3.5 stars

>Once I got into it, THE CITY OF DUSK was a fun read, but it did take an awfully long time to get into.

I think the reason it took so long to get into was just the scale of the book meant that the opening was full of disparate parts that I struggled to connect up. It felt like trying to keep too many separate stories straight (not to mention the sheer number of characters and places) in my mind, while not quite seeing how they came together.

There are a lot of POV characters in this book - I think I counted seven in all. Some are more important than others. For example, there's like five short chapters from "the mysterious villain." There's also a character who starts narrating in section two, and one character who felt introduced as big at the start, then dropped out for almost the entire book. Not to mention all the others drop in and out continuously.

This large, dropping-in-and-out cast did make it pretty hard to get a grip on them all, as it was so much information to be bombarded with, and then sporadic disappearances meant they weren't present so slipped from mind. Once they returned, I had to shift back through lots of other stuff to recall who they were and what their goals were.

Once I reached about the halfway point, I felt like I'd finally wrangled my way to an understanding of the characters. From there, I did enjoy the book, all the twists and turns and double crossings made for a lot of fun moments (and building stakes.) The plot can best be described as "things aren't great, here's an idea to fix it - oops, that isn't going to work but we don't seem to have any even semi-decent options and none of us really trust each other either."

Also these are characters who I really would say are "morally grey" (and many are on the very dark grey end of that scale.) PLUS it's also a "dark fantasy" that truly feels like it lives up to that, rather than just being an aesthetic. I am <em>so</em> picky about those two designator, because it feels like most books that are called that are in it just for an "aesthetic", rather than having main characters who actually do highly questionable things with very flexible morals. But THE CITY OF DUSK doesn't feel like it's pulling back from those items, and is certainly more than just "aesthetically dark."

The ending is nicely epic - big, multi-component battle with some interesting character endings, leaving some in very perilous situations that should be fun to see develop in the next book.

Surprisingly enough, I didn’t enjoy The City of Dusk as much as I thought I would. But it definitely had some amazing aspects, I might have found a new favourite character and I’m also weirdly hung up on the story.

I ENJOYED

I really enjoyed the characters. I loved all of the protagonists. I didn’t necessarily like them all, but I loved reading about them because each one was written really well with good backstories. Each one had their faults and problems to deal with, but they also worked as a group. I enjoyed their dynamics a lot and how they change throughout the story and depending on their actions, how the others’ views actually change.
The Lastriders especially were my favourites. I love the whole family, but I really need to shout my love for Taesia into the void for a minute. The “shadow-wielding rogue” from the synopsis really hits the nail on the head. Taesia has her opinions and sentiments and while the might change due to new discoveries, she always is herself and throughout the book, becomes herself even more. She’s probably not the smartest candle on the cake, but she fights for what she believes in and she does so with her whole heart and all of her strength. If I had to describe her, it would probably be something like “pretty gremlin smashing your window with a sword at 3am”.
When I tell you I love this absolutely unhinged woman with a cool magic sword, I’m not lying. She’s a fantastic character and I could read about her meting out justice on her own for days without end.
That said, I also enjoyed reading about the other characters. Not as much maybe. I liked how Risha already seemed to know herself well, was usually the calm one and knew her place in life. Angelica was just trying to find her place and to master her powers and understand them and herself. She was quite unhinged as well and I really enjoyed how differently she could act, depending on the person she interacted with. Nik was always the least favourite, the unwanted heir losing his abilities. He fights for his rightful place in the world, making space for himself, sometimes in unconventional ways. All of their destinies interwoven and the group forced to work together was really interesting to read about.
I liked the different types of magic and abilities and that even if you’re not born into one of the Houses with the biggest magical abilities, you can still learn some things. There are different magical systems depending on the world you come from.

I DID NOT ENJOY

I had some trouble with the world building and understanding each world’s different aspects and how they work together and exist next to each other. They are closed off but I couldn’t really wrap my mind around how they function and co-exist.
Another thing I had some problems with was the pacing. Especially at the beginning, it is quite slow. It picks up pace from time to time and especially towards the end, but it is rather slow. There is a high attention to details but I felt like I could have done without some of them. Some chapters also didn’t add that much to the story and I found myself pausing the book from time to time because I got a bit bored.

