My favorite part about this book was the diversity and representation. However, the plot was a bit redundant. Characters were likable and the writing was great.

Thanks to NetGalley & Orbit for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

City of Dusk follows four heirs to long family lines with magic in their blood. One family deals in necromancy, another in elements, one in light, and lastly, one family dealing with shadows. Everything starts to fall apart and the young adults must discover secrets that their families and the gods have kept under wraps for decades.

I almost DNF'ed this book a couple of times. The pacing is veeeerrryyyy slow, which is a shame, considering the magic system and characters are interesting in this book.

I really couldn't bring myself to care about half the characters, I think the only one I remotely cared about was Julian. Everyone else was pretty self-centered and rude which I tend to not like in a protagonist. Julian was mainly just trying to get medicine for his mom, everyone else was just like....Woe is Me! My Parents Are Disappointed In Me! Like, okay, can y'all do something nice for someone else for once? No? Okay.

One of my main issues with the characters is that they never actually TALKED to each other. A majority of the drama in the book is stupidity and refusal to talk to each other about the plots happening throughout the book.

I also didn't like how many POV chapters there were--but this is a me thing. I prefer 2-3 POVs at a time and there were...well, I should know the exact number but the POVs voices sounded the same half the time but I think there were at least 5 POV chapters. For my tiny brain unable to memorize names this was hell.

It's a shame I didn't like the book because the magic system was really cool and I liked the family politics--each family has its own magic system. The diversity was a huge plus--especially different sexualities present in the book. Alas! The writing was not my cup of tea.

I thought that this book was pretty good. Though, I do think that it shouldn't be considered or marketed as Adult when tonally and pacing-wise it is very, very YA. I don't think that's a negative thing--I love YA Sci-fi and Fantasy, I just think the marketing and shelf categorization for this is a bit misleading. I also think that this is a bit long for the first installment in this series. I think this could have stopped around the 75% mark and that last bit could have been incorporated into the next installments of the series. This book was incredibly engaging, though, and I felt really sucked in and immersed in the world and the characters. The world and characters are really well fleshed out, which helps keep up that really engaging narrative all the way through the story. I just wish it had been a bit shorted, or more concise, which is really rare for me to wish for! I am definitely thrilled for the next part of this story and, with a writing ability like this, I'm really interested in checking out more of Tara Sim's backlog. Overall, I recommend you pick this up and give it a shot: the good far outweighs the few complaints I had!

The City of Dusk is an intricate political fantasy where four warring aristocratic families try to curry favor with the king and leverage their unique god-given magic for power and influence. Our main characters are the heirs and spares of these illustrious families, born into a world that is fading at an accelerated rate, cut off from the other realms and their magic. With all four families eyeing the crown, the youngest generation has more on their minds. Separately and together, they have ideas for how to save their world. But there is much they don't know about magic, about each other, and about other powerful forces on the move, all who would use them as pawns in a terrifying, high-stakes game.

What I enjoyed most about this book were the twists and turns, the queer cast, and the reflections on power and privilege. While the relationships were a bit surface level and trope-y for my tastes (especially the romantic plots were predictable and rushed), the political power games were fascinating and kept many surprises until the very end. In terms of queer representation, there are both sapphic and mlm romances brewing among the main cast at the end of this first installment, and an important side character is a trans girl. There is also an established sapphic couple as one of the main character's mom and stepmom. It seems to be a queer-norm society. I appreciated how the characters struggle throughout the book to come to terms with their own power in a magical and political sense. They have to consider their duty, the future of their world, and what role they should play in it. They also have to consider what greater powers are meddling in their lives and those of everyone, powers that perhaps shouldn't be revered once viewed in a more honest light.

Beyond relationships that took a back seat to plot, the main deterrent keeping me from being fully immersed in this story was the drawn-out pacing. I lost motivation at several points throughout because I felt sluggish moving through the plot. I think it's always a risk having a book this long, and it takes a special connection between reader and book to keep interest up throughout. That didn't happen for me here, but I still found a lot to admire and enjoy.

This book was sooo long! There were so many unique characters. I mean 4 families with four different magic systems is no easy task. Props to the author for making it work!.
This is Tara Sim's first adult work and it definitely feels like it still steers a bit into the YA category. But my goodness this world and its lore was fascinating at had me turning pages.
I also so much great queer rep!

