Thank you Tor Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC!

Astounding, beautiful, deeply moving, and mythical. Whatever you think this story is about, think again. While the book is being touted as an epic love story by the publishers, I would argue that the love story is only second to the story of the demon Vitrine and the rise and fall of her city.

This was an incredibly beautiful and, at times grotesque, depiction of a demon mourning a city that once was and coming to terms with the city it is now growing in its stead. The prose Vo uses to express the evolution as seen through the eyes of Vitrine is phenomenal and a work of art. It is not written in the typical manner where the main character learns and grows or goes on an adventure. In The City in Glass, the character study is really Azril as Vitrine remembers its long dead citizens and the new citizens as they build it up again. Over the centuries Vitrine reflects on their pains, traditions, and loves, and how they shaped and continue to shape the city.

The telling of Vitrine’s story seemed more what you would hear in mythologies passed down through generations. Everything done by Vitrine was mystical but still grounded by nature, almost as if someone was explaining why certain unexplainable things happened in this city. Even the love story between Vitrine and the angel depicted a love born from grief and rebuilding. An allegory for the five stages of grief; denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

I just cannot explain how much I loved this book. I do know that this will not be for everyone as it is a weird concept and may feel too short for a character study. I however will be reading this over and over as I think there’s more I could glean from it upon each read. Just WOW!

Another reviewer called this a novel that feels like a short story, and that is exactly how I described this to my husband this morning after I finished the last page. It's a work of world-building and vibe-creating, successful at those tasks. I could see Azril, both its towers and its ashes. But if readers are looking for a deep study of character or fast-moving plot, this is not that book.

It felt a little like a fable or a fairytale, one where the lesson is murky, if it's even there at all.

this moved me surprisingly deeply as someone grappling with change and permanency; a romantic and dazzling (re)creation myth between the demon who loves her city and the destroying angel who, inexplicably, loves her. a story of loss, remembering with all senses, and remaking, that knows how to love a place and its people in both vastness and tender detail - a gone and returning world for those who love placemaking and storytelling with a little bit of an epic love.

I’ve never read a book by this author before but I absolutely loved it! Thank you so much for the ARC! I loved this story, it was extremely well written. Will definitely be on the lookout for more books by this author!

Perfect For….

Fans of fantasy intertwined with mythology and pining.

Quick Synopsis

The demon Vitrine, who has taken care of the city of Azril is left with a book of the names of those she has lost and memories after angels come and strike the city down. She is also left with angel bound by her curse to haunt her city. They both learn more about the city’s past and try to shape its future, all while being fascinated by the other, whom they are supposed to hate.

My Review

I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars. I liked the plot and the idea of the book, but found it hard to get into and keep up with as the time moved really fast since the main character is an immortal. If it were easier for me to get into and keep up with, then I would probably have given it a better rating. I would not recommend this book just because I think it would be hard to get into based on my own experience. All opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC

The City in Glass has to be one of the most uniquely structured books I've ever read. It's beginning feels more like and ending and it's ending more like a beginning. The story follows Vitrine the immortal demon of Azril who was there when the Angels came down and burnt her beloved city to dust, and stayed to try and build a new future. It's a strange story, with Vitrine as our POV we get flashbacks to her creation of the original Azril, the people that called it home, as well as her now, desperate, angry and distraught over all she has lost. Left with nothing but memories and a list of names kept in a glass box inside her chest, she wants vengeance, blood, instead all she is left with is a broken Angel, one she wants nothing to do with, but who been banned from their home. The two clash over the days, years, centuries, but burning between them is a tension, a love almost, for each other maybe, but also for this city they are building together from the ruins of Azril.

It's not your typical, burning with passion romance, rather one with two beings who each carry a piece of the other inside them. Their relationship starts more as a battle of wills, of words and actions, and Vo does a brilliant job at showing us how time, love, devotion are treated by immortal beings. Beings who have, quite literally, all the time in the world. It's definitely a different take from others, instead of that instant click, the whole 'I want to spend eternity with you.' These two see the world and time differently, and thus their romance is more of an extreme slow burn. It's enemies to lovers at it's truest I suppose, showing how love can form from even the greatest of hates.

