I was seven years old the first time my uncle poisoned me.
If this first sentence doesn’t make want to read this book, I really don’t know what will.
City of Lies is interesting debut novel by amazing Sam Hawke, the story of Jovan and Kalina, the proofing family, family which has only one job. For generations, they are protecting Chancellor and risking their lives to save him from any kind of poisoning. Since Kalina’s health was weak, Jovan, the younger child, stepped in to take her role and began training.
But when both Chancellor and Jovan’s uncle fall victim of deadly poison, never before seen, Jovan must step up as Proofer and fulfil his family tradition. When city falls under siege, it is up to Jovan to protect next Chancellor, also his best friend, and stop him reaching the same fate as his father, while discovering that values he was brought up to believe were sacred in their city are just a web of lies.
Sam Hawke, build this new world, full of politics and lies. The world building was executed nicely, with describing how the whole city functioned, full of interesting details and intrigue in the background. Salista, our city, is capital of this world, historic city built on the lake, which is believed has strong spirit living in it, at least by preachers, small group of people who still believe in religion and tah, the spirit realm of the world. They are outcasted by majority of city people, who believe that they are primitive and don’t want them near.
City is ruled by 6 “Credol”families, which all contribute to food business of country and its capital and each have their representative in the council. Of course everyone wants to rule them all and be their Chancellor, to have that source of power, but they don’t release the difficulty that comes with that position. And that difference and battle for power will increase especially during the siege and lead to discovery of web of lies that this city is built on, destroying the council from inside, piece by piece.
Our main characters Jovan, Kalina and Tain (Chancellor) have really interesting dynamic between them which I really enjoyed. They are each other’s best friends and each other family, which is especially noticeable during war they found themselves in. What I really liked, was that author decided to show us how this new position, Jov’s new responsibility towards Tain affected their relationship. It was really realistic and interesting. I felt that every single one of this characters went through great difficulties and journey, which changed them. At the end, they were totally different people, from ones we met at the begging of the book. It was nice to see their development, which was probably my favourite part of this book in general. Author really did great job in making its characters relatable, and I love all them equally. I feel that all of their storylines were interesting in their own way and the core of the story.
It was by no means fast paced book. Yes, it picked up really quickly, but also slowed down couple of times. It bothered me just a little, because I got so hyped up, and then the action would stop. Even dough that didn’t appeal to me, I understand why author did it, and in the end I think that made story of the war and siege situation more realistic.
Since it is the first book in series, I understand that author couldn’t put everything in this first instalment, but I wanted to read more about the whole country, the Empire and mines which were mentioned, but also about these tattoos that all Credol families have (which are also just briefly mentioned and not explained at all). I hope I get answers to some of these questions in next couple of books.
So if you enjoy fantasy, but more centred on mystery and solving this big puzzle of lies and politic intrigue, which doesn’t focus on assassins, but on some other important positions in fantasy kingdom, please check this book out, it was truly amazing and great debut by Sam Hawke. I am really glad I found this one and definitely recommend it. 4.5/5 stars from me

Have you ever encountered books that push all the right buttons, play all the right notes, tick all the boxes — in short, fit so well your tastes that it feels like it was written for you?

City of Lies is that kind of book for me.

The story is told from the alterning points of view of Jovan and his sister Kalina. Both are at the service of the Chancellor and his heir, Tain, as it is tradition in their family. These three characters are, without a doubt, why I adored City of Lies. A few months ago, I wrote about how nice protagonists are my favourites and how I wish to see more of them in fantasy. Tain, Jovan and Kalina are exactly the type of characters I crave. They are profoundly decent and their moral compass is on point, even when dealt with circumstances that are, to say the least, challenging.

