I read to for enjoyement, and sadly I did not enjoy this book one iota. The writing just did not work for me, it was confusing and the characters didn't just lacked depth, they were confusing and their introduction left me feel... confused (again).I feel the characters were created with the idea to be unique, but not because there's depth there, but more to be.... different. The romantic relationship wasn't even romantic as it lacked chemistry.
Sadly, this book left me just generally confused and not know what's going on whilst reading it..

This was such a fun read! I loved the characters so much and the found family bond between them was so cute. The setting was really cool especially the planets and the different futuristic tech. The plot instantly intrigued me and i was already so invested in the story only a couple chapters in. I loved all the twists and after the ending I can't wait for a sequel. And as a bi person representation means a lot to me so i loved reading a book that centers around an lgbtq+ cast.

Firstly, I wanted to thank Netgalley & North Star Editions/Flux books for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review!

Can I begin with admiring the beautiful cover that this book has? I can’t wait to have this book become a part of my physical library.

To start, let me preface this by saying that I am not a huge fan of sci-fi books, in most cases I actually tend to avoid them altogether. However, when I saw this cover I really hoped this book would break some rules for me, and it absolutely did!

This review will contain as minimal spoilers as possible so that everyone can enjoy this book as much as I did. If you’re a fan of strong female leads, queer found family trope and a well-constructed futuristic sci-fi world, this book is for you.

Writing style: I really enjoyed Winn’s writing style, it was overall captivating and fast-paced, I never felt any boredom while reading. However, there’s a scene at the very end which I felt was super cliché and mediocre.

Setting and world building: While reading we visit 3 different planets; Requiem, Cortellion and finally Earth. Each of them has different laws of nature (and of people) which was unique and interesting to discover.

Characters: This book, in my opinion, was more action-based than character-based so I really wished we had delved more into the characters and their backgrounds (especially Samir & Diego and how their relationship started, but hopefully we see more of them in following instalments). It was certainly very interesting to see how Riven (the bandit, gangster) and Asa (the heiress, mechanic) interacted, and how their relationship went from calling Asa cargo to both of them swearing to protect each other no matter what. They always stuck by each other and even though their relationship was very bumpy and had a lot of pushing and pulling.

What struck me as odd though is the love triangle situation between Asa, Ty and Riven.

Plot: As I said, the book is very action-based so the plot was a 10/10. From Asa trying to save her sister, Riven and her crew trying to save Requiem, to the antagonists they face like Morphett and Banshee.

I give this book 4 stars and I can’t wait for more books by this author!!!

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. I will admit I really struggled getting into this story the story was kind of predictable and very action heavy. This made it a bit hard for me to get into. I did enjoy the characters though, they were decently fleshed out and I was able to connect with them for the most part.

*Thank you to Flux (North Star Editions) for providing this e-ARC. All opinions are my own.*

This story is set in Sci-Fi fantasy and I do feel like it played primarily in the steam punk world. The descriptions to me felt like a very unique mix of old and new. This was a slow-paced adventure that gave an amusing love triangle. Even though the love triangle was amusing, I did not find it authentic at all. The romantic parts of this book felt forced.

I would recommend this to people who have a special interest in sci-fi books.

This is the kind of book I have been looking for ever since reading the holy duo of heist books (namely Six of Crows and The Gilded Wolves on my part) - but make it sci-fi! City of Shattered Light is an amazing, action-filled book with a cast of most lovable characters that get under your skin in the first chapter! I don't even know how to properly express the amount of love I am currently feeling for this book or the pain that comes from knowing that I'll have to wait AT LEAST a year for a sequel.

City of Shattered Light is a YA sci fi debut novel and it reached all the markers of a great book for me: unexpected (and downright PAINFUL) plot twists, characters to die for, crackling character dynamics (with ships you can't help but root for from the get go), and an ending that will leave you speechless.
To break down our main cast a bit: Asa, a runaway heiress and genius mechanic with a lot on the line if this little plan of hers goes awry, joins forces with a criminal mastermind in the making, Riven, who is also the leader of a little group of underdogs in the dangerous city Requiem. Then we also have Ty, the sweet medic with a heart of gold, a soldier-boy, Samir, and his maybe-maybe not boyfriend Diego, who is in charge of the more technical side of things.
The allyship between Asa and Riven's crew starts tentatively but they grow closer slowly as their whole world faces danger of epic proportions. And while they're trying to save it (and help Asa get that what she treasures most back), they also have time for a little bit of falling in love, some funny shenanigans, and heartbreaking secrets that burst to life.

