Please Note:  I received an advance copy of this novel from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  This did not influence the opinions in my review in any way.

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

This dark epic fantasy follows the heirs of four noble houses—each gifted with a divine power—as they form a tenuous alliance to keep their kingdom from descending into a realm-shattering war.

The Four Realms—Life, Death, Light, and Darkness—all converge on the city of dusk. For each realm there is a god, and for each god there is an heir.

But the gods have withdrawn their favor from the once vibrant and thriving city. And without it, all the realms are dying.

Unwilling to stand by and watch the destruction, the four heirs—Risha, a necromancer struggling to keep the peace; Angelica, an elementalist with her eyes set on the throne; Taesia, a shadow-wielding rogue with rebellion in her heart; and Nik, a soldier who struggles to see the light—will sacrifice everything to save the city.

But their defiance will cost them dearly.

Review:

I started reading Tara Sim's novels when she wrote the Timekeeper series.  It was a Steampunk delight, full of an alternate London universe.  Her latest series, which begins with the novel, The City of Dusk, is even more impressive.  Knowing that there will be three books, the author takes her time weaving an impressive web of gods, religions, families, and political intrigue.  It' a little slow going at first, as there are many characters, each with a complex backstory.   But, at about one-third into the story, the action starts to ramp up, and then never stops.  I really loved the characters and their relationships, the story, and the underlying exploration of free-will.  Weighing in at 579 pages, this is an epic novel.  One that will be worth it for the patient reader.

What I Liked:

World-Building:

There are so many layers to this world.  Four "Houses" (families) form the aristocracy of this world.  Each family is tied to four gods, and wields power derived from that God.  When they go to the church dedicated to their god, they can actually talk to them!  This is because, long ago, each of the gods had a child with someone from each of the four families.  So they literally are descendants of gods.  Learning about what each of the character's powers were was just one of the cool parts of the book.  

There is also lots of political intrigue between the Houses, and the King.  The King doesn't have an heir, so he plays each House against each other, teasing them that one of the four houses will become the next ruler.  This was mostly to keep the Houses from forming any alliances that would challenge the King, directly.  But this constant possibility of gaining even more power, each family puts intense pressure on the younger first-borns to be perfect, and to not form any friendships with young people of the other Houses.  Of course, the four main characters follow no such advice.  

Themes:

One of the main themes of this book is about free-will.  Do the young people have any choice in how they live?  Or are they ultimately pawns in a larger game between gods (or families)?  If you knew your life (and death) was predetermined, would you fight it, or accept it?  As this is a YA Fantasy novel... of course they fight to maintain who each of them are.  This also goes for all the obligations that each family loads onto the first-born children.  Their parents have an expectation that the main characters, Angelica, Taesia, Nik, and Risha will unquestionably want to grab power from the other Houses.  It's a classic case of parents living vicariously through their kids.  All of the parent's unrealized ambitions are thrown onto their children.  It's a heavy load for them to bear. 

Characters:

Each of the four main characters have very complex relationships with their parents, their siblings, and their gods.  Both Angelica and Nik have parents who are more concerned with amassing power than on being good parents.  Nik's father, in particular, is quite abusive.  He blames Nik for the death of Rain (Nik's older brother), never letting him forget that he wishes Nik would have died, instead.  Angelica can't seem to access her powers, so her mother tries all sorts of punishments to induce her to tap into her powers.  It doesn't work.  It just makes Angelica more and more desperate to find ways to get more power.

Taesia and Risha have plenty of godlike abilities.  But they are both constrained by their strong love for their siblings.  Motivated to protect them, they are willing to do anything.  This is more of a problem for Risha, who has a strong sense of responsibility.  Taesia, on the other hand, is selfish and resorts to violence more often than not.  It's disturbing how much she enjoys the power of her abilities, and how little remorse she feels about it afterwards.

Julian, a supporting character, gives us the point of view of the more everyday man.  He is a soldier who's supporting his ailing mother.  He takes on increasingly dangerous missions if it will mean he can afford his mother's medicines.  He and his friends have no time for the aristocracy and their entitlement.  Having lots of preconceived ideas about Nik, and Taesia, he is confused when he has to interact with them, and they turn out to not lead the easy life he had believed.  

Story:

The story follows the approaching Cosmic Alignment of the four gods and their powers, something that only happens every one hundred years.  When it does, the barriers between realms will be at their thinnest, providing an opportunity for the "Sealing" to be broken.  From Angelica, Nik, Taesia, and Risha's viewpoint, this would help souls cross over to their final resting place, and also bring more prosperity to the kingdom.  But there are risks that they are not even aware of. There are plots, on top of plots, on top of plots here.  But the author takes the time to lay them all out, so it isn't confusion to the reader.  But, oh man, it's like three dimensional chess going on, here!

What I was Mixed About:

Pacing:

As much as I loved the story, it is very slow going in the first third of the book.  There's a lot for the author to line up for the reader.  But I can see that some people may not stick around for the payoff.  I did like that it wasn't just one giant action scene after another.  There are many moments of character development sprinkled throughout that make the ending much more satisfying.

Gore:

I know this is a book with lots of battle sequences, but this book is extremely gory, at times.  It nearly gave me nightmares!  I'm just glad I didn't listen to this as an audiobook, as I think listening to some of the descriptions would make me ill.  In reading this, I was able to skim some of the creepiest details.

Rating:  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Release Date:  March 22, 2022

Author:  Tara Sim

Publisher:  Hodder & Stoughton

Genre:  YA Fantasy/Horror

Page Length:  576 Pages

Source:  NetGalley

Format:  E-Book

Recommendation:  Although it starts slowly, this is an epic fantasy novel that will be well worth your time.