OVERALL

I liked The City of Dusk even though it was a bit too long in my opinion. The story could have easily been two books already, there is just so much info on world building and characters that it is honestly mind-blowing. I still enjoyed reading it and I especially loved some of the characters and despite the pacing and world building troubles I had, I would still recommend this to everyone who likes dark fantasy novels with a bit of blood and gore and complex characters!

Dnf 9%

8/05/2022: It's been two months and every time I think about picking this book up again I dread it. I don't think I can force myself to try to read it, I'm one who pretty much understands how I'm going to like a book from the first chapters and this is definitely not for me. I don't want other people to be dissuaded from picking this book up because it's been well-loved in the last months. I blame the marketing honestly, sometimes it just makes or breaks something completely for me.

4/02/2022: I’m sad to announce I’m not connecting with this book. It reads so sooo juvenile and the marketing is definitely wrong when it says this one is a “dark adult fantasy”. I will check out the audiobook when it comes out to see if I’m in the wrong mood at the moment and/or if I need a different format to enjoy this story.

Book 1 in The Dark Gods series (what a title, huh?), The City of Dusk is full of deep world building and characters, an interesting magic system and good old politics. It's a little difficult to fall down on one concrete side of the YA/Adult line, it is around 500 pages which is long for YA but average for epic fantasy, I'll let you decide on that one. At times, the pacing was a little off, but the engaging character work and story keeps you held in.

The City of Dusk was a book that I was very much excited to read: The premise of four heirs to four noble houses that have to form an alliance to save their world – plus lots and lots of magic – sounded fantastic! And the book certainly delivered what it promised content-wise.
I thought it was well-written and I also very much enjoyed the audio version that I listened to in between. The characters are certainly quite diverse and interesting to read, their powers quite different from the usual ones you get in (YA) fantasy.
However, I have to say that I struggled quite a bit to get through. I’m not sure if it was the number of perspectives that stopped me from fully getting into the book or if it was the book’s length – I feel like some parts could have been left out easily and the pacing was a bit slow.
All in all, this was a well-written book that I will definitely remember, but I did not hold my attention quite as anticipated.

Centuries ago, life changed for the people in Vitae. The Sealing closed all the doors to the other universes causing Vitae inhabitants to be trapped within this world. 4 gods, 4 realms, 4 worlds. They are all on the same plane of existence. The consequences of The Sealing are slowly taking a toll on the people.

Our 4 main characters in The Dark Gods are heirs to their own Houses which correspond to the respective gods. Although Taesia isn’t the firstborn, she became the heir to the Lastrider House for some reason. Her family work as inter-emissaries of trade. While Taesia wields shadow, Nikolas from the House of Cyrs is bounded to light. The Cyrs is prominent in the militia. Since the Vakara House are necromancers, Risha naturally associates with death the most. Lastly, the Mardovas are the mages in the world. Angelica is an elementalist.

I took a long time reading The City of Dusk. While Tara Sim doesn’t bombard you with information about the world and the magic system, it still can be overwhelming at times since it’s an adult fantasy. The author did great in establishing the characters while building up the world. Also, I felt that things were quite slow at the beginning. But the plot ramps up as each of the characters started to gain knowledge about the truth.

A villainess potential, Taesia doesn’t walk the normal path. When a devastating event happened in her family, the Lastrider heir is desperate to do something. Taesia showed how ruthless she can be, time and time again, but she is also kind-hearted. I think she might be my favorite character in The City of Dusk.

Nikolas was always reminded by his mother’s sad eyes and his father’s anger that he wasn’t supposed to be the heir. To Nikolas, Rian’s death is the greatest blow. He carries an immense amount of guilt which might be the reason why his powers were affected so much.

For Risha, keeping the dead as the dead is getting harder each day. Despite the banning of Conjurations, the city is revolting and people are scheming. Risha’s family are necromancers and they have to deal with reanimated spirits that are malicious and dangerous. Without a proper solution, Risha is worried that her world will be overrun by spirits.

Using instruments to access her powers is considered a downgrade to the people within Angelica’s world. As the Mardova heir, it’s disappointing to everyone that Angelica can’t do the basics. The person that’s freely voicing such an opinion is her mother.

