City of Last Chances - BookWyrm.World

English language

Published Dec. 18, 2023 by Head of Zeus.

ISBN:: 978-1-80110-844-7

View on OpenLibrary

(2 reviews)

4 editions

David Scrimshaw reviewed City of Last Chances by Adrian Tchaikovsky

The start of a fabulous series

5 stars

Adrian Tchaikovsky writes such different stories and in so many genres, that you probably should not assume that just because you've loved other things he's written, you'll love this.

But if you like a fantasy world with compelling characters and a variety of magical systems that are internally consistent but different from each other and cogent observations about bureaucracy and power, you will like this.

The second book, House of Open Wounds is out. The third, Days of Shattered Faith, is on pre-order right now. It would be all right with me if there are many, many more.

heavyboots reviewed City of Last Chances by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Struggled with the format

3 stars

This is actually a really good book, but for some reason I struggled a lot with the format, in which each chapter is told from a different character's perspective and frequently only a character that we meet for one or two chapters. Yes, there are a few "main" characters that we get to come back to again and again, but you don't really start revisiting them until later in the book and so for the first part it's kind of an endless parade of new points of view. Took me quite a while to wade through those to where everything clicked for me and I was able to keep my attention on the book for more than a single chapter at a time.

Overall, it has a good arc, a good plot, good character development etc though and I enjoyed the story quite a lot by the time I reached …

This is actually a really good book, but for some reason I struggled a lot with the format, in which each chapter is told from a different character's perspective and frequently only a character that we meet for one or two chapters. Yes, there are a few "main" characters that we get to come back to again and again, but you don't really start revisiting them until later in the book and so for the first part it's kind of an endless parade of new points of view. Took me quite a while to wade through those to where everything clicked for me and I was able to keep my attention on the book for more than a single chapter at a time.

Overall, it has a good arc, a good plot, good character development etc though and I enjoyed the story quite a lot by the time I reached the end. Just tough going at the start, and possibly only for me?