City of Shattered Light starts with action and never lets up. Claire Winn creates a world that’s drenched in neon lights, and characters who are just as adept at fighting as they are at hacking tech. Overall, I really loved the world-building and atmosphere, Requiem was a wonderful setting to explore! I could feel the heartbeat of a city that never sleeps and it was awesome.

Additionally, I had a lot of fun reading the fight scenes in particular. I’m really impressed with how Claire Winn managed to convey weight and movement while also preserving a sense of orientation for the reader. I could vividly see Riven being a badass with her guns!

However, some aspects of the story felt underdeveloped and unfortunately, a lot of the emotional beats didn’t quite work for me. But overall, the world-building and the plot (though predictable) were my favourite parts despite those flaws.

There is an actual love triangle in this book! I know, I was surprised too. Technically, the main romance is between the two female main characters but I think that’s an overstatement. There’s some back and forth pining but really not much romantic development. So if you were hoping for the disaster sapphic romance, you’ll probably be disappointed.

However, I did greatly enjoy the number of queer characters we get! Riven’s crew truly is just a bunch of space gays and I am here for it.

Speaking of characters, unfortunately, some of the characterizations felt a little inconsistent. After a while I found myself getting kind of bored. The characters are introduced and then it felt like there wasn’t much development afterwards. Yes, Riven and Asa have to learn how to work together, but that’s about it.

Especially Riven felt like an uncrackable and static rock, even in the moments where we get a glimpse into her thoughts and feelings. I would’ve loved to see a little more development on her part in particular.

Overall, City of Shattered Light is a very solid debut and I had fun with it! The book ends with a cliffhanger and I’m curious to see where the story goes.

Inventive characters and engaging story <3 excited about the cyberpunk aspect and the queer representation in this!

Thank you to NetGalley and Flux Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

City of Shattered Light is an incredibly fun and action packed Young Adult SciFi that definitely keeps you at the edge of your seat, needing to know what happens next.

What to expect:
- A rag tag found family
- A heist of epic proportions
- Reluctant allies that just can't seem to resist each other
- A rouge AI that wont stop until it gets what it wants
- So much casual and accepted queerness it made my heart so happy

City of Shattered Light follows Asa, a runaway heiress, as she joins up with the gunslinger, Riven and her the rest of her smuggler crew in attempts to save her sister. It is super action packed and such a fast read that once I picked it up I really was un able to put it down. I enjoyed the character dynamics and I LOVED the development from Asa. She definitely was the most dynamic character and had the most development through the book. I loved seeing her go from privileged heiress who doesn't know her place in the world to a rogue, ready to take down her father for what he has done. Our other primary protagonist, Riven, didn't have quite as big of an arc but I did like to see as she opened up a lot more and let her vulnerabilities show.

Probably my favorite part of the book is the casual queerness. Most of the characters are queer in some shape or form but its never made to be a big deal, it's just how the world is. There even in a non binary character and, again its not made out to be some big thing, everyone simply refers to them with they/them pronouns and thats just how it is.

I also really enjoyed the world building of this futuristic solar system, from the play on class dynamics with the clearly upperclass planets and places like Requiem which has a very mafia type feel to it, to the technology used. I felt that all the descriptions were incredibly clear with out ever being real info dumpy, but instead created detailed visuals that really immersed me in the world.

The only thing I really found myself missing was the focus. There were definitely times where there was just too much happening. There were too many antagonists between Morphett, Asa's father, Banshee, and even sometimes the leaders of Requiem, that it felt really scattered at times. I also personally am not a fan of love triangles as I always feel like one part of the triangle is given more attention than the other, making that relationship just not as fully developed as it could be and the triangle in the book definitely had that problem. I also felt myself wishing for perspectives from all the characters in the crew. I absolutely love the little bits we would get from Ty, Samir, and Diego but they did read rather two-dimensional making my investment in them not as deep as it could have been.

Overall I did really enjoy the fast paced read, I am excited to see where the story goes in book two, and I am looking forward to seeing how the writing develops from this debut.

[Rating 3.5/5 Stars]

Claire Winn's debut novel City of Shattered Light, is a great addition to the LGBTQA+ and Sapphic books.

A fast paced YA cyberpunk, sci-fi narrative with strong and well developed characters, solid writing, and compelling plot. It’s a great example of what a writer’s debut novel should be. It perfectly follows some of the unspoken rules of the YA narrative but manages to avoid being repetitive or overly predictable.

I did however, had some issues about the character’s experiences - overall, I felt that the characters were too young to have gone through such hurt and for example lost the love of their life - BUT I understand that this is something the YA narratives often adopt and I was happy to overlook it. It was fun to see the love triangle develop but I would’ve loved more tension between the characters.

The writing and plot were really good and employed a fair amount of interesting plot twists and wholesome moments. It’s a book I would recommend for others to read but keep in mind what I mentioned about the YA narrative.

Thank you to NetGalley for the copy, and Claire Winn for the enjoyable story!

As I noted on Goodreads, this is the unexpected, scrappy-underdog book of my heart, with characters who already feel like old friends and a world that still pervades my dreams. City of Shattered Light is infused with so many of my favorite things—a ride-or-die disaster team, crystal-scarred cityscapes with Final Fantasy vibes, enigmatic and bloodthirsty villains, and a violently-colored cyberpunk world teeming with danger and adventure.