Taesia, Nikolas, Risha, and Angelica find themselves the pawns of a huge chess game. Who the puppeteer remains a question. On Godsnight, something huge is bound to happen. In the eyes of the public, the four heirs do not like each other. Privately though, their relations aren’t that bad. However, for the most part, the four main characters are doing their own things. Only gathering to discuss certain situations when needed.

With the final moments of The City of Dusk, I’m looking forward to book two. I liked reading about each character’s perspective since it’s not just our four main characters. We get some chapters for secondary characters who will play a significant role somehow in the later parts. The mythological build-up of the gods and the explanation of The Sealing was interesting as well.

That said, I do recommend The City of Dusk to readers who love fantasy. It did take a bit out of me to finish the book but Tara Sim’s a great storyteller. Every moment is taken to develop an element of the overall story.

It’s been a long time since I was sucked into an epic fantasy the way I was into City of Dusk.

The worldbuilding is fantastic, clear and easy to understand, while still being immersive. I was intimidated by the list of characters at the beginning, thinking I might struggle to keep track of them all, but they and their perspectives are introduced in a way that is easy to follow, and they all incite different feelings from you - from love, to disgust, to pity. The plot is many-threaded and mysterious, pulling you in, eager to find out what’s going to happen next. The magic is fascinating, both the different kinds and the way it is linked to the gods and their realms.

I suspected some of the twists and turns of the story, but was surprised and intrigued by others, and it kept my attention right through to the end, and what an ending it was. The last ~100 pages of this book whizzed by, and I couldn’t put it down until it had finished.

Overall, I really enjoyed City of Dusk, and I can’t wait for the next book in the series.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the early copy.

I would say I overall liked the book, but would only rate it 3.5 stars for a couple of reasons:
- more YA than adult
- a bit too long
- predictable storyline

I usually like morally grey characters, but found it hard to form an attachment with these ones. Maybe it was the multiple POV, maybe it was just that they felt like young kids. I don’t know.

I also felt like the book kept on going forever, when it was already really easy to see what was coming up, and what the plot twists were. Maybe if you didn’t see those coming, the book didn’t feel too long for you - it certainly did for me.

As I previously mentioned, I enjoyed this book, but would not be one I will re-read or continue.

I previously read and enjoyed Tara Sim’s Timekeeper’s trilogy, so I knew I would enjoy this title.

I found the story engaging, and the world building interesting. There’s been a lot of details woven in, so you had to be really careful not to miss something.

I enjoyed the fact that we could see the events from the perspective of each of the main characters (in third person), and get to know them better, even though it meant for me that I knew where certain parts of the story were going ahead of the time. While I found myself unsurprised at the turn of events towards the end, I still think it was a good climax to the very intense story.

I was also surprised about how much darker ‘The City of Dusk’ was than I expected. I always like to read to about the characters who are not all black and white, who are not perfect and just heroes, and often do really bad things and make mistakes, and you could definitely see it here.

Overall, it definitely has been a good read, and I’m looking forward to the next part.

“What you deem necessary I deem inconsequent” #TheCityOfDusk #TaraSim
Genre: #Fantasy #Necromancy #Magic #LGBT

Books: 1 / 3

Well, well, Dark, Epic Fantasy, I struggled to find it here.

Firstly, I want to say that I would have enjoyed this story more, if it was 100-150 pages shorter. It honestly felt too long, and it’s only the first book out of three.
Secondly, despite this book being advertised like a “proper” adult fantasy book, it isn’t. Most of our first book heroes are pretty much parent dependent, which doesn’t make it feel adult at all.
So, what do we have here. We have four heirs, four houses, four realms (Life, Death, Light and Darkness) and four gods. Everything is connected. Oh, we also have magic, necromancy and palace intrigues.
Before gods left the realms, thy were connected and there was energy that flowed through them and people were thriving. Now they left and the realms are dying.

The heirs will have to work together in order to achieve their common task. But can there be a true bond if you were taught all your life to hate each other? And there is going to be just one person taking the throne in the end.
This book simply wasn't for me. I didn’t have any attachments towards the heroes, because they didn’t feel real. All, the things were predictable, who the traitor is, who is on who’s side, who will end up being a bad character etc. So, there wasn't a moment of surprise for me. I even guess the sword and the god bit from the beginning.

