Elizabeth Richards
373 pg., ARC
Putnam
4 stars | B+
From Goodreads:
A dark and tender post-apocalyptic love story set in the aftermath of a bloody war. In a city where humans and Darklings are now separated by a high wall and tensions between the two races still simmer after a terrible war, sixteen-year-olds Ash Fisher, a half-blood Darkling, and Natalie Buchanan, a human and the daughter of the Emissary, meet and do the unthinkable--they fall in love. Bonded by a mysterious connection that causes Ash's long-dormant heart to beat, Ash and Natalie first deny and then struggle to fight their forbidden feelings for each other, knowing if they're caught, they'll be executed--but their feelings are too strong. When Ash and Natalie then find themselves at the center of a deadly conspiracy that threatens to pull the humans and Darklings back into war, they must make hard choices that could result in both their deaths.
First and foremost, this review of Black City will be completely spoiler-free, for the book is not released until November 13, 2012. This review is of an uncorrected galley, so no specific quotes will be taken from the book.
That being said, let's dive right in, shall we?
So, as per usual, I'll start off this review with a little analysis of the writing style in Black City. One vital aspect of this book is that it is split into two different perspectives, those of Natalie, the story's heroine, and Ash, the story's hero. Here's where things get a bit tricky with dual perspectives, for they can either go successfully correct, or terribly wrong. I, unfortunately, think the latter of those two, and the writing style as a whole is the reason the book lacked a fifth star. It isn't that the style was bad, but it wasn't clarified and crisp enough to solidify who was telling the story at a certain moment in time, and there were definitely moments where one character's perspective would be valued more than the other, but the reader could accidentally think that one character is narrating when, actually, the other is. Elizabeth Richards didn't make a clear voice for Natalie and Ash, so there were times that I was slipping up on who was telling the story. Some books establish a pattern with the whole dual perspectives idea, and the book started off that way (every other chapter, Ash would narrate; same for Natalie), but then got all jumbled up and difficult to discern from whom the events were being perceived. As far as actual dialogue goes for the story, there was a sense of realism, but I do not think at all that the dialogue had this massive spotlight shining on it, for it really didn't stick out to me. I'd like there to be these intense, important conversations happening between characters, and I feel like we didn't get those in this book, and it was a disappointment.
The second division of my review is the plot. The story revolves around a post-war city that has been split up by a World War-esque wall that separates the humans from the Darklings. What the Darklings are, I'm not entirely sure, even after reading the book. They're basically vampires and werewolves mixed together, and that definitely lowered the appeal of the book to me. From the first chapter, I thought the book was going to be some Fifty Shades of Grey for Teens, but I was proven wrong by page 50. I was glad that the plot wasn't so reliable on the sex appeal of Ash, who is obviously the object of Natalie's affection. However, it would be false to say that the plot was not dependent on romance. Going into the story, the plot and the world had so much potential. I mean, I don't read a lot of strongly-written stories of segregation and towns that are walking on eggshells based on their citizens' isolation from one another. There's this looming feeling that if the wall crumbles, all hell will break loose, for the humans hold strong prejudices against Darklings, and will go to extremes to avoid them. I was really hoping for more information on the war. If anything with a post-war story, readers NEVER get details about the war. For example, Legend by Marie Lu, and Cinder by Marissa Meyer, are two of my very favorite books, but they are both post-war stories, and the wars are never developed. If you're going to have a story so centered around the aftermath of a war, please evaluate on the war, its catalysts, its goings-on, etc. Why even have the war if you aren't going to mention it, aside from passing comments and tiny bits of exposition. For all I care, have the book take place after all of Wal-Mart closes down across the country, but keep the outcome; a city split by hatred and disgust. Really, at this point, they're both of equal significance to me. There are specific moments where the wall has extreme importance (and it really does matter in the whole of the story), and those moments gave me literal chills and bursts of excitement, but I just wish that it was highlighted more. Touching briefly on the arc of the plot, the novel had a clear, defined arc, and things made sense in the order that they did. Fast-pacing was good in this book, and while the conflict of the book is definitely not what I expected (the book relies a lot more on the interaction between characters), I still think it worked.
Rounding out the review will be character development. I'd first like to say that the romance in this book started out very undeveloped. I mean I didn't feel anything at all when Ash's big reveal came about a third of the way into the book, pertaining to their romance. For once, I'd just like to read a book where romance doesn't come into play until later in the story, or even the series for that matter. I definitely loved that about Harry Potter. The first bit of actual infatuation coming to fruition is in Order of the Phoenix, when Harry is dating Cho, and even a bit when Ginny is dating Michael Corner. We spend four books not having, and not needing, romance, and it entered the story at the right time. For books like this, I would have liked more interaction between the characters, and not just this sudden love for each other because they felt like two halves of the same person. I just thought it was pathetic, and it developed over the course of the story, but definitely meant nothing to me at its initial creation. Like I said, the characters did not have a set voice, and that took a toll on their internal characterization, yet I think that the only characters that had big changes were Natalie's mother, a government official, and Ash. You may be thinking, Omg Natalie doesn't change AT ALL? Wtf, this book's gonna suck. You'd be wrong. Natalie doesn't change, true, but I think that's a good thing. Natalie starts out as this patient, sympathetic, compassionate girl, and those features are not changed by the end of the story. I think that her attitude impacts others, though, and that's very rare in YA fiction, so I value that. I'm glad that she didn't become this action heroine or a bratty, rebellious bitch to her mother, for it wouldn't have made sense. So while the characterization did wind up all over the board in some cases, it redeemed itself in some aspects.
Black City is the first in a trilogy, and is set to be released on November 13, 2012.
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