This story was full of heart and the author's colourful writing style made you feel like you were fighting the evils of this world right along with Riven's crew. The diversity in this book was everything - from two queer female leads (and a sapphic main relationships), to an array of queer side characters, multiple PoC main characters plus there was also chronic illness rep and more!
I am absolutely in love with this book and cannot wait to hold a physical copy in my hand!

City of Shattered Light gets all the stars from me. I want MORE. ASAP!

This was the first NetGalley book I requested and I was sucked in by the cover and the blurb, it sounded cool and fun and NEW which are all things that draw me to a book.

Ho boy did this live up to my expectations and then some. It’s essentially a heist with a high tech baddie, a frankly terrifying evil overlord and a glorious found family. The whole thing reminded me of Six of Crows and I can safely say that this belongs on the high pedestal those books sit on. If you love Leigh Bardugo’s books and sci-fi then this is a 100% the book for you.

The characters are all fighting to be able to live the lives they want against a nightmarish environment and the interplay between them all is excellent. I loved Riven from the start but Diego stole the show for me, he was just brilliant.

The sci-fi is far future of our own universe so the old world Earth references were cool and didn’t feel forced which I liked, the dystopian world feel of Requiem was ace and added in a little of that genre (another huge plus point for me!), and the Matriarchal underworld was just awesome.

Will absolutely be buying this when it comes out on the 19th October as well as keeping an eye out for more books by Claire Winn. Would definitely recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley and North Star Editions/Flux books for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review
2.5/5
I’m sorry, but I did not enjoy this at all. It was a real chore to get through and I was annoyed every time I had to get back to it.
It was just…
Look, the overall story is fine. Nothing special but just a solid YA Sci-Fi adventure. But there are so many smaller things that are just so confusing and sometimes badly written that it ruins the book for me.
Here are just a few examples:
The characters are introduced really badly. Someone will just show up suddenly and we only learn what their deal is several chapters later. And they are also really inconsistent and full of contradictions. Asa, one of our main characters is a mechanist but also somehow capable of programming an immersive VR-RPG? Oh and she also logs into that game while she is on the run from a very powerful tech-mogul, not concerned about that getting traced then?
I think Samir is supposed to be the pilot of the crew but he never flies. He also apparently has cat pupils? Which is mentioned once like 5 pages into the book and then not again for hundreds of pages which makes their reoccurrence really jarring and confusing.
Riven, the other MC isn’t any better. As an example, there`s this bounty hunter that stole something which leads to Riven and her crew getting into a lot of trouble that could end deadly. But when they meet that bounty hunter again Riven seems more interested into besting her because it would be cool to beat a famous bounty-hunter instead of being mad about getting them in trouble.
Next problem: The romantic relationships. Riven and Asa are endgame but they have absolutely no Chemistry. They barely even talk. Asa has another love interest, Ty, and she has much better chemistry with him and , more importantly, she actually likes him. But instead of resolving this conflict he is killed of in the end. And Riven kisses Asa immediately afterwards no hard feelings there I guess. Or grieving. Oh and in the end Asa decides Riven is the better ‘choice’ because she would not get approval from her dad (who is one of the bad guys). I’m sorry but that whole thing just utterly failed to engage me.
The book also fails to build up mystery. There’s an attempt to make a conspiracy around somewhere called Sanctum’s Edge and a project called Winterdark interesting but they end up just being words tossed into the story without ever really connecting to the audience. The story as a whole never really comes together.
There are multiple violations of show not tell. One example is when Asa just SAYS she got a message from on of their contacts that makes them completely change the plan they had the entire book. We don’t get to see her get that message or react to it, she just says she got it.
Another problem: Way to many locations. They change constantly and are never properly set up, the crew goes on way to many smaller missions. So many in fact that I still have no idea what they were supposed to do in that nightclub. The locations aren’t well described either which makes the action sequences so incredibly confusing. All of them.
I’ll stop now, this is long enough already. Just know that I have a thousand more small things to complain about (The scene with the Grav-Spheres in particular, like what was the point of that one? Other than ‘Oh this is going to be cool’).
So no I did not like this at all which is why it took me over two weeks to get through it.

