2.5. This book is definitely carried by its premise. The premise is SO strong, but the execution was kind of lackluster. The writing is beautiful, but the rest of the book just wasn’t very well executed

A quick and fascinating read, to me this meandering story spanning hundreds of years is mostly centered on themes of grief. Vitrine’s delight in her city, even as she is whispering in the ears of her chosen favorites and slowly shaping it, was really enjoyable. Even though there was plenty of death and violence I found this to be a dreamy, fairly unstressful read as Vitrine understands that everyone in her city will die one day. The relationship with the angel was more confusing; I didn’t want him to keep coming back but it did spur a lot of growth in Vitrine. I’m not sure I really understand the ending but it will be something for me to mull over for a while. Well worth the time spent reading it.

Thank you to Tordotcom Publishing for providing the Lesbrary with an ARC of this book. This review has been written by one of the Lesbrary’s reviewers.

As a fan of Nghi Vo, I eagerly snapped up her latest book, a standalone supernatural novella, and was not disappointed. The City in Glass stars Vitrine, a demon who has watched over the seaside city of Azril for generations. One day, without warning, angels appear and raze the city to the ground, killing every living being. The book never tries to make sense of this senseless slaughter, or pretend it’s anything but what it is, which I appreciated. Vitrine is devastated by the sudden loss of everything she loves, and despite her grief, she sets out to rebuild the city—even as one of the angels has remained, and has formed an unlikely connection to her.

This story impacted me with its depictions of death and renewal. No matter what Vitrine does, Azril will never be the same. In the wake of grief, the only path forward is transformation. Azril’s people and history made it what it was, and they are the objects of Vitrine’s devotion—so if she must rebuild it from scratch, is it the same city she loves? The book sits with fact that there are no easy answers, simply showing how she handles her unbearable situation, one day and decade at a time.

Through precise, evocative descriptions, Nghi Vo sketches a portrait of Azril. This is the sort of story where the setting itself is a character, one we see through Vitrine’s eyes. As an immortal, her narration can sweep past decades—but as someone who loves deeply, and cherishes the minor and messy details that each mortal contributes to the city and its history, she also lets us zoom in intimately on the most transient of moments. This PoV is effective for creating a sense of the city as something that exists in a large scale but would be nothing without the daily lives of the people who live in and move through it.

It also allows the story to revel in the messier aspects of humanity, as Vitrine is not some distant watcher; she keeps herself close, willing to manipulate situations if it suits her, and the city’s less savory sides don’t deter her deep well of eternal affection. I was drawn to this character for being at once brutal and devoted.

Admittedly, I was less personally invested in the romance between her and an angel who participated in the initial destruction of the city, not from any failing of the book but simply due to personal feelings; the space of a novella was not enough for me to look past his role in such a terrible crime and the grief it caused her. While immortals have plenty of time to move forward, it’s just a fact that my reading experience was much shorter than their in-universe arc. That being said, their relationship tied into the book’s theme of transformation in the wake of grief. Regardless, the protagonist, setting, and writing were enough to carry my investment. I also particularly enjoyed some side characters who appear in the second half of the book.

Ultimately, this story left me with the sense that love always returns. It matters for people to cherish what is around them, and to preserve the memory of what came before. If you are drawn to passionate, morally dubious women and explorations of grief, then I recommend this book.

I don’t know how Nghi Vo managed to craft stories the way they do. A story without a moral or much of a plot, and meaning I can’t discern, but still found fascinating to the end. This is almost a case study of the birth and end of humanity through the very limited scope of a demon who loves a single city. And in the beginning it felt like word vomit and the raving thoughts of a lunatic, I felt like this would be the kind of story only a pretentious asshole would love. And then I looked up and realized I was completely enthralled and I couldn’t tell you why. There isn’t a plot, so much as you drift along as you see how a civilization rises from the ashes. Not too much character development, the ending leaves me wanting so much more resolution- I’m a little haunted honestly.

