“Because just when Gavar thought things couldn’t get any worse, of course they always, always could.”
-Vic James, Tarnished City
Hi everyone! I was very lucky to have been sent a copy of Tarnished City by the lovely Vic James from the equally lovely Alice at Pan Macmillan. It’s the second book in The Dark Gifts Trilogy (you can check out my review of the first book, Gilded Cage, here.)
Now, although this review is spoiler free for Tarnished City, it will contain spoilers for Gilded Cage so go and read that first!
Check out the blurb:
A thrilling Orwellian vision of Britain, with a rebellious Hunger Games heart, Tarnished City is the second title in Vic James’s electrifying Dark Gifts Trilogy, following Gilded Cage.
A corrupted city
A dark dream of power
Luke is a prisoner, condemned for a murder he didn’t commit. Abi is a fugitive, desperate to free him before magic breaks his mind. But as the Jardines tighten their grip on a turbulent Britain, brother and sister face a fight greater than their own.
New alliances and old feuds will remake the nation, leaving Abi and Luke questioning everything – and everyone – they know. And as Silyen Jardine hungers for the forgotten Skill of the legendary Wonder King, the country’s darkest hour approaches. Freedom and knowledge both come at a cost. So who will pay the price?
Okay, so events in Gilded Cage finished pretty explosively (sorry, couldn’t resist!), and I was beyond glad I had the second book to dive into straight away to see what happened next! In theory, that is. In reality, I hit a reading slump that deprived me of a week’s worth of reading, so go figure. Anyway, once I’d recovered from the dreaded slump, I had Tarnished City to devour, and devour it I did!
Because while Gilded Cage is a great read, Tarnished City is AMAZING.
Luke and Abi seem to have matured greatly overnight and their parents don’t appear much in this book, giving these two even more of a stage to shine on. The plot is gripping and fast paced, with the stakes higher than ever and I could. not. put. the. book. down.
It was darker, more intriguing, and infinitely more bloodier than the first book.
We see more of this alternative Britain in this second instalment, which was really interesting, as I love a good bit of world building! As we already understood the mechanics of this world from the first book, I got into the book from the first page and was hooked from then on! It reminded me of The Empire Strikes Back a little – in Tarnished City, the establishment are fighting back, and their power and influence seems greater than ever. I worried so much for my precious characters during this book! I won’t tell you which ones though, because where would the fun be in that?!
I seriously loved that Silyen got his own POV chapters in this book as I find him so intriguing to read about and I definitely enjoyed seeing more of him. I also found myself liking all of the other characters more than I did in the first book; their character development has been great and like I said, I raced through this book trying to find out what would happen to them all!
Overall, this is a darker, grittier read that had all the elements I loved from the first book – unique magic system, enthralling premise and seriously interesting, multi-dimensional characters – but somehow managed to elevate them into an even more compelling read. There were plenty of twists and shocking surprises, the plot of this one will snatch you up and take you for a hell of a ride!
5/5 stars for this one and I seriously recommend it to all fans of dystopians and fantasy/magical books!
(TW for death, blood, torture and grittier subject content).
Has anyone read these books? What did you think of them? Has anyone else read any magical books lately?
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