I loooveee Cyberpunk-esque things and this was right up there in my interests. I loved how fast paced and fun this was, I’m only marking it down for a few predictable things that happened.
I also found it a bit hard to distinguish a few characters, it was a pretty big cast quite early on and some characters were lost

4/5 definitely will be looking at getting a physical copy when this

This book surprised me in the best ways possible. I loved that the characters worked together, even though they all had their differences. The fact that most of them were either gay or a part of the LGBTQ+ community made is so much better than I was expecting. The level of acceptance and normalization of people loving whoever they want and given the proper pronouns made my heart so happy. The story was like anything I had ever read before. The adventure was so unique and having the crew fight something that was not a living thing made the story so cool.. The amount of character growth in this book was amazing, especially since the characters went through so much in such a short amount of time. The ending surprised me the most, it was something that I was not expecting at all. I know this book is going to be released in October, but I need the second book now.

City Of Shattered Light-Review

Author: @clairewinnauthor
Genre: Sci-Fi
Page Count:802 pages
Publication Date:19th of October 2021 (19/10/21)

Ah I miss Sci-Fi so much, great read!

Thank you to @netgalley / @clairewinnauthor for providing me with this e ARC before publication

Blurb;

AS DARKNESS CLOSES IN ON THE CITY OF SHATTERED LIGHT, AN HEIRNESS AND AN OUTLAW MUST DECIDE WHETHER TO FEND FOR THEMSELVES OR FIGHT FOR EACH OTHER.

As heiress to a powerful tech empire, seventeen-year-old Asa Almeida strives to prove she's more than her manipulative father's shadow. But when he uploads her rebellious sister’s mind to an experimental brain, Asa will do anything to save her sister from reprogramming—including fleeing her predetermined future with her sister’s digitized mind in tow. With a bounty on her head and a rogue A.I. hunting her, Asa’s getaway ship crash-lands in the worst possible place: the neon-drenched outlaw paradise, Requiem.

Gun-slinging smuggler Riven Hawthorne is determined to claw her way up Requiem’s underworld hierarchy. A runaway rich girl is exactly the bounty Riven needs—until a nasty computer virus spreads in Asa’s wake, causing a citywide blackout and tech quarantine. To get the payout for Asa and save Requiem from the monster in its circuits, Riven must team up with her captive.

Riven breaks skulls the way Asa breaks circuits, but their opponent is unlike anything they’ve ever seen. The A.I. exploits the girls’ darkest memories and deepest secrets, threatening to shatter the fragile alliance they’re both depending on. As one of Requiem’s 154-hour nights grows darker, the girls must decide whether to fend for themselves or fight for each other before Riven’s city and Asa’s sister are snuffed out forever.

Review;

This book honestly reminded me of how much I love sci-fi the world building really transports you into this futuristic sci-fi world.

I would say that this book is an amazing read for people who are thinking of trying sci-fi as it is a genre that a lot of people can find intimidating!

The story in the book was filled with action, heists and escapes which were very well written I just loved to see how anything unfolded.

In terms of pacing this book was a excellent pace for me I never felt like I really drifted away from the storyline and felt always engaged

This book also has Queer representation with both Asa and Riven, being Bisexual. There is also queer side characters and a casual non-binary rep which was great cause it didn’t feel force in your face or anything which I think is important.

Strong female characters

This book includes The found family trope one of my favs!

Honestly a great staring place for people wanting to try or revisit Sci-Fi and a lovely written book overall.

If you’re thinking of checking out this book, please do its available to pre-order right now and there if SWAG available for early purchases!