A demon who loves a city, an angel who destroys it, and the city that is rebuilt as a strange relationship begins. A demon called Vitrine loves one thing only: the city of Azril. She's raised it and its people for generations but when the angels come the city is destroyed... and now Vitrine will raise it once again... but now bound to the angel that she has cursed. Vitrine's journey through the years makes the city grow and her relationship with the angel changes... becoming something more. This was a quick read, albeit a bit all over the place for me. It had a Good Omens kind of vibe but it just wasn't as fun or as well done. The story is about grief and resurrection and the endurance of love. It's a bit all over the place, there are a ton of time jumps, and the angel's relationship was odd because it just kind of happens and then there's no real shining moment for it. I do love Nghi Vo's writing, and this one was okay for me overall, but I look forward to her next projects!

Release Date: October 1,2024

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and Tor Publishing Group | Tordotcom for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

I first read Nghi Vo back in 2021 when The Empress of Salt and Fortune took home a well-deserved Hugo Award for Best Novella, and the beauty of her prose and richness of her settings invariably makes for good reads. The premise of The City in Glass didn’t necessarily jump out at me, but with it being a very short novel by such a talented author, it seemed well worth a try. 

The City in Glass is a novel that’s a bit hard to blurb, because it’s just not plot-driven enough to produce an obvious hook. “A demon plays Civ” isn’t exactly going on marketing material. But that is in many ways the vibe. The lead is a demon who has crafted a city into a place that she finds interesting—it’s never about what’s good or evil, only about interesting and boring—before a group of angels judge it for its sins and raze it to the ground. And so she sets about the long and slow task of rebuilding, with the occasional help of an angel who became corrupted in the attack. 

I was worried that this would turn into “angels are moralistic jerks, demons are the ones who are actually good” sort of story—something that’s been done many a time before and that I don’t find especially interesting—but Vo manages to turn it in a slightly different direction. Of course, the lead does see angels as moralistic jerks, but that’s mostly because they’ve foiled her own selfish plans, not out of any real sense that she’s the one in the right. And while she certainly influences her angelic frenemy to see perspectives he hadn’t previously considered, it’s not clear whether the change makes him better or whether it just makes him different. 

But this is part of what made it hard for me to really invest emotionally in the novel. There are really two major arcs, and only one of them is going anywhere in particular. The bulk of the story focuses on the slow building of the city, but there’s not a goal in mind so much as there is a series of opportunistic tweaks that will hopefully build something interesting. I joked about a demon playing Civ, but that’s in many ways the flavor of the major city-building narrative. The other arc, the one that does have a modicum of momentum, is an extremely slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romance, presented in little snapshots separated by decades, or sometimes centuries. But even though that plot thread is clearly moving somewhere, it still carries that sense that it’s not going anywhere better, just somewhere different, and that makes it difficult to really care. 

But where The City in Glass shines is in the words and the scenes. Vo writes beautifully and really brings the setting to life, generating an immersion in the individual moments that makes it an engaging read even if the larger plot is absent or underwhelming. We see the city’s growth through myriad little vignettes, whether interactions with the environment or the people. And those vignettes are invariably deftly told and worthy reads. 

Overall, I expect a reader’s opinion of The City in Glass to depend heavily on their penchant for plot-light, “portrait of a city's growth through the years” stories. But even if there isn’t much of a driving plot, readers can always sit back and appreciate the beauty of the words. 

Recommended if you like: portraits of cities changing over time, slow-burn amoral enemies-to-lovers, Vo’s storytelling. 

Overall rating: 15 of Tar Vol’s 20. Four stars on Goodreads.

Beautiful. And short enough that I am just left wanting more. Vitrine's grief feels so real and left my heart aching at times. Time felt only how I would expect time to feel for immortals. And the end. Oh my gosh I will be thinking about that ending for a long long time.

This is my first book by Nghi Vo, but it certainly won't be my last! The writing is beautiful, and I loved the characters so much, even with them being written in a way that doesn't overly connect you to anyone but Vitrine, The Demon of Azril. The grief and loss, the longing for what was, and the hope for the future when it came were all so wonderfully explored. I also loved that it really did feel like we were watching from a viewpoint of something other - the demons and angels did interact with the world differently, and have a step back from the human elements of the story. The ending was both what I hoped and didn't hope for - but it suits the book and Vitrine perfectly.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for a copy to review!

I can tell that this is an amazing book, but not for me. I loved the idea and characters, but found it hard to connect with the writing.

Big thanks to Tor and NetGalley for an early e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review!

