The City, once a thriving metropolis, is now an ancient, dark, and half flooded, inciting endless wars and a wasteland where it was once green. In the heart of the City lives the evil emperor. He is incredibly old, hasn't been seen in a long time, and rumors now fly that he is not human. Some come to believe that in order to stop the war, they must kill the emperor. In the sewers beneath the City, the poor struggle to stay alive in the darkness. Those who live there hope that Shuskara, the emperor's former general who has survived for a long time in hiding, will be the one who can battle the emperor and free the City.
I liked the change of this epic fantasy book. There are no elves or dragons, instead there is a story told from the point of view of children containing an ongoing war. To be fair, there is a giant included. It's a complex story, and one that required me to look back a few times in order to keep up with all of the characters. There is a fair amount of violence within the war, and the story starts off slow, and the pace never really peaks, but more plateaus at a steady pace. This is to be understood considering the complexity of the number of characters and plot lines, and the immense detail. The detail serves to immerse the reader in the world Stella Gemmell has built. Knowing that THE CITY is Gemmell's debut novel, not counting the novel she finished of her husband's when he passed away, there is much to be said. The writing is solid and the story is dark and gritty, yet rich.
In her debut solo novel, Stella Gemmell, coauthor of the
βpowerfulβ (Booklist) conclusion to David Gemmellβs Troy
series, weaves a dark epic fantasy about a war-torn
civilization and the immortal emperor who has it clutched in
his evil grasp.
The City is ancient, layers upon layers. Once a thriving
metropolis, it has sprawled beyond its bounds, inciting
endless wars with neighboring tribes and creating a barren
wasteland of what was once green and productive.
In the center of the City lives the emperor. Few have ever
seen him, but those who have recall a man in his prime,
though he should be very old. Some grimly speculate that he
is no longer human, if he ever was. A small number have come
to the desperate conclusion that the only way to stop the
war is to end the emperorβs unnaturally long life.
From the mazelike sewers below the City, where the poor
struggle to stay alive in the dark, to the blood-soaked
fields of battle, where few heroes manage to endure the
never-ending siege, the rebels pin their hopes on one manβ
Shuskara. The emperorβs former general, he was betrayed long
ago and is believed to be dead. But, under different
aliases, he has survived, forsaking his City and hiding from
his immortal foe. Now the time has come for him to engage in
one final battle to free the City from the creature who
dwells at its heart, pulling the strings that keep the land
drenched in gore.
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