This certainly did live up to the Blade Runner/The Wire characterization I'd heard about! Spencer Hey's worldbuilding is extremely realistic and deftly weaves in threads of stories we've heard before in real life about corruption. The mood is very atmospheric, and should suit readers whose tastes line towards the dark and suspenseful quite well!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in return for an honest review.

I'm sorry but the way this was written ruined the entire book for me. The plot is super intriguing ans full of action. However, this is much more written than a play or movie script. I've never read a book with such short sentences. The entirety of the book is written in paratactic sentences, Rarely reaching more than 4 to 5 words. The descriptions were barely existing and equally blunt. It was just a sequencing of things that happened.
I've also never read a book litteraly describing a book by simply using the word "Boom" and nothing else.
For me this writing style felt very inexperienced and much rather like notes instead of a full worked out novel. It also caused a lack of atmosphere.
It bothered me so much I couldn't care for a single character or even just the plot.

This book completely pulled me into its thrilling sci-fi world from the very first page. The fast-paced story is full of suspense and surprises that kept me on the edge of my seat. I really connected with the characters—they felt real and their struggles made the stakes feel so much higher. The futuristic city is vivid and alive, making the whole setting feel immersive and exciting. I loved every moment and happily give it 5 out of 5 stars!

3 ✰

We're plunged into an urban world where magic, futuristic technology, and a touch of cyberpunk all collide. The setting is quite effective, even if it sometimes lacks depth.

The book is short, engaging, and pretty fast-paced! There are plenty of action scenes, which makes the story quick to read and keeps the reader hooked.

The main issue lies in the way the story is structured. The author frequently uses flashbacks, but not always at the right time. They’re inserted right in the middle of ongoing action, cutting it up several times. Sometimes I felt like we had switched to a different scene or location—but actually, we were just being taken into a character’s past, since the story would return to the original action a few pages later! These flashbacks should have been placed separately to avoid interrupting the flow and pacing of the main narrative.

The story also shifts between multiple points of view, but this device isn’t fully mastered here. I usually enjoy seeing events from different angles, but in this case, there were perhaps a few too many characters.


──⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

• Investigation

• Conspiracies

• Multi POV

• Corruption


જ⁀➴ Thank you to the author and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for a honest review <3

New World City drew me in from the start! The diverse cast of characters feels like a fun fighting game roster, and I loved how the author seamlessly wove the city's rich culture and history into their personal stories. The narrative structure jumps between multiple perspectives while weaving together past and present to reveal both individual character arcs and the evolving story of the city itself.

The combat sequences are well choreographed and thrilling to read. The author's sharp, dynamic writing style brings every scene to life while letting your imagination have room to play. The setting is undeniably gritty and strikes a balance of feeling grounded yet brimming with unique details and thought-provoking concepts that kept me engaged throughout.

This turned out to be an ideal book for reading in short bursts—the energetic pacing made it easy to jump in whenever I had a few minutes, and I found myself mulling over the story between reading sessions. The author has established a rich foundation here, introducing characters and a world with untapped potential that I'm eager to see where the story goes next.

Anyone who enjoys fast-paced narratives paired with a detailed world and multiple perspectives should definitely check this out.

I appreciate the advance review copy!

I really enjoyed the vibes of this book. It's an exciting, action filled story with characters who believe deeply in their causes within a unique fantasy world that meshes science fiction, steam punk, and magical elements.

The most challenging part of this book for me was the abrupt scene breaks. The many POVs provide a "big picture" lens with which to follow the story, however, the scene breaks felt jolting and didn't always flow well. I understood the purpose of the scene breaks to show the same scene from many different angles—similar to a superhero movie—and sometimes the flow was very well done and it was a seamless transition. But the majority of the time, these breaks would overlap in ways that I felt lost in time. I didn't know if we accelerated forward in the scene or backtracked to a moment prior to the previous POV and it just felt a lot like I was tumbling through the story without knowing which way was up.

Like I said, though, the vibes here are great, and I loved the characters! The story moves at a binge-able pace and the story world is really cool and I would read the next book. I just wish the scenes would've been a bit easier to follow.

This was a really interesting sci-fi, with some noir vibes. I did expect it to be a bit more sci-fi, so the fantasy elements surprised me a bit, but I did think it worked well in this story.

There are quite a few POV's, which was really interesting because you got to see the different perspectives, motives, backgrounds and collect all those puzzle pieces. There were, however, too many characters to really form a connection to anyone. So I felt a bit indifferent to the things that happened to them.
I was also a bit disoriented during some of the chapters. We often get a flashback, but it's not really clear it's a flashback or a memory until we return to the scene at hand. So halfway through a scene I find myself in a wildly different scenario (which, yes, I can usually figure out is an event that happened in the past) to find myself a page later transported back to the first scene. I think a different structure of the story or choosing to 'announce' the flashbacks (or put them in italics or something) would've been a better choice for this story, because those scenes often do add more depth to the story and/or character.

The worldbuilding was an interesting premise, and I would've loved to see it be expanded on more. The only thing I struggled with, are the words for time. They still use days, but also chime, turn, stretch, span, and it's not always clear out of the context what exactly it meant. Eventually (I think) I figured out that turn means year, but I'm not too sure about the others. This influence the impact certain sentences had. For example "she could've been here for a stretch!" (paraphrased) just doesn't do much if I don't know how long a stretch is.

I am a little dissatisfied about certain endings, but happy with other endings that were tied up neatly. So overall a solid 3 stars!

I am so sad that I didn't enjoy this book because the premise sounded so good. We follow the story told from 6 POVs, and the plot itself is very fast-paced. However, it starts like a murder mystery without the murder, and I liked that vibe, but I feel like we find out the answers way too quickly, and in the end, there is not a straight plot to it. Like, if you ask me to describe the book, I would give you a very ambiguous answer because if I were to truly tell you about it, I would describe the whole book in 10 minutes— cause there isn't a straight plot. I don't know how to explain it, but you get the point.

Anyways, my biggest problem is that (SPOILER, I think) there is a SA scene. It's very ambiguous, and I read that passage 7 times and I'm still not sure if it happened, but it made me uncomfortable because there was no reason to include a SA scene. ON TOP OF THAT, the person who allegedly committed the act was also SA'd when they were younger, so I really don't think they would do it to another person for various reasons.

All in all, if I exclude this scene (because I still don't know if it happened, but it was 100% implied) it was pretty interesting. I really enjoyed the initial magic system that was presented to us, but then it got more complex, which was cool. A part of the magic system is kinda like Jade City, but I actually liked this one more. Also, the entire magic system is interesting.

It has a pretty unique plot (even though it's all over the place), and I gathered that this is only book 1 of the series. I might check out book two when it is released, because all in all, it was enjoyable.

Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own and I have not been influenced by the fact that this is an ARC.

*please add this book to Goodreads*