There's really no way for me to describe this book that would do it justice, or give you a true understanding of what it entails. It's a story of grief, at it's heart, shown through the eyes of someone immortal, Vo manages to make Vitrine immune to a lot of things, but grief is not one of them. The story follows her through the burning of the city she built, her anger and burning hatred for those that caused it, and her slow but steady decision to try and re-build, even if the city could never end up being the same as it was before. Vitrine's immortality come's through in a multitude of ways, but none more so than the writing style and non-linear way in which the story is chosen. Who other than an immortal could spend that time grieving over something dead, reminiscing on a city and people who will never live again. It's an interesting way to tell the story, but I did enjoy getting the flashbacks to the Azril we never knew, whilst also seeing the new city come to life.

As beautiful as this was, I know it wont be for everyone. The non-linear fashion of the story alone will put some people off, as will the non-traditional romance. In fact I would go to say nothing about this book is traditional in anyway. Vo takes the usual tropes of immortal beings, enemies to lovers etc and just completely puts her own, beautiful and heartbreaking, spin on it. But if you're willing to suspend reality for a moment, delve into a world newly broken and watch as it slowly comes back to life, whilst also getting to see a love story of biblical standards, I can highly recommend giving this one a go.

In The City of Glass Nghi Vo give us an angel and a demon who meet at the end of a civilization, and who witness and help it grow for centures after.

I'm going to get the obvious out of the way right now- there are going to be Good Omens comparisons. And in some ways I agree. In this book we get to watch two beings who start as mortal enemies and slowly grow into... allies? Friends? More? But where Good Omens focuses mostly on a set period of time, and has a larger cast of characters, Vo gives us a very stripped back cast and a deeper character study of the two leads.

For a book that spans centuries, it feel like not a lot happens. And that's intentional. For immortal beings, what happens in a human lifetimes is barely a speck in the sands of time. If you like morally questionable characters, intense chacter insight, and slow moving plots, you'll probably love this book. It was sparse, and heavy, and glorious, and I'll be thinking about it for a long time.

“Hey Jordan! It’s been a bit since we had a review that talked about fantasy cities being main characters in books. Do you have anything new along those lines?”

Oh, sorry. I didn’t see you there. How did you get into my house? I guess it doesn’t matter.

In fact, I have been thinking about city-as-character again because I just got done reading The City in Glass by Nghi Vo. We’ve previously talked about city-as-character in the context of Gareth Hanrahan’s The Gutter Prayer (Guerdon) and Adrian Tchaikovsky’s City of Last Chances (Ilmar). If you are interested in reading those reviews to get caught up, they are here and here, respectively. The City in Glass is similar in some ways to those books and also very different in a lot of ways. As I started thinking about this book, I started to almost think of it as the antithesis to those books. If those are books that look at the city-as-character by looking at a large ensemble of characters from varieties of life locations, the City in Glass looks at the city-as-character from only two perspectives; that of the demon that protects the city and the angel that destroyed it.

Honestly, plot-wise the story is pretty simple. A demon, Vitrine, essentially acts as the patron of Azril and has through the ages essentially propped it up and turned it into the wondrous city that it is. This all turns out to be for naught, however, when angels show up and destroy the city in one horrific evening. She puts a curse on one of the angels who is forced to stay and live in the aftermath of the destruction he was part of bringing to Azril. They then stay and muse on the city as it slowly rises from the ashes and something new fills its space. There’s some romance and a lot musing on the development of a city and how a space becomes a home. It’s definitely a slower book than many I’ve read. It feels more poetic and more introspective than a lot of fantasy books. I think the closest similar vibe is comparing it to This is How We Lost the Time War. If you are looking for epic fantasy full of battles and magic, I suggest starting elsewhere because this is definitely less about that and more philosophical.

In order for something like this to be successful, the characters have to be great and Vitrine is definitely a brilliantly written character. Getting to read about the people she protects versus those that become her enemies is mesmerizing. Her love for Azril is also palpable and one of the best parts of this book. In some ways, she feels like one of those locals that Anthony Bourdain or a similar travelogue tv host would talk to and have to guide them around a city. She is the reader's guide and you learn to love Azril as she does.

