City of Spells is the exciting conclusion to the Into the Crooked Place duology. The loss of Wes is more detrimental than expected. Tavia was said to have been the glue, but Wes was the mastermind. While Wes is left to fend for himself, Tavia, Karam, and Saxony are forced to look for allies to help bring down the Kingpin. Because the first book already introduced the world and our characters, City of Spells doesn't require as much time setting up the plot--get allies and take down the Kingpin. Despite a fairly straight-forward plot, there are enough twists and revelations in the book to make this such a good read; I couldn't put it down. I can't help but praise Christo for the ending of City of Spells like I praised her for the ending of Into the Crooked Place: it was so good, maybe even better than its predecessor's. I greatly enjoyed City of Spells and would recommend the duology.

I have to give props to Christo for jumping right into the story and never slowing down. It's one big revelation after another with action sequences in between to make sure that you're always on the edge of your seat.
The battle against the Kingpin is at its most dangerous and the stakes are higher than ever. It's time for everyone to start coming into their own and doing what they do best. And Christo does not disappoint in giving each of the characters their moment to shine while still exploring their relationships to each other and to their place in the world. This is so well done that it made me like a couple of characters that I actually didn't like that much in the first volume. That's some impressive character growth.
Overall, I'm glad I followed through on my interest in seeing where the story went despite the issues I had with the first volume and it definitely pays off on the promise of a great story.

Happy thanks to NetGalley and Feiwel & Friends for the read!

I read Into the Crooked Place in 2019 as an ARC I won in a Goodreads giveaway. I was super excited about it as I adored Christo’s first novel, To Kill A Kingdom. I was very interested to see where the story would go after an ending like that!

I will say that there is no need to go back and reread the first book in the duology unless you really want to as the author gives enough context clues and recap to jog your memory (I had planned to reread the first book, but wasn’t able to squeeze it in ahead of time and I had no issues even after reading the first book over a year ago).

The standout features of this installment are the plot, pacing, and character work. Though the plot is relatively straightforward, get Wesley back and defeat the Kingpin, there are enough twists and turns and shocking events to keep the reader on their toes. One thing I really liked about the story was the pacing. It was a good balance of quiet moments and fast-paced action scenes. I especially enjoyed the acceleration of events as I approached the end of the book. The characters had a lot to deal with and overcome, but especially Saxony and Zekia. Saxony is caught between what should be her political position and her family. There are so many things that she wants to do to be able to help defeat the Kingpin, but is held back by her lack of official power. Will she follow the rules or will she take matters into her own hands? Though I like Karam, Tavia, and Wesley, I think Zekia is probably my favorite character, which may be an unpopular opinion, I’m not sure. I was really fascinated by her journey throughout the series. Is she a villain or a victim of circumstance? You’ll have to read City of Spells to find out!

Magic, death, and secrets, and four unlikely people coming together to save everything they hold dear. Picking up where the first book left off, Tavia is still reeling from the loss of Wesley and Saxony and Karam are trying to rebuild their rebellion. Wesley has been taken by Zekia and Kingpin and must endure the torture while he figures out an escape plan. The book is a great conclusion to the story and I honestly would be so open for more Tavia and Wesley shenanigans, especially them traveling together and rebuilding their home. I absolutely 100% fell in love with their love. IT WAS GLORIOUS. I loved the ending of the book and if there were to be some side stories or another book I would be so down for it!

*Thanks Netgalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

I enjoyed this sequel better than the first book. The good vs evil fight was fun. The romance was interesting.

Thank you so much to Terminal Tours for having me as a part of the City of Spells blog tour and to Feiwel & Friends for making this blog tour happen in the first place! Make sure y'all go check out all of the amazing posts throughout the week because there are definitely going to be some great posts out there! City of Spells comes out today, March 9th, so make sure to go grab it as soon as you can!