They are interesting as individuals: Jovan has a form of OCD that can be crippling but has to overcome it in order to fulfil his duty to Tain and protect him from harm; Kalina suffers from an invisible, chronic disease and can’t shake her feeling of inadequacy; Tain has to shoulder responsibilities he’s not ready for. But their dynamic is also a very strong aspect of the story. Their relationships are layers of love and friendship, guilt and resentment. I can’t tell you how refreshing it feels to have complexity with characters that are not jerks.

The plot alternates between action scenes and intrigue. There is an army besieging the city-state before the quarter of the book, and I expected the pacing to suffer from it. That wasn’t the case. The tensions which arose during the siege and the twists and betrayals following the poisoning of the Chancellor kept my interest very much alive.

The worldbuilding is meticulously thought of. I loved how rich and real the setting felt; there is a cohesiveness to it, from the way families are structured to the political make-up of the city. There is also a forgotten lore that is slowly unearthed throughout the book. If you’re a fan, like me, of the “lost magic” trope, you’ll find it in a certain form here. Since one of the main characters has an encyclopaedic knowledge of poisons, it is also a prevalent element in the setting.

City of Lies explores themes that I found very appealing; the “otherisation” and xenophobia in times of trouble, social inequality, religion and traditions…

Everything in this book, from characters to plot, from ideas to worldbuilding, made for a fantastic read. I really, really hope there will be sequels.

Thoroughly thrilling! Part espionage intrigue, part class warfare, part murder mystery, CITY OF LIES is a captivating and occasionally heart-wrenching tale. The world is full and detailed: Silasta feels like a real city, with shades of Rome, London, or Tenochtitlan, yet entirely itself. Jovan and Kalina are compelling protagonists, each with glorious strengths and touching vulnerabilities. I greatly enjoyed this and look forward to continuing the series!

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan - Tor/Forge for a digital galley of this novel.

The greatest misunderstanding on the part of the citizenry living within the walls of Silasta is that those living without are happy with their lot in life. Nothing could be further from the truth as is revealed when the peasants suddenly surround the city and begin to force their way inside with revolution on their minds. As the story unfolds it turns out that the wealthy pampered citizens aren't the only ones who have been basing their actions on lies.

As a debut novel from author Sam Hawke I couldn't help but be impressed by how well defined she has made both this physical world and the characters who populate it. In some ways that became a hindrance for me because the first quarter of the book moved rather slowly in order to establish this world and I had to keep pumping myself up to give it just a little more time for my interest to be fully engaged. The story is told from alternating viewpoints of Jovan and his sister Kalina. That construction of a novel will often leave me feeling frustrated and this was no exception since I would be enjoying what I was reading but the next chapter would abandon that line of the story arc in favor of another character and their perspective. I reconciled myself to this fact, but would have enjoyed it more if an unknown narrator had been the one telling the story. Before each chapter there is a description of a specific poison, its symptoms and how a proofer can recognize when it has been used. These bursts of information would have been much more interesting if they had always led to that poison being used or suspected. In fact, poison recedes into the background once it is used to get the story started. I also didn't understand how the inherited family position of proofer against poisoning attempts on the life of the Chancellor could have been practiced in secret, or even why it was truly necessary for that to be a secret association between two of the six ruling families.

All in all I can say I enjoyed this first book in the Poison Wars series but I doubt I will read the next book. Actually a 3.5 star read for me but I bumped the rating up to a 4 because I did enjoy the action taking place in the story.

An alluring debut imbued with a perpetual threat of lies and treachery.

City of Lies is Sam Hawke’s debut novel and the first book in the Poison Wars series. For the same reason as one of my most anticipated debuts of the year—The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang—I was intrigued by this one because of the amazing cover. Yes, I’m a sucker for a book with great cover art and I’m not ashamed of it. The main difference though is that I’ve waited for this one for so much longer than The Poppy War; since last September to be exact, when the cover was first revealed. Other than that, I seriously knew nothing about the book except the fact that two of my favorite authors of all time—John Gwynne & Robin Hobb—have already praised this debut. Now that I’ve read it, I have to agree with them that this is a great debut, but at the same time, it’s certainly different from my usual fantasy read.