Azril is the other character we should talk about. Similar to Guerdon or Ilmar it is definitely the true main character of this book. And in this book, we see Azril start as something not even named Azril yet to being a beautiful metropolis to being destroyed and then everything that comes after and we get to learn, alongside Vitrine, how to love this city as well. Vo describes the city beautifully and it’s hard to not feel immersed in the life of the city and the people that live there.

All-in-all, The City in Glass is definitely the most introspective book that I’ve ever read that works with the concept of city-as-character. For someone looking for a book that feels like This is How We Lose the Time War meets City of Last Chances, look no further. It’s the Anthony Bourdain of epic metropolitan fantasy and it’s a beautiful look into the life of a city that is dying and being reborn.

(This review will be posted on Kaiju & Gnome (https://kaijuandgnome.substack.com/) in October

I’ll admit, I didn’t even read the blurb for this book before I started it, I just knew Nghi Vo was the author. Her full-length novellas are always interesting, and a little different, and THE CITY IN GLASS is no exception. I definitely found it a little strange and a little difficult to parse out my feelings, but it’s such an intriguing read, and the kind of gorgeous world-building that is so enjoyable to read from Vo. A demon and her city, the angel that destroyed it but can’t leave. The narrative is so compelling, a brutal kind of destruction, creation, growth, and love all in just over 200 pages. It’s the kind of book that may take a few chapters to grab you, but once it does it’s near impossible to put down.

I don’t talk about prose a lot in book reviews, but it’s definitely a highlight of this book. Vo uses her writing to create a world that’s part fantasy, part historical, and part speculative, both evocative of something familiar and not. I would be so interested to read about the inspirations for this book because there’s so many familiar elements of folklore and storytelling but it’s also just a little bit different from a lot of things that I’ve read in the past. It’s a linear story but also, not a traditional hero’s journey (even if the storyline somewhat functions that way). In some ways, it feels like the story behind the story you usually read about, which just makes it even more interesting after reading.

Like I said, this is different from what I normally read but I’m very glad that I read it. The writing and narrative are so compelling and Vitrine is just so interesting altogether. I was already pretty committed to reading everything Vo publishes, but this just makes me even more interested to see what she’ll continue to write in her standalone works.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing for my arc in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

Nghi Vo is one of my favorite writers and "The City in Glass" is her newest offering and we follow a demon and an angel amidst the ruination and rebirth of a city. It is gorgeously written and just so lyrical. I also think this may take place in the same universe as her "Singing Hills Cycle" because there are passing references to a cleric with a talking bird. It was a bit of a slow start for me but once I was in, I was IN. This is different from Vo's other standalone novel, "Siren Queen", in that this is a very fluid story in which we're following the demon's feeling surrounding this city. I would say the heart and emotion of the novel really comes from the city itself and how it affects everyone else in the story.

Overall, I would absolutely recommend this.

The demon Vitrine loved the city of Azril until it was destroyed by angels. Her fury wounded one of the destroyers; no longer pure enough for his kindred, he is cursed to stay on Earth, wandering the ruins that were once Azril in pain and confusion.

I have a theory that some novellas are constructed like short stories and some are constructed like novels. <i>The City in Glass</i> is a novel that feels like a short story. The narrative arc is simple--the plot is essentially a love triangle, where Vitrine loves her city and the angel loves Vitrine--and the ending strikes with the force of a well-built short story. The complexities are in the streets and people of Azril itself: the tales that the angels cut off and the new tales that accumulate as different people arrive and begin to rebuild.

<i>The City in Glass</i> is in the same continuity as Vo's Singing Hills novellas. There's a passing reference to mastodons, and another to a cleric with a talking shrike. The angels and demons clearly draw on Christian mythology, but Christian mythology isn't privileged here above other mythologies: you won't find the attention to the hierarchies of Heaven and Hell that prevails in other stories about angels falling in love. Vitrine comes from a far-flung family of demons, each with its own talents and obsessions; they seem to be powers arising (super)naturally from the earth itself, rather than exiled angels. The angels, meanwhile, are terrifyingly destructive and terrifyingly good. We never learn why Azril was destroyed, or whether the angels serve a God. The focus is instead on grief, rebuilding, and the inevitability of change. Even immortality is not altogether constant.

