Book Review: City of Last Chances by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Metadata
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Author | Adrian Tchaikovsky |
| Fic/Non Fic | Fiction |
| Genre | Fantasy |
| Format | Audiobook |
| Rating | 5/5 |
High Level Thoughts
Tchaikovsky is a master of spinning an entire novel around one central theme. Obsessed with religion and ideology, City of Last Chances follows a wide swatch of characters through a rebellion. It establishes not only what they believe in principle, but where those principles meet the practicalities of revolution. It is almost a sci-fi lens applied to a fantasy novel, and it completely captured me. After reading a lot of fantasy, you can usually see where the story is going, but this book continually surprised me in delightful ways.
Who would like it
For anyone who is a casual fan of history and enjoys thinking about how ideologies have shaped our modern world, City of Last Chances is the fantasy book for you. It does an exceptional job grounding these lofty ideals in characters that are in a world and living it. While the history of the world isn’t exactly laid out before you, the culture comes through in spades. The decision to split PoVs between so many characters drives home the uniqueness of the world and the conflicting views on different elements of the culture make them feel lived in.
Who would not
While this book seemed almost tailor made for me, I imagine there are some readers that will struggle with it. This book is dense in world building and characters. It managed to make everything understandable in the moment, but there were definitely sections where I had forgotten who was who, or struggled to map character relationships early. Another difficulty here is the changing PoV. I loved the shift from character to character and getting a new lens on the world each time, but for readers who enjoy a closer relationship to their protagonists, this book may be hard to follow.
Rating and Conclusion
5/5 City of Last Chances makes you fall in love with an entire cast of characters and the city they are trapped in. I’m not sure I would want to visit, but this is such a fresh take on a fantasy novel that I can’t help but love it.