It's amazing to see readers exploring this world now, too. And I can't wait to show you all where these characters go in the upcoming sequel!

(review is for my NetGalley ratio <3)

This was a disappointment. The characters felt one-dimensional and the plot was all over the place. Also, I was expecting it to just have a sapphic romance, not a love triangle.

City of Shattered Light was the sci-fi I needed! From the main characters, to the setting, worldbuilding and actual plot, this made me feel like I was playing a video game. The aesthetic of this book was full of lights, fireing guns and baddass heroines.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book, it was an absolute delight of a read!
An action-filled debut, with romance, space heists, and found family (basically everything I want in a book). The LGBT representation was great too!

City of Shattered light was a solid debut.
It was a really enjoyable read. It's a well written book with good charcater development and a well executed storyline. I loved how distinct the characters were and the action and sci-fi scenes are well done and very entertaining. The world-building is out of this world, literally.
Overall, I adored this book and I recommend this to everyone.

Perfectly okay book, but I think I have just reached a point where I am sooo over love triangles (unless they turn into a poly relationship) that I just couldn't be bothered caring for the characters in this novel. Apart from that, great cyperpunk vibes and well written for a debut but just not my kind of thing anymore.

Ch 4 // DNF - This ones a case of its me not the book as I reread the synopsis and authors comments, found out there is a love triangle which is a major turnoff for me even if not a main focus.

I did like the setting from what seen in these first few chapters! Although it does jump straight into the action with characters, giving hints as to their history and who they're. I loved the technology and mech aspects, along with the action.

However I feel like in the long run won't work for me based on certain content, im not invested enough to continue reading. Although i will keep an eye out for authors other work as the writing style was interesting.

*I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Chefs kiss!
First of all, the cover is absolutely beautiful, as well as eye catching. Two women? Immediate yes for me.

I loved the scientific, futuristic vibe this book gave off and I loved the sapphic elements as well.

I am a very simple reader, I loved when the problem is spelled out for you in the plot and then the whole book becomes a quest. It felt like a great adventure, action, sapphic story that I really adored. Another strong element in the story is the found family trope. Those are the best!

WInn is a strong writer who knows how to write one heck of a story.

This book was so good!!
I loved the original plot and it’s complexity, I thought this was going to be a simple heist book but as it goes on, it becomes so much more, i was going through the pages like there was no tomorrow but when I got to the big reveal, I think it was too obvious. Overall it was amazing.

A fastpaced scifi read with engaging characters and a well-written world and story. Would live a sequel!

This book was solid. For a debut, I didn't hate it. That being said, certain aspect of it definitely fell short for me, but! Overall, very solid.

I really enjoyed Riven, and I loved the relationships she had with the other characters, and the world building was unique and different! We don't see too many cyberpunk novels, and so this was a refreshing addition to the YA genre.

I also enjoyed the bisexual love triangle, and I'm so glad to be seeing more LGBTQIA+ rep within fiction these days!!

I gave this book 1 star because I could not get through it.
It was hard for me to feel connected with the characters and I felt like I was not compelled to learn more about them.
I only read about 10% of the book, so do not take this review at heart. This book may not have been for me, or maybe it was the fact that I needed to read it on my phone. Overall, I just had a very hard time getting into the story. I loved the idea and I wanted to learn more about the CEO's daughter, but not enough to continue.

Asa Almeida wants to do more than live in her father’s shadow. When he uploads her sister’s mind to an experimental brain, she’ll do anything to save her. In an effort to save her sister, she stows away on a ship full of underworld criminals. They’ll have to work together to achieve both of their goals, and Asa might just find a ragtag family along the way.

This one was fun. Not great, not bad, just a fun ride. The characters are definitely where it shines.. I found myself rooting both for the heroine and also the criminals. I wanted everyone to reach their goals, even if they were a tad nefarious. I appreciated the touch of queerness, and there was lots of action to move the plot forward. I got a little stressed out a couple of times when the pace picked up, and I was invested in the characters’ journey. It’s out now if you need something fun and quick to add to your TBR.

Unfortunately I will not be able to finish this book due to other commitments but would still reccommend to fans of fun Sci fi adventures with sassy characters and action packed fight scenes!

Oh this book was so interesting. City of Shattered Light was gripping, fun and SAPPHIC!! Everything I look for in books. I loved the characters and the story was amazing, 10/10!

This book has so much potential, but for me the attention was on the plot so much that the characters and relationships got lost in it all. I enjoyed reading this book, but I didn’t care about any of the relationships. I’m not sure if there’s supposed to be second book, because the story itself would imply so but I cannot find any other information. Either way, if there were, I’d hope the author focuses a bit more on the characters in their quiet moments, especially since the world is built by now – for the most part.

Normally I’m a super easy person to make me ‘ship’ something but I just didn’t care. We didn’t spend enough time with the characters and there was physical attraction, and then suddenly it went to 100%… I feel like I missed a big part of their relationship (and not just with Riven and Asa). There were so little characters that it should’ve been easy to truly develop and get to know them all on a deeper level, but we just didn’t.

Also, while the world was built better than the characters, I still have so many questions. The author remains pretty vague about the whole Requiem situation. What are the politics like? How did it truly develop into what it is now? I have many questions, and it seems to me like Asa should too, but apparently she’s just super accepting.