City of Spells 4/5 Stars

Summary from Goodreads:

City of Spells, the follow-up to Alexandra Christo's gritty YA fantasy, Into the Crooked Place, finds the world on the brink of war and four unlikely allies facing sacrifices they had never imagined.
After the loss of Wesley and the horrifying reveal that Zekia is helping the Kingpin of her own free will, Tavia, Saxony, and Karam flee to Saxony's home to rebuild their rebellion. Meanwhile, trapped in the Kingpin's darkness, Wesley must fight against the deadly magic that invades his mind and find a way back to his friends before it's too late.
As the Kingpin's dark magic spreads and his army conquers Creije, these four unlikely friends have to decide just how far they’ll go―and how much they are willing to sacrifice―to win.

I really liked Into the Crooked Place, so I was SO excited to read where Alexandra Christo took us with City of Spells! I loved out characters- Tavia was my favorite with Wesley coming in a close second, but I liked Karam and Saxony too and even Zekia grew on me in this book and I actually really appreciated having chapters from her point of view. I felt as though so much happened in this book, but nothing felt rushed or dragged out to me- everything seemed really well paced, which I was a huge fan of. I really love the magic system in this duology. The crafters and the buskers against the normal government who wants to get rid of magic all together was an interesting dichotomy that I enjoyed and I also really liked that in order to get to a common goal (defeating the Kingpin), even former enemies are willing to work together and groups that normally not work together, like all of the crafter kins, ended up banding together. There were some twists in the book that I didn't see coming at all, but thinking back now, I can 100% see how they came about and the little hints that Alexandra Christo had left for us in both books about them. Overall, this was a really solid book and I highly recommend it and Into the Crooked Place to anyone who's looking for a new fantasy fix!

A satisfying ending to the duology that is magical and timeless. We pick up the story right where we left off into the crooked place. Our evil kingpin Ashwood has discovered some new mind-altering magic that corrupts the cities and controls everyone to remove their free will. They are magic zombies. We are driven by the characters who are compelling and well developed. The magic in this city is highly controlled and supposedly rare, but since this, in the finale, a magical battle must be at the heart of the story, if your a fan of six of crows, pick this duology up today.

First of all, thank you to the Fierce Reads and Net Galley for an eARC of City of Spells in exchange for an honest review!

City of Spells follows the events of Into the Crooked Place. Wesley is nowhere to be seen, and Tacos I stepping into his shoes, but it's just not working out, all the while Wesley is working to get free.

I really really love Into the Crooked Place. It has a similar feel to Six of Crows with dark magic con artists, but City of Spells just fell flat for me. This was a major disappointment for me! I felt like the story was all tell. The descriptions were so minimal, and the writing felt more distant than the first book. A 2.75 rating for me.

So sorry—I started reading Into the Crooked Place in order to prepare for this ARC, but I ended up DNF'ing Into the Crooked Place because I was not invested at all, so I will not be reading City of Spells.

LISTEN. I loved this book so much. To see the struggles they all had to get over. The deaths and people who lived that had to deal.
Ugh. Don’t want to spoil but this book was everything.

City of Spells is a followup to Into the Crooked Place and gets right back into the action with the same four main characters. Unlikely allies and unlikely friends, but they'll do whatever it takes to stop the bad guys and get their lives back into some kind of order. Alexandra Christo writes a solid sequel here and I know that fans of the first book will find a lot more to like here.

I won a free copy of this ARC to review. This book is a fantastic end to the duology. All the magic and fantastic characters from Into The Crooked Place are in this book, plus we get to know the characters even better! Depth of the individual struggles of the characters are what really crowned this book for me.

I think this was a solid second entry into an interesting series. It was well paced and kept my attention, which is often difficult for the middle book in a series. If you liked the first book, definitely recommend picking this one up.

I love this author and I loved this book! I was so excited when I received it that I immediately started reading it. This book is full of adventure and twists that kept me guessing. I will be purchasing this book for my library's YA collection.

#CityofSpells
A good second book in the series. The plot is moved along at a good pace and I liked the character development in this one.