Thank you to NetGalley and Bonnier Zaffre for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Goodreads synopsis
The streets of Creije are for the deadly and the dreamers, and four crooks in particular know just how much magic they need up their sleeve to survive.
Tavia, a busker ready to pack up her dark-magic wares and turn her back on Creije for good. She’ll do anything to put her crimes behind her.
Wesley, the closest thing Creije has to a gangster. After growing up on streets hungry enough to swallow the weak whole, he won’t stop until he has brought the entire realm to kneel before him.
Karam, a warrior who spends her days watching over the city’s worst criminals and her nights in the fighting rings, making a deadly name for herself.
And Saxony, a resistance fighter hiding from the very people who destroyed her family, and willing to do whatever it takes to get her revenge
Everything in their lives is going to plan, until Tavia makes a crucial mistake: she delivers a vial of dark magic—a weapon she didn’t know she had—to someone she cares about, sparking the greatest conflict in decades. Now these four magical outsiders must come together to save their home and the world, before it’s too late. But with enemies at all sides, they can trust nobody. Least of all each other.
Review
I absolutely loved Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo so when I heard she was coming out with a new series I knew I had to read them and was lucky enough to be able to get this arc!
Alexandra has a way of completely captivating you into the world she has created with her beautiful writing style and I found myself hooked from the very beginning. This is basically a gangster fantasy and I am here for that! Give me a rag-tag bunch of misfits who are on a mission and you have me hook, line and sinker.
I really enjoyed the magic in this world and found it so interesting but for me it was the characters that made this book. I really loved the banter between the characters but I think my favourite was Tavia. She wasn’t unique in the sense that she was good at hand to hand combat or had magical abilities, she was just a busker who wanted to leave her life of crime behind her. She’s such a strong character who constantly fights for what she believes in.
I did really enjoy this book but found myself unable to give it five stars. I found myself comparing it to Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo as the two have similar main characters, mainly Wesley and Tavia who reminded me a lot of Kaz and Inej. Another small issue I had with the book was that I managed to guess one of the biggish plots quite early on which always makes the reveal anti-climactic and slightly disappointing!
However, I still really loved this book. It was fast-paced, action packed with slow burn romances mixed in. Plus, as I mentioned before, give me a gangster fantasy book and I will always read and love it!
Rating: 4/5 stars
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