The reason it’s Epic, there is a lot of information. We have fairly complex realms, different cultures (we have a family with an Indian descent (there a quite a few burial traditions specific to Indian culture described, and definitely Spanish, author uses a lot of “dons and doñas”).

Overall, it is an interesting book, if you don’t mind slow burning everything.
Also, I believe this book will be interesting for those who liked #TheGildedWolves .

The City of Dusk is set in a dark fantasy world, one where the realms were forged by gods and our main characters are the descendants of these gods. Each god has specific powers and, as such, our main characters do as well. We have the following houses:
- House Lastrider: including the heir, Dante, and his sister Taesia… who I’ll get to in a minute, their power is called ‘Shade’ and is related to shadows
- House Vakara: the heir of this house is Risha, the necromancing mum-friend
- House Cyr: Nikolas (‘Nik’) is the heir and their power is ‘Lumin’, light magic
- House Mardova: Angelica’s house, her power is elemental magic
From the above characters, I absolutely adored Taesia. She’s this force of absolute chaos and clashes immensely with Angelica, but honestly, it feels as though this is due to how the two are just so similar. Whereas Angelica will want to burn down someone for hurting her family, Taesia would want to strangle them with shadows and it makes for some interesting scenes between the two! Angelica (fairly ironically nicknamed ‘Angel’ by her mother) is a very closed off person individually. She’s been brought up to believe that she will rule the land (as the King has no heir) and believes in doing things as they’re supposed to be done, much unlike Taesia who despises following rules.

Also on that note, there are some scenes involving violence, murder and gore. This is definitely an adult fantasy.

Risha is an adorable mum-friend, she tries her hardest to follow the rules but a lot of the time she’s just trying to make peace between other members of the group. Her particular story leads her to some questionable places, though she is only doing what she thinks is best for the spirits her family is so strongly connected to.

Nik took some warming up to for me, I think overall at the beginning he was just very good and I was more drawn to characters like Taesia who just didn’t care about the consequences for the majority of the story. His side involved a lot of insight into how he became the type of heir we see, by the end I just wanted someone to give him a huge hug in all honesty.

‘He stared at her, a girl of darkness and desire, and wondered what it was like to be so certain of yourself.’
Representation wise, Risha’s family is desi, Angelica is a lesbian and Taesia is bisexual. I’m not sure if Nik is bisexual as he did seem to have some chemistry with a mysterious male character? Either way though there’s lots of rep and it’s done in the best way where it’s just commonplace, as it should be. Something that does set characters apart in the world though is whether they are descendants of gods or not, the houses are revered in quite a celebrity style and if anyone does anything unbecoming of an heir then eek, better hide before you’re caught.

…back to Taesia for a minute, because I love her a little. She’s so full of sass and honestly, although each of the heirs do have a lot of character growth hers was my favourite to read. She also gets the most endearing of love interests, and there are some of the timeless ‘am I a monster?’ moments and we get some VERY fun scenes between the two. I won’t spoil who that character is though, you’ll just have to read this book instead.

The story is based very much so around the characters and the gods they descend from, the realms are dying without the help of the gods and our main characters are trying to right the wrongs, but in the meantime, there are murders and mysteries that need to be unravelled, along with the use of forbidden magic by secret groups who act like terrorists. There’s always something to keep you reading on.

I loved this book and the only reason I haven’t picked up a physical copy is because I have a special edition arriving, which is perfect because for a book I’ve enjoyed this much I need a special copy of it! Very excited for the next instalment and will be picking up the second book, The Midnight Kingdom, as soon as I can!

I think I would try a bullet review, so let’s start with the things that were good!