I am normally not an all vibes no plot kinda gal…but if the vibes are authored by Nghi Vo: sign me up. Because the plot here is nigh on nonexistent. But pitching this to people as: “an angel and a demon argue for 200 pages and it’s beautiful” makes me feel insane. The prose is vicious and heartbreaking and (I know this is over the top, but:) took my breath away in places. I think if you like purple prose, this is the purplest, and if you like a fierce immortal being with sharpened claws and a raw wound where a heart used to be: read this.

My e-book is chock full of highlighted quotes and I can’t wait to grab a physical copy come October in order to mark it up in real life technicolor.

What I would not give for this book to have been in first person.

I loved the pace of this, I was also blessedly gifted the auto arc of this story, and the narrator has such a soothing and fitting voice. The setting was so vivid, and the characters felt alive. Also, Nghi Vo has some of the most stunning lyrical writing. I really enjoyed this and I am eager to get my hands on a finished copy to annotate everything I wrote down.

*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free book.*

What a weird but wonderful read about a demon and an angel transcending time but not place. I had so many questions about world building and past and future, but reading this book was a wondrous experience, partly like a feverdream. Would I read more from this universe? Absolutely. Did parts of the cruelty and violence shock me? Yes. Did I like the ending? Yes and no. I was amazed, confused, thrilled. A really interesting reading experience!

4 stars

𝚂𝙿𝙾𝙸𝙻𝙴𝚁-𝙵𝚁𝙴𝙴 𝚁𝙴𝚅𝙸𝙴𝚆
𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝘾𝙄𝙏𝙔 𝙄𝙉 𝙂𝙇𝘼𝙎𝙎 𝙗𝙮 𝙉𝙜𝙝𝙞 𝙑𝙤

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 NetGalley & Tor Publishing Group 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘈𝘙𝘊 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺! 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯.

Told in beautifully evocative prose, this is a unique 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙚 about a morally ambiguous immortal demon, Vitrine, the city she loves, and the Angel who helped destroy it. With words alone Vo constructs the city of Azril & dissects Vitrine’s layers vividly!

Vitrine exerts her influence on every part of Azril’s history over centuries — no facet is too big or small. But even as she manipulates it all with whispers to suit her whims (𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭), she finds significance in the individual lives of the people. She writes their names & stories in a book, held in a glass case inside her — which is not only beautifully symbolic but emblematic of her emotional capacity.

Those mortal life stories are told by way of Vitrine’s grief-induced reminiscences after Azril is leveled by the Angels. Vo immerses the reader in the city with these smaller glimpses & stitches them together to form its history much as Vitrine does by recording & cherishing them.

The Angel is kept mysterious & rather flat, but he contrasted so well with Vitrine — the angry, indignant demon with claws & the stoic, composed angel who weathers her cruelty out of guilt, then desire. He felt more like a side character in Vitrine’s love story, perhaps intentionally.

Peppered with the macabre & spanned to lend authenticity to how time passes for immortal beings (and how immortal beings pass their time), this is an 𝙪𝙣𝙪𝙨𝙪𝙖𝙡 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮 with an unusual outcome— I’ve never read a more twisted ending, it’s totally unpredictable.

I ate this story up, but I don’t think it’s for everyone. It’s slow-paced & detail-heavy but it’s a short read. It certainly stands out! 𝙄’𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙛𝙖𝙣𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝘼𝙣𝙣𝙚 𝙍𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙞𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙖𝙧 𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙨.

My first time reading a novel by this author and what a truly exquisite one it was at that. A uniquely structured book with such lyrical prose I know I will want to re read in the future. Whilst the ending was bittersweet, it was right for the story. Simply beautiful.

The City in Glass is the story of an Angel, a Demon, and the city that connects them.

I was instantly hooked after the first chapter, and I couldn't wait to see where the rest of the story went. Nghi Vo is a beautiful writer, and the prose here does not disappoint. There are many beautiful turns of phrase that I highlighted, and I do love a story with morally ambiguous angels.

We follow the story of the demon Vitrine's pet city, as it is destroyed and she tries to build it up again. It's also the story of her relationship with an angel, as they are tied together through decades of time.

For me this was ultimately slightly underwhelming. Though the writing was beautiful, I felt we were kept at a distance from our characters. The constant switching of time periods was sometimes hard to follow. I also wished that we learned more about the angel, and the motivations of all the angels in the story.

3.5 stars for the beautiful writing and imagery. I would imagine that fans of lush atmospheres will love this short novel!