Rating;
⭐⭐⭐⭐ ½ stars

TRIGGER/CONTENT WARNING
Strong Language
Gun violence
Death
Blood
Mild Gore
Emotional Abuse/Manipulation
Mild Body Horror (Cybernetics)
Reference To Suicide
Terminal Illness
Drug and Alcohol Reference

Thank you to NetGalley and North Star Editions for providing me this eARC in exchange for an honest review.
I liked the annotation of the book. Plus the cover was gorgeous and it easily caught my eye and it seemed the book would be exactly for me. I don´t usually read sci-fi, but I decided to give it a try.
First of all, I appreciate the worldbuilding, it seemed like the author worked hard on it. The world was full of technologies, colorful and I could imagine everything very clear.
The plot was as well written and the end of the was unpredictable.
I loved all the characters in the book which doesn't happen very often. Of course, the most favorite person was Asa. But Riven, Ty, Diego, Samir are right after Asa.
I always hate love triangles and here it wasn't any exception. But it doesn't change anything about that I want the next book.
4,5/ 5

this book was literally so good ! All the characters , plot, development in the story ! If you fan of the gilded wolves, bi love triangle , six of crows , great squad , sapphics then definitely pick this book up

Thank you to Books Forward Friends, Claire Winn, and North Star Editions for giving me an eArc in exchange for an honest review.

So, this is a solid 3.5 star book for me. I struggled getting into the story until about 50% of the way through. I almost didn't finish it because I was just struggling that bad. However, it did finally pick up and I really enjoyed the rest of the story!

There were some things that definitely came off super cheesy and made me roll my eyes. Yet, I really liked the idea behind some of the planets and people that were created.

This is definitely a sci-fi as its set in the future with cyborgs and robots (called mechs in this book). I did struggle with one word throughout the book, instead of using mechanic, the author used the word mechanist which irritated my grammar/spelling alarm constantly.

There was very little cursing and no sexual scenes, however some intense kissing did happen. The genre is YA Sci-fi LGBTQ.

I was very grateful to receive an e-ARC through Books Forward BFFs, in exchange for an honest review. I had been interested in this book ever since I saw the cover, despite the fact I wouldn't normally read much sci-fi. While it's not a perfect book, it has a lot going for it, and the anticipation (it's coming out in October) is entirely deserved.

In terms of writing style, Claire Winn does an excellent job of world building without too much exposition! I've read a few YA books recently that were very much exposition galore: information was not being introduced organically in the book, but more like a list of throwaway facts that were not relevant at that moment in time. Claire Winn does NOT do this, she filters in words and concepts and expects the reader to keep up, which I loved. Also, the terminology she makes up isn't cringey at all. She does, however, have a fondness for the word "lattice" which appeared more times than I could count! Not sure if I can blame her for that - we all have words we're obsessed with.

In terms of pace, the book started off slow and compared to my latest reads, it took me a little longer to get into the story, I think the turning point for me was around the 40% mark and after that, I have to say, I couldn't put it down. There was SO MUCH happening and these poor characters were stuck in so many different negotiations and double-crosses and risked their lives so many times, it was difficult to find a suitable break to put the book down.

There's some interesting side characters in this, and the representation is also excellent in that sexuality, attraction and gender are all treated very naturally and nobody gets too caught up in their head about it - they're just trying to survive! Incidentally, I guess it's maybe slightly odd to hear the words "If I was straight" from one of these characters, simply because this doesn't seem to be a world were sexuality labels exist at all.

As for the main characters, I did like them both and I enjoyed that they had distinct voices and personalities, but equally I felt quite dispassionate about them. I absolutely wanted them to succeed but didn't feel any strong emotions when it came to their ship, in fact I will align with others who also thought the M/F ship made a little bit more sense in terms of the characters' personalities and values. The F/F ship, while there was definitely a lot of mutual respect there, seemed to mostly rely on attraction based on looks and I didn't buy the "they were the same" narrative, I really felt like I was being told that, but didn't see it.

I wasn't keen on the epilogue chapter, but it does seem to hint at a follow-up book and if this does happen, then I will absolutely read it. It's not often that I stumble upon a story that genuinely feels fresh and original and unlike anything I've read before, and this was it.

Thank you NetGalley and North Star Editions/Flux for the e-arc!

3,5 stars
I was really excited to be able to read this book. Sapphic sci-fi is right up my alley and this could have been perfect. Unfortunately City of shattered light wasn’t able to hold my attention.

