this book because of it. It didn’t take long for me to be intrigued but I made sure this was not a book I read before bed! There were times I needed to backtrack a bit to understand what was happening which slowed me down especially when the story lulled a bit towards the middle. This was the only reason why I didn’t give it a full 5-star review. I binged it from around the middle on and it was fantastic. The ending sent me into a tail spin and I sat contemplating all the little details and events throughout the book.

I will be reading the this again!

I liked this book and it had some really good creepy moments of weird fiction. I did think that the characterization took a bit of a backseat to the worldbuilding though. And that's what held me back from really enjoying this story as much as I could have. Nevertheless it's a fun read and I think many will find it entertaining. A more complete review will be posted on the blog very soon.

RPG Campaign meets RenFest was my very first thought when I started reading this book. While not the writing style I would pick first as a reader, I know that a lot of people LOVE this type of narration. After the first few chapters I was able to settle into a feel for what was happening and grab ahold of the plot.
As I neared the end of the book I was sure I had it under control - plotlines were resolving and I congratulated myself on guessing something that was going to happen...and then twist after twist after unexpected ending occurred.
My jaw might have actually dropped open when I realized what was going on and I spent some time mentally reviewing all the subtle clues I had missed, but had added up to a wonderfully solved puzzle.

I think the blurb of this book is a bit misleading, or else I misunderstood it. 'For readers of Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi and Madeline Miller’s Circe, The Witch & The City introduces a lyrical and baroque fantasy world' - this sets up a pretty clear idea of what to expect, but that idea is completely wrong. The Witch & The City is strange and confusing, which I guess is a similarity to Piranesi - but it doesn't have Piranesi's almost-cosy whimsy. The main character is a witch, which is something it shares with Circe, but the deep richness of Miller's prose is missing here.

And I was hoping 'lyrical and baroque' referred to the writing style, but it doesn't seem to be so.

I don't think The Witch & The City was bad; I don't even think the prose is bad. But the strange aesthetic isn't backed by really beautiful writing, which means that you're thrust head-first into a lot of confusion with nothing to grip on to. Piranesi can be as confusing as it is because the writing is appealing and beautiful, so there's something to enjoy until we start piecing the world and plot together. The Witch & The City doesn't have that kind of writing, so all I am is confused. There's nothing to hold me while I wait for things to start making some kind of sense. Plenty of mysteries are introduced very quickly, and for some readers the desire for answers to those mysteries will be enough - and the book does move along at a good pace. There's definitely going to be people who enjoy this.

But I was hoping for something very different, so alas, a DNF from me.