The reason it’s different is that there are almost no magic or magical creatures here. The book also wasn’t completely character-driven the way I like it, but I found it a good balance between plot and character-driven with the plot being the central focus. However, the main reason why it’s so different is that this book is more of a mystery; let’s call it whodunit fantasy. Readers tend to love stories about assassins and we read books from the perspective of the assassin. The narration in City of Lies went in the complete opposite direction by letting the readers experience the perspectives of those who guard against assassins.

The story began when the Chancellor was poisoned using an unknown poison and an army laying siege to the city. It’s now up to Jovan—a master of poison and chemicals—and Kalina—Jovan’s sister—to protect the city from the upcoming chaos. It’s an original take and something I’ve never read in fantasy novels, and I always appreciate originality. As I mentioned before, this is a whodunit story; the entire books focused on the question “who did it?” and I guarantee you every chapter will keep on making you think “I think he/she did it.” The storyline was great and I love the main themes in this book: honor, religion, and the fact that ignorance towards nature and culture is not bliss.

“Honor lives on after you die. It’s the mark we carve on the world. It’s living fairly and respectfully. If you don’t live with honor, what’s the point?”

Seeing that this is more of a mystery fantasy, I’ll stop talking about the plotline here and start discussing the other factors. But first, let me just say that the book felt like a standalone. I actually have no idea how the author will expand the story from here; it feels like everything have been resolved already.

The world-building is great. The entire setting of the book took place in one city but the scope never felt small. Every chapter also began with the name of a poison in this world, with the description, symptoms, and how to prove the poison has been used. I did wish to see more of the poisons at play in the story because there were only a few on the list that actually appeared in the book. However, I think this was a nice touch and maybe the author will use it for future sequels. Hawke’s prose was easy to read but it never was simple; it almost felt a bit like reading Hobb’s prose.

Honestly, this was a great debut and I wish I could rate it higher but I have one issue with it: it’s the lack of voice distinction between the two main characters. It’s not that the characters are bad or poorly written at all. Jovan in particular as the main character was great; he was flawed and felt totally realistic. My gripe with it is that ever since her first POV, I had a hard time focusing on Kalina’s side of the story. It felt like there wasn’t enough unique voice given to her character and during several sections of my reading time, I actually had to remind myself that I was reading about Kalina and not Jovan’s POV. The book was told from dual 1st person perspective but I don’t think Kalina’s POV was really necessary. She’s more of an observer and supporting character, and it wasn’t until the last 25% of the book that her POV gripped me. In my opinion, this book would be even better if Jovan was the sole POV of the story. His perspective was great from start to finish and it was incredibly hard to put down the book every time it was his turn, but sadly I can’t say the same for Kalina’s.

This year’s adult fantasy debuts from female authors have been incredible and I’m really satisfied by the two debuts I’ve read so far. Last year, Godblind was good but I didn’t find it as amazing as some of my reviewer colleagues did, and I couldn’t even make it through the third chapter of The Court of Broken Knives and I know I will never pick it up again. This year though, I’m very satisfied with what the two I’ve read so far.

City of Lies may not be the kind of fantasy that I usually read. It’s very heavy on mystery and very low on fantasy aspect, there are almost no epic battles waged, and it’s not heavily character-driven. But in the end, it still managed to win my heart. If you’re looking for a unique and fascinating fantasy book where every chapter always leaves you with a questioning “did he/she do it?” City of Lies should without a doubt your destination.

The quote in this review was taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

this book came a surprise to me, i was drawn in by the blurb mentioning several of my favorite fantasy authors so was delighted to get a copy to review. to begin i was a bit disappointed , i found it a bit heavy going and lacking in pace , however about a third of the way through thing really picked up. i loved the traditional elements of fantasy and the 'proofer' being the main protagonist gave the story and different angle and perspective from so many that have gone before. i look forward to the next installment!!!!