A New All Time Favourite Book

This book was nothing short of amazing. The story of Jovan and Kalina, friends of the chancellor, Tain, as their city goes through intrigue and betrayal. Sam Hawke writes a brilliant story with characters who are so well developed and interesting that I did not want to put this book down for even a moment. Jovan and Kalina were amazing and are now among my favourite ever characters; the likes of FitzChivalry Farseer, Sam Vimes, Hadrian Blackwater, Sand Dan Glokta, and Thomas Senlin.

The novel is heavily character-based and told from the POVs of Jovan and Kalina as they deal with political intrigue, assassination attempts, a city under siege, and much more.

Jovan is the younger of the two siblings and is secretly the Tain's master of poison and chemicals. He tests all food before it can be eaten and puts his life on the line daily for his chancellor and friend. He's a really interesting character, knows a lot about his trade, and cares for those around him. Jovan has OCD that in times of high stress can be crippling and it's obvious that he often struggles with how it affects him.

Kalina is Jovan's older sister. She has forgone the role Jovan has because her body is weak and couldn't develop an immunity to poison. I can't pinpoint exactly what she struggled with, but it seemed to me she had chronic fatigue as well as some other physical struggles. As someone who struggles with similar issues in my day-to-day life, I found Kalina to be an extremely compelling character. She has these issues, but she doesn't bemoan her body, every day she fights to do what she can, to help others, to protect her friends. She regularly deals with people who underestimate her and think her useless at anything physical and is determined not to let her own disabilities stop her. In short, I loved Kalina's character and found her incredibly relatable.

Sam Hawke scatters little pieces of information and detail throughout the book and they frequently reappear later on and show just how important the little things are. Everything is done for a reason, be it character growth, plot development, intrigue creation, or something else.

City of Lies deals with some pretty interesting themes, including; xenophobia in times of trouble, social inequality, religion, traditions, and more. The book is fantastically written and a really enjoyable read. I really loved its heavy character focus and that the main characters were genuinely nice people. City of Lies is easily among my favourite books of all time.

The two narrators also did a fantastic job in their portrayals of the main characters and were fantastic to listen to.

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Aargh!

I really enjoyed this book but there were times I was shouting “just shoot them FFS” or “why don’t you just tell them?” at my phone. The plot is dependent on the characters getting information or coming to a realisation and then not telling anybody when it would actually help..grrrr!

Still compelling characters and a twisty, twisty plot kept me guessing right to the end.

Narration by the two narrators was also good.

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Waste of a credit.

If you're older than your mid-teens, this probably isn't for you. 1 dimensional, childish characters and a plot full of holes. 2 narrators doesn't really work either, some strange pronunciation. 2 stars because it was bearable enough to finish.

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4 people found this helpful