City of Day by October K. Santerelli
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a fun adventure that grabbed me from the first page. The world Santerelli created is rich and vibrant, conveyed in delicious details that managed not to detract from the pacing of the story. The island country of Astera suffers from a corrupt ruling class and an ancient curse that causes deadly specters to walk the streets at night. The book's protagonists will have to face both.

Thislen is a street urchin who hides his true identity. He makes a point of not caring about others, but he's not very good at it. From the very first chapter all his efforts go toward helping others. Mila is an apprentice apothecary with a family secret that even she is unaware of. She's spunky yet vulnerable, and she's a bit of an adventure seeker, at least until she actually experiences adventure first hand. Both protagonists are interesting, believable characters who bring a unique perspective to the narrative.

The one place this book falls down for me is the ending, or lack thereof. This book ended not so much in a cliffhanger as a sinkhole. There really was no aspect of resolution. The characters are left in limbo and none of the antagonists have been dealt with in the slightest. I knew going in that this was the beginning of a series, so I assumed the Vaim (the main conflict) would not be resolved, but I did expect at least some small measure of closure, perhaps the thwarting of a lesser bad guy so there was some sense of progress being made.

As Mila succinctly puts it at the end of the book: "We can't leave things this way." We literally can't, because it's not a complete story yet. Luckily, Santerelli is planning to release book 2, City of Night, soon. I don't doubt it will be another wonderful adventure, and I'm excited to see what happens next.


View all my reviews