We follow the journey of the heirs of four houses, ruled by gods and magic leading up to Godsnight where the king will announce his successor. The gods have retreated from their realm and magic is dying, along with the sun. As the people believe that Godsnight will help the heirs bring back the magic, they find that their gods have lied to them.

This book is incredibly dense, full of world-building and multiple characters to follow. While I didn't have an issue with the pacing, I found it difficult to follow along with the different POVs as I couldn't differentiate between the characters' personalities and was only barely recognizing each character by the time we resumed their storyline. It was clear that there was one end goal to reach, Godsnight, but the backstories and situations that each character was in felt a little too drawn out, I did enjoy that it was gritty and dark and some characters were morally grey, but because I didn't emotionally connect with any of the characters or feel the need to root for their success, I'm not sure if this is a series I will continue.

Found this to be a fun fantasy read and enjoy the all characters. I found the world building a bit complicated at times but still interesting. Can’t wait to read book 2

While I am very appreciative to be able to have read an ARC of this book, I could not get into it. I was lost with some of the different family and rival dynamics and couldn’t follow the magic system as easily as I had wanted to. the writing style was brilliant and the author’s idea for this book were genius, I just couldn’t get into it.

Thank you to NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Overall, City of Dusk was middle of the road for me. I really enjoyed the first half of the book and I thought the characters and their abilities were interesting. I felt like the story was very intriguing and I think a lot of fantasy lovers will enjoy this book. But as I kept reading and got closer to the end, I realized it wasn’t really for me. I started to lose interest in the plot towards the end and I felt like there wasn’t much character development. I even started disliking a lot of the characters towards the end, and the character I liked the most wasn’t in the story as much in the second half. That being said, I do think there is a lot of potential for this story as it built up to the sequel. The story ends kind of abruptly, leaving a lot to be resolved in books 2 & 3. If you have interest in high fantasy stories involving gods, a kingdom and dark magic vibes, I’d recommend checking it out.

Book Review
The City of Dusk
by Tara Sim
Publisher: Orbit Books
Published Date: 03/22/22
Audiobook Narrator: Nikki Patel

Synopsis:
Four Gods, four noble houses, four house heirs, each with their own agendas.

Five hundred years ago, the portals to the worlds of Solara, Noctus, Mortri, and Vaega were closed off. With the closing of the portals, the blood heirs to each of the four Gods formed noble houses thus beginning a political race to take over the throne. In the current time, as Godsnight, a night when the barriers are at their weakest gets closer, the heirs to the four noble houses begin to realize that something is wrong and that they must work together to unseal the portals and bring balance back to their world.

Thoughts:
I have complicated feelings about this book. I loved the premise. Four noble houses with God's blood vying for a throne but the complexity of the story as a whole overwhelmed and confused me. I found that although the audio narrator did her best to distinguish between each of the main characters, Angelica, Nik, Taesia, and Risha, it was still hard to distinguish them. I also found that the only character that was truly memorable for me was Taesia.
I found that the atmosphere was hard to picture at times, which could also be due to the jarring swap between characters. This swapping between characters occurred from chapter to chapter but also within chapters which made it hard to follow.
On the positive side, the writing for this book was well done. I liked Tara Sim's writing style. I also felt that the plot was well executed. Because of the four perspectives, there weren't any lulls or overly dry parts of the story. Each element felt like it had a place. I do think the one thing this book lacked for me was intrigue. Although each character worked within a logical framework, I think the way the author swapped between perspectives, even midchapter, made the story hard to follow and affected the overall intrigue level of this book for me. Ultimately, I did not enjoy this book as much as I had hoped I would. Will I continue in the series? Yes. I think there is enough of a story that I will probably continue and hope for improvement. Perhaps on a second read, this book will feel less confusing, and I will have an improved opinion.

This book was wonderfully written, and a very engaging introduction to a new world.

I really liked how the conversations between Taesia and Dante was used to establish the world building, and how natural it all felt. The powers and magic system were super fascinating as well, and I really enjoyed how the introduction of this magic system was shown to shape their society and social norms. Can’t wait for the next installment in this series!