1) The King. And okay, this may be unexpected but here me out. Here we have a king who is without an heir, and he is playing the four Houses against each other because one of the Houses’ heirs would be his successor. And usually in books when we have this kind of situation the king is always depicted as a villain. And if you add to this that not everyone is so happy with him, because, as always, the rich become richer and the poor become poorer, and there is a lot of unfairness going around for the people who are not gentry. So you have a king that is, by no means, one of the good guys, but, at the same time, the author manages to give him some depths, and even if you know that he is not a fair and just king (I mean, obviously he can’t be, a good king won’t do a thing of what I write till now!!), he is not depicted as your usual villain. He is grey, and morally questionable and yet he is not your usual useless and villainous character. And I appreciated it a lot!
2)Julian. He was my favorite character. He is not one of the main ones, but I loved him.
3)The Magic.The magical system per se is not amazing, but the magic, well, yes, the magic was great! We have the power to wield the shadows, for example, or the power to control the elements. Necromancy, and also the power of the light. I really enjoyed seeing magic at work in this book.
4)The writing. The author’s style is good, and sometimes it is poetic. We have some really good images in there, and I loved them. Especially when the author describes Taesia.
5)Taesia. But only when she is with Julian. Taesia is the more alive character, and she is the one around whom the plot moves, but she is especially alive when she is with Julian. It is almost like we have two different people in there, and it was disturbing from time to time, but I really enjoyed her in the parts in which she was with Julian. She was more bad-ass, she was a more active part of the story as a whole and she was so alive!
6)The Twists. We really have some good ones coming!

What I didn’t like:

1)The Pace>This book is so slow! And it is not always a bad thing, that’s true. I usually really like when an author takes their time with the story and the world, but in this case, I had the feeling that, sometimes, we weren’t going anywhere.
As I was saying before, the times in which we really have some real plot advancement, some feeling of things moving forwards, of things happening is when we have Taesia and Julian together. For the rest of the time, the story was dragging its feet. And this was the worst malus for me. I was tempted to just let this book go because I just felt like nothing was really happening in there.
2)The Characters. We have an interesting and different cast of characters, and I was expecting to love, or at least care, for all of them. Because they all have so much potential. But in the end it was like something was missing for me, and I didn’t really care for any of them.
3)The YA vibes. This book was not here nor there, at least in this respect. On one hand, it should not be categorized as YA because we have a lot of mature content, from sex to violence. Serious violence e some really grim parts. So not YA. But at the same time, this book is strongly broadcasting YA vibes. In part is because we have strong and demanding and, for the most part, bad parents. They are not all bad, but we have some really bad parenting in there. And all the MCs are young people, who are seen as pawns by their parents, one way or another, and we follow them as they try to find their own way, even if most of them are not outside their parents’ shadows.
Mind me, I am not saying that all books with a young character should be YA. Nevernight series by Kristoff is definitely not a YA. And Mia is a young MC and we see her grow between the pages. Robin Hobb’s books about Fitz Chevalier begin the journey with a really young MC, and we see him grow and we see him getting older and older. And yet this is not a YA. Absolutely not.
But City of Dusk is broadcasting strong, really really strong, YA vibes, even if the contents are not the right one. And this put me a bit outside the reading.
4)The Sheer Stupidity of some things. I can’t really say a lot here because I don’t want to make a spoiler, but when we finally get to understand a bit about the Conjurers I had to put down the book because it was that or start screaming (yes, I let myself be carried away a bit here!) because… really?? You weren’t expecting that???? I’d love to elaborate, because venting sometimes does wonders, but I don’t really want to spoiler anything so I would be cryptic, sorry about that!

So, as I was saying, there were some good things in this book, and I can see why so many people loved it. Really. But at the same time, it was not perfect, and it didn’t work for me. Again, if you think this could work for you, go for it, there are some interesting point in there, and it is quite original so… yeah, if you are curious try it out! But I won’t continue the series, it simply is not the right kind of book for me!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I enjoyed this book, though it was a LOT of pages to plough through. However, the large page count gave us plenty of time to get to know the main characters, always a bonus when you have a team of protagonists. Maybe future installments will be shorter...? I thought the family dynamics were especially good in this, and I also liked the fact that the four heirs weren't really all friends, even at the end. Sim has created a unique mythology, and hopefully next time we'll get to see more outside of Nexus.

3.5-4 stars for this solid first entry in Sim's Adult fantasy debut series!

Many thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for allowing me to read an eARC before the books official release.

I find myself agreeing with some of the other reviewers that claim that this has a distinct YA vibe. For me personally, I think this is largely rooted in the worldbuildung - locations and deities directly based on Greek or Latin words is quite prominent in YA, so it immediately makes the story feel more juvenile. Having the god of night dubbed Nyx, the realm of Death called Mortri... it's just a little on the nose, and I understand why some people might not love this decision.