Initially I gave this book 4 stars, but after more thought I've bumped it up to 5. Technically it's probably more along the lines of 4.5, but alas, there are no half stars, and 4 just seems to low. This is such a strange little book and I can already tell you that it's not going to resonate with everyone. And while I'm not 100% sure it resonated with me completely, I certainly enjoyed it well enough. In fact, I think after a few years I would like to revisit it, read it nice and slow and savor every word, because Vo without a doubt can write. Vitrine was a fascinating character, and the idea of the novel as a whole was utterly unique. Sure, the idea of an angel and a demon falling in love has been done before, but I would argue that while this is a love story, it's the love story told from the point of view of a demon, and thus it's not really what you would think of as a conventional love story. There's so much to unpack here despite being a very short book and I think to really scratch more than just the surface I will have to read it over again, at a much slower pace, so for this review I will just say this; I enjoyed this book, especially looking back on it. I think it will appeal to fans of Addie Larue, not exactly because of plot, but more because of feeling. I'll certainly be recommending this book to people and doing my best to hand sell it, and I'll probably even write a shelf talker for it. It's so unique, and so much more than just a romance or a fantasy, but it's also just so hard to describe. Vo has done a beautiful job here, and I would love to see this made into a little series like her Traveling Scribe series, but if this is all we get I understand.

“I love you so, I love you best”

I am finding it very difficult to write a review for this book. The City in Glass is a work for art. It feels like grief, pain, and love in 250 pages.

The story follows a demon, Vitrine, who has fallen in love with a city, which she nurtured and built. The city and all of its people are destroyed by angels who come down from heaven. Vitrine is devastated but vows to rebuild her beloved city. During the hundreds of years it takes Vitrine to rebuild her love, one of the angels continues to come back to the city to see Vitrine. Vitrine desperately wants to be left alone to mourn her city and people but the angel cannot leave her.

This novella is non-linear but the central story focuses primarily on Vitrine’s love for her city and the humans there. Vitrine loves the humans of her city so greatly and the way she dreamily floats in and out of their lives is beautiful. Also, the description of how and where she writes the names of people in the city, WOW - I am crying just thinking about it! Other than the love between Vitrine and the city, there is a romance between Vitrine and the angel. Over centuries, the two develop a stunning, deep relationship ( I mean think the most intense enemies to lovers ever). My favorite thing about this book was seeing this human city from the eyes of these immortal beings who both end up loving it so much. They watch a city completely fall, rebuild, and then experience typical human conflicts (plague, war, etc.)

This book is similar to the vibes and structure of Piranesi, purposely vague, but lyrical, beautiful, and painful. This will likely be one of the most deeply moving books I read all year.

This is a very unique story and I quite enjoyed it. Its definitely not going to be for everyone, but the premise of a city being raised to greatness by a demon, only to be destroyed by angels and the process said demon goes through to rebuild her city is very interesting. it can be a little existential at times, but not in a way that is too difficult to understand. while the story is short, there is some incredible world building going on (literally and figuratively). the relationship between demon and angel is so fascinating, i wish there had been more exploration of it. or maybe i'm just a sucker for forbidden romance.

The City in Glass was a hauntingly weird and beautiful piece of literature that will stick with me for a long time. As usual, Nghi Vo's writing is immediately immersive, drawing you into a new world with ease and dousing you with storied past. I loved the feeling of discovering the city of Azril both at it's end and beginning with the opening chapter. This set the tone perfectly for the ephemeral storytelling to come, which easily moved from close study of just a few days to introspections on decades. The absolutely inhuman dealing of time worked perfectly for a story about a demon and an angel, and the city they destroyed and saved. In a similar sense of duality, Vo allows Vitrine's - the demon - amorality to shine in the novel. Vitrine loves her city for the good and the bad and the quotidian that happens there. She intervenes as she wants or does not want to. Terrible and great things happen over the course of centuries, each presented of its own merit and without moral judgement. Juxtaposed against the angel's occasional sense of justice, this practice was particularly gripping.

I love this strange little book. I probably need to read it at least once more. But definitely a new favorite.

CITY IN GLASS is spellbinding. The city of Azril lives in the loving memory and fierce hope of the demon Vitrine, whose hatred for, and bond with, one of its destroyers may just be the fire to forge it anew.