Thank you so much to Tara Sim and NetGalley for the ARC! I really enjoyed it.

thank you NetGalley for the arc !!

I loved the concept, got confused with the execution so I wasn't able to finish the book.

The characters were definitely enticing, as well as the different POVs but the plot started confusing me a lot, to the point that even halfway in I was unsure of what was happening. I might pick this up one day again but until this is a DNF.

This was one of the books I had most anticipated, and it was a little bit of a disappoint for me. The characters were a little flat, and a few times contradictory with not a lot of reason to pin it on growth. There are a few other aspects that we are told happened, but don't really see played out - specifically how the parents pit the main characters against each other. My biggest issue here though is a world-building issue - the timing of it was wrong to me. The magic was closed off from most of the world 500 years ago, and there has been little trace of it or the gods sense. Especially because this apparently caused a finite amount of magic left within the world, it felt like it would have made more sense for the cut-off to be much more recent. Tara Sim does fill these five hundred years with lore, but it felt more like it was to fill a gap, rather than why we needed a five hundred year gap from the magic. A light and easy read, but just not what I went to it looking for,

4.5 stars

I loved this New Adult epic fantasy. It follows six different perspectives and each one is unique, captivating, and compelling. The world that this story is set in is fascinating and very complex, plus you also add numerous different types of magic along with gods, it is a riveting story. I loved the characters, some I rooted for, others I loved to hate. They were shocking at times and there was never a dull moment. Two characters completely capture my attention, and I am dying to know where their storyline is going to go, I cannot wait. The writing was great, and the descriptions and layout, especially some of the fights, were amazing. There was great drama and complex romantic relationships, as well as familial ones, which drew you in. The only reason this was not a full five stars was because of the info dump at the beginning. There were so many perspectives, types of magic, and several gods it was so much to keep straight and at times I would feel overwhelmed and get confused. Needless to say, after the first 75 pages the storyline smoothed out and drew me completely in. Please go read this book, I highly recommend it!
Trigger warnings: gore, death, murder, substance use.
I received this advanced ebook, via Netgalley. This review is my own honest opinion.

Hmm I think I’m going to give this a second chance when the sequels come out because I feel like it might be a victim of mood reading. During the first chapter I thought I was going to love it but something just didn’t click for me. I got halfway through and thought both ‘I’m already halfway through has anything happened’ and ‘🤯 I’m only half through’. I expect adult fantasy to be slow but normally there are other things to keep you interested, character or dialogue or world building and I felt like there was nothing that really engaged me. Normally, I would have put it down and came back later but since it was ARC I didn’t do that.

Unfortunately this book is a DNF for me. The plot hadn’t been introduced’m by page 35 and only half the protagonists had been introduced. Way too slow for me, unfortunately.

First of all the cover is so pretty and dark. I love book covers. I also love fantasy. The City of Dusk is the first book in an epic fantasy trilogy. This is a longer book, so if you like larger books you will enjoy this one. In The City of Dusk there are four realms with four gods. Four houses with four heirs. This book follows four heirs. There is complex world building, political intrigue, and magic! An amazing magic system. I am looking forward to seeing where this series goes.
*thank you to NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review

Overall, I enjoyed this one! There was fantastic queer representation. Even though it is advertised as adult, it reads more as YA or a crossover novel. The characters were endearing, and the prose was really good.

Thank you to Orbit Books and NetGalley for the ARC. I enjoyed the concept of this book - four Houses with different types of magic inherited from the four gods. It was kind of dark in a good way and involved things like necromancy, murder, demons, possession, etc. There are quite a few characters to keep up with and they each have their own POV - I think it was beneficial to see every side of the story but they also tended to jump around a lot which was a little distracting at times. Some POVs were more interesting than others but I really liked Taesia and Julian.

There was a lot of action at the end and many plot twists that I didn’t see coming, but I do think that it would have kept my attention more if it was a bit shorter. I’m not sure if I 100% grasped the entire situation with the realms but I understood enough for it to make sense. Overall I thought this was a good start to the series and I would continue reading.

I thought, The City of Dusk, was decent. I thought it was well written overall but was a little long and slow in some places. I did also enjoy the diverse cast of characters.