However, the plot itself managed to ease my initial concerns. While it was a bit long-winded, the story ultimately came to a quite satisfying conclusion that left me excited for the next installment. All four heirs (+some secret surprise characters) have their own PoVs, which allows the reader to glimpse into various developments without the story ever coming to a standstill or even particularly slowing down. While it may take a little to get into due to the reader having to familiarize themselves with the cast, it does pay off in the scope of events they are later able to witness.

I believe that this story really shines when it comes to the characters. Yes, granting them pretty much equal PoV time did cause the book to be on the longer side, but it also allowed for them to be developed in a beautiful fashion. All four (or five) protagonists are incredibly engaging in their own way, and you cannot help but root for them. I obviously especially adore Angelica, the utterly chaotic lesbian who makes questionable choices - how could I not?

That brings me to my next point - I really enjoyed the queer rep in this. It's well known by now that I'm a sucker for casual queer rep, and this book delivered just that. Another one of the MCs is asexual, there's a somewhat prominent trans side character, one of the MCs has a mother that married a woman after her husband's death, it's heavily implied that an achillean relationship might form between two prominent characters, etc. - I love queernorm societies and this really delivered on that front.

Altogether, I think that this is a really promising start to a new series, and I'm excited to read the next book to see where the story will go!

I was looking forward to reading this unfortunately I didn't enjoy it as I thought I would. I just wasn't interested in the story and didn't love any of the characters enough to really feel invested in the story. I do think this is a me issue and others will enjoy it.

A mediocre attempt into a new genre. I found the characters made too young adult like in their speech. Their behaviour said different. I liked the family dynamics and relationships within. The plot was pretty generic for these types of characters so it was like expected of them.

I’ve been a fan of Tara Sim’s books for quite a few years now, but The City of Dusk is definitely my new favourite of all of them. I’ve been introduced to such a fantastical new universe with characters who, despite their flaws, I wanted to adopt all of them (or maybe it is precisely because of their flaws. Flawed characters are what make a good story).

Four realms.
Four gods.
Four houses.
Four heirs.

I was hooked from the very first words and by the end, almost 600 pages later, I still wanted more. This is definitely an epic fantasy story and I can tell the entire series is going to be epic.

The worldbuilding was interesting (i’m a sucker for mythology-inspired worlds, or just mythology inside the story in general) with the different gods and the different realms. The fact that we see this universe through different eyes also helps us understand it better.

And, of course, the different POVs were everything. They’re all quite different, and each have their own personality. And the fact that we don’t necessarily get good characters? Amazing. We have morally grey characters and then some who do some really bad things, but are they truly bad themselves?

Am I a monster, or a god?
Who was to say they weren’t the same thing?

One part that I really enjoyed was how, most of our main characters knew each other since they were babies, and have some kind of relationship with each other (mostly Taesia, with Risha and Nik), they still have different morals. Yes, they’re friends, but they realise their goals are not necessarily the same and especially what they’d do to achieve these goals. Their paths may be conflicting and they may not agree with each other, but they know each other. It was interesting to see each character struggle with how to view each other as the story progresses. Are they still friends? We love some good morally grey characters (and stories)!

Death was lovely and sad, and never quite an ending.

I am now impatiently waiting for the second book to be released because it will certainly be as epic as the first book (if not more). More demons and secrets and gods and realms to see.

A really entertaining and engaging story of good vs evil, and moral choices - gods and monsters, magic and superstition, kings, princes and nobles, underdogs and outsiders. I really enjoyed this fantasy and can't wait to read the next one!

the city of dusk was one of my most anticipated releases and i sadly have to say that it did not live up to expectations. i did not connect with any of the characters, and did not find any of their povs interesting so it was hard for me to actually pick up the book and keep reading it. what was interesting were the five different magic systems and the detailed worldbuilding, but i found the plot a little too cliché for my liking. I'm sure this is more of a personal preference and that others will enjoy more.

Thank you to the publisher for letting me read via Netgalley.

Each heir background is well developed, we learn of their powers and struggles and the motives of each family. Personally I found myself only really invested in Taesia's POV - the slightly unhinged impulsive weilder of shadows, I feel like she was the only one we saw have a meaningful connection to each of the other characters.

Overall the story didn't grasp me, taking a long time to read. Having finished I still don't feel I understand the intricacies of the story with the whole cosmic scale/sealing/conjuration/Ostium situation. As I was only really drawn to one character and found parts of the story confusing I don't think I will continue with the series.