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I tend to keep the books that I’ve recently read & not reviewed stacked up on the table near the chair where I do a lot of my reading. So if I ever refer to “the pile of books I’ve read & haven’t reviewed yet,” I’m talking about an actual, physical pile of books.

Lately, I’ve just been struggling so hard to find the words and the motivation to write full reviews (for some reason, Star Wars books are proving the exception to the rule), and it’s really not doing great things for me. Because I’ve read some amazing sequels & series finales lately and felt completely stumped when it comes time to write a full review. I’ve told myself time & time again that I don’t have to write a full review, that I can just write up something short and post it to Bookstagram. And I know that’s true.

But still, I like keeping up with reviews. I especially like when I go to the Book Reviews page on this blog and see things lined up, in order, complete. I’m not a terribly organized person in my day-to-day life, but that aspect of this blog somehow speaks to whatever small part of my personality craves organization.

THE CITY OF DUSK has honestly been the book that’s weighed the most heavily on my mind lately. Typically, a series opener is way easier for me to review than the second or third book in a series. So getting stuck on even starting this review was kind of the thing that made me realize I was having a problem. Especially because I really fucking dug this book. And I wanted to be able to talk about it.

I’ve gotten really liberal with DNFing books in the last year or so, and while that’s something that I’m a big advocate of (like why read something you aren’t enjoying, there are too many books), it can also inherently feel a little… embarrassing? Maybe? But at the end of the day, we can’t all like the same things, and that just has to be fine.

So, confession time: I DNF’d Tara Sim’s book SCAVENGE THE STARS. Went into it with extreme levels of excitement, and after about 130 pages, I realized the book just was not working for me. But I was really interested in THE CITY OF DUSK, and while aspects of this book were…a touch confusing/frustrating for me, overall I was a big fan. This was one where the vibe of the world & the characters won me over, whereas some of the world building left me feeling a bit lost.

I’m not really going to dive into the specifics of the aspects of this that confused me, as a lot of it has kind of faded from my memory anyhow (I finished this book in early March, and I’m attempting to write a review in late April, I TOLD YOU I WAS STRUGGLING!!!)

THE CITY OF DUSK is the first in a trilogy called THE DARK GODS. The story is set in the city of Nexus, and our four main POV characters, Taesia, Risha, Angelica, and Nikolas are each the heir to a noble house & gifted with some form of divine magic. Ostensibly rivals to inherit the king’s throne, all four heirs must band together to save Nexus; the gods have withdrawn their favor, and the four realms are dying.

This is one of those really cool multi-POV books where I can see any one of the main characters being someone’s favorite, and who you choose probably says something about your personality. Maybe.

For me that was absolutely Taesia Lastrider, one of the most chaotic & endearingly stabby characters I’ve met in a long time. She uses shadow magic, is impulsive to the point of being reckless, and there’s an image of her next to the term “morally gray” in the dictionary. Oof. She’s fucking awesome & I’m really excited to see what’s next for her in this trilogy!

This is a big, ambitious book with a whole lot going on. I thought the prose in THE CITY OF DUSK was goddamn glorious & each of the characters felt totally unique. There’s some great snarky banter between the characters, but there’s also some moments of profound sadness in this book, as each of these characters has some type of trauma in their background.

I think Tara Sim has created something really special with this new trilogy & I’m looking forward to keeping up with these characters. This is a dark fantasy novel that’s incredibly diverse & inclusive of queer identities. It’s fun & thrilling & feels a little unhinged at times…I just really dug this one a lot! Oh, and there’s a healthy dose of necromancy too!!

Many thanks to Orbit for sending a copy my way!!