I forced my way through a lot of this book. It’s very plot heavy, however, the plot is very repetitive and mostly consists of heists and then the escapes. 75% of this just felt like them trying to escape and seemingly impossible situation. It’s almost pure action. It went from one action packed sequence to the next with barely any time to settle. Added to that, even with all the sci-fi elements at their disposal, it ended up being kind of repetitive.
The plot itself also was kind of predictable, which ended up taking a lot of the intensity and excitement away for me.

Even though love triangles are a trope I can’t stand, this had the potential to be a great one as all the characters involved were glorious. Unfortunately, through all the action we aren’t given a lot of character moments which also didn’t allow any of the relationships to breath. I felt sparks on every side and but sometimes they were just out of reach and not entirely developed, which ended up making them fall flat. It ended up lessening the tension between the final couple.
I loved Asa and Ty together. They work brilliantly. However, I would have enjoyed the relationships more if Ty remained a friend to Asa throughout the story, without the romantic and sexual tension. It complicated things too much and through all the action there just wasn’t the time to make it work. Either that or take away the tension between Riven and Asa for a while. It all just lacked a little time.

The world has a lot of potential but it isn’t fleshed out enough. I just know the basics of this world, and aspects like its culture are severely lacking. If this was your first sci-fi story, you would have been very lost. The world is beautifully described and I know exactly what it looks like, but everything else is on the surface level. Maybe the next book would fix that, but for just this one it isn’t quite enough.

I want to end this with the best aspect of the book: the characters. All of the main crew were so lovable! I think there will be something for everyone. They all compliment each other brilliantly and in the few character moments we have we see their dynamics bounce off each other in many fun ways.
Ty is my absolute favorite. But who am I kidding, I love them all. Asa, Riven, Diego and Samir were all glorious! It was fun following them along and I absorbed every piece of their character that we got.

This was kind of a harsh review, but I want to make clear that this wasn’t a bad book either. It just wasn’t anything special and didn’t give me anything. It was just fine.

This review has also been shared on my goodreads, storygraph and tiktok!

This was such a fun, fast paced sci-fi novel. Sometimes I can get a little intimidated by sci-fi world building but I found this to be very accessible. Maybe because so many of the tropes were familiar from other genres I love. I was a little surprised at how heavily the love triangle is featured in this book. It's not my favorite kind of romance but the A+ longing won me over.

So, first off. Enemies to lovers. What more cold you want? Sapphic too. Love triangle. The list goes on and on. Next, world building is amazing. One of my biggest thing on si-fi is that it needs to be believable, and earth and the systems being included in the book and building off of that into a make believe world works very well. This book is also has a very strong found family trope, one that I like many others love to see. If you like the action in six of crows, you will like this book. The villain is written with the right and believable motivations too.(another big thing of mine)The characters are very relatable for the most part.(except they are fighting for 2/3s of the book). Overall, if you liked 1st divergent book or six of crows this is the book for you.

I read "City of Shattered Light" by Claire Winn a couple of days ago and I have mixed feelings about it. You can swipe to see the book's gorgeous cover.

It's written in 3rd POV, which I usually love, but so many characters were already introduced at the very beginning and the POV choice made it kind of hard to keep track of all the main and side characters.

It's a fast paced novel which worked really well for me. There's a lot of action, fighting, twists and found family dynamics. The writing style was easy and enjoyable as well.

There is queer representation, but I didn't really enjoy it (or parts of it) as much as I thought I would from reading the description. In the book there's a love triangle which is not mentioned in the premise. I really can't stand love triangles, especially if all characters have only known each other for a short amount of time.

I felt like the sapphic romance was rushed even though (judging from the description) it should have been the focus.

Plus, if you're not a fan of open endings, this won't be for you. As of now, we don't know whether there's going to be a sequel.

I would still recommend it for a quick and easy queer sci-fi read.


I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest opinion. Release date: October 19th 2021.

content warnings: murder, (gun) violence, blood, emotional abuse, references to suicide

I liked this book a lot! I could tell that Claire had fun writing this queer sci-fi story! think there were a few parts in the middle that were a little slow, but overall I REALLY enjoyed City of Shattered Light