The City of Dusk

The City of Dusk is a fantastic first installment of a series. Tara Sim has managed to intrigue and fascinate me within the pages of this masterful tale.

I was drawn in immediately by the immersive world building and fantastic character development. While some people may not enjoy a longer first installment in a series, I personally find them to be the perfect start, our author has the time to map out the world and give us true complete characters all while giving us a glimpse of what will no doubt become one of my favorite fantasy series.

The story arc is one that seems new and interesting, the way magic is treated is a new twist and one I find fascinating. The magic system introduced in this series is innovative and unique. I haven't read anything along these lines but the way it's laid out is brilliant. The entire story line had so many ranges of emotions for me, from awe at the elemental magic to empathy when certain ceremonies didn't go the way they were expected to.

Having a large cast of characters can get a little confusing at times but having the houses and different types of magic to differentiate them helps a lot in the beginning. Within the first quarter of the book their voices were unique enough that everything made sense and you could really understand who was from which house and which magic they controlled, who needed instruments to control their magic, and who needed help in other forms.

The imagery and world building are some of the best I've read in a very long time. I could see and almost feel what was being described and that's an amazing feat considering the world we're looking at. The magic seemed natural, not forced, the relationships while complex felt genuine and the setup for book two was in my opinion perfection.

I cannot wait for book this book to release, I know this is one that I'll be buying for myself to have on my bookshelves, I am so invested in our characters at this point that I just can't stop thinking about them.

There's so much more I could say but it would include way to many spoilers so I'll just leave it at if you love fantasy, mystery, intrigue, and magic then this is the book for you.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.