This was just as amazing as Nghi Vo's previous works. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys fantastical worlds and fantastical characters. This was a beautiful story.

such a fun and well written story with a narrative and structure that i loved!!

the way the story is told was definitely the highlight for me, it was so engaging and i loved how much we learnt about vitrine and the angel. this falls more into the lyrical prose/vibes category than focusing on different people, and instead we follow vitrine and the grief that she feels - it’s so poignant and beautiful to see her feel so much for the city she created and loved so deeply

seeing the many generations of people was so touching, you see how grief flows and ebbs and vitrine felt so real, although her decisions as a demon could be considered questionable, she feels so deeply which just made me fall in love with her city

the unconventional enemies to lovers (angel x demon) was slowburn heaven, she curses him for being a part of her city’s destruction, and he cannot return to his home, and instead must accept vitrine and grows to lover her. i loved the ending, it wraps up their story together so beautifully and made the multi-generation focus on love and life so poignant

The City in Glass is a lyrical and moving tale. I read it straight through and could not put it down. I loved how Nghi Vo created a story about what it would be like for an ethereal being (demons, angels, ghosts etc) watching/influencing the rise and fall of a city. The writing is beautifully vivid and descriptive. The creative details make the triumphs and challenges of the city feel so tangible. The relationship between the demon and the angel was compelling as it unfolded.

The City in Glass almost has the feeling of an old fairy tale: where the ending feels heartbreaking, inevitable, and satisfying. Nghi Vo is an auto-buy author for me and I can’t wait to read what she writes next! Readers who enjoy beautiful prose, compelling characters, and epic tales will love The City in Glass.

Thank you to Nghi Vo, Tordotcom, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For publisher: My review will be posted on Instagram, Goodreads, Amazon, Storygraph, and Barnes & Noble etc.

This was someting else! Creative, interesting, different and beautiful!

If you like slow paced and world building - and fascinating charcters, this is defently for you.

An intense slow-paced story about grief interlaced with fantasy/biblical elements to give humanity limitless possibilities and exploration of emotions. Nghi Vo's unique depth of writing is given full attention in the longer format of a novel.

This novel brilliantly explores themes of memory, transformation, and the powerful forces of redemption and desire. Vitrine is an immortal demon who has shaped the city of Azril for generations. Her influence on the city and its people has caused joy, passion, and chaos. Then the angels come, and the city falls and leaves her with nothing but her book of names of those she has lost. One angel is bound to the city they burned by a curse cast by Vitrine. He then becomes a part of her story, and all the humans come and go through generations and the transformations of Azril.

The writing is beautiful and masterfully portrays destruction and rebirth. It also examines the emotional ties, conflicts of purpose, and the internal struggle for redemption. The pacing and rhythm were slower. The character's journey through the ruins of the past and exploring the city's history created a layered story. The book is a testament to the power of memory and those who have touched our lives.

I received an Advanced Readers Copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, NetGalley and Tor Publishing

Vitrine is a demon and a secret patron of the city Azril. She spends centuries shaping it to her liking until one day, the angels destroy it. How does she move forward from here, and what will she do with the angel that keeps showing up?

I absolutely loved this novella! I enjoyed several of Vo's books but I found this stepped it up a level, especially in terms of writing. I might have to buy a physical copy once it's released just so I can annotate it. It's fairly slow and focused more on character (and the city) than a big plot but I still found that it was such a page turner that I read it in two sittings.

Thank you for this ARC!

I really loved the premise of The City in Glass and Vo's prose was as lyrical and beautiful as always. I did find parts of the story very slow moving.

I think this book was really a good one, but I personally never really got fully connected to the characters and just ended up thinking bout how pretty the prose was instead of what was actually going on in the books, which ended up with me spending most of the time confused as to what was metaphor and what was actually meant to be happening. Still think that it was an overall enjoyable read though, and I thought that idea behind the demons was pretty interesting, even though I think that there could have been more behind them- as it is the names feel a bit more arbitrary and didn't really have any commentary behind them, which was something that I went in hoping for a lot.