Black City by Elizabeth Richards
Release date: November 13th, 2013
Published by: Penguin
Sister's Say: Dark, Dangerous, and Deliciously Different
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.
This book has been on my radar for a while now. With human-like creatures called Darklings, a scary war-torn dystopian society and forbidden love that no one can resist, how can anyone say no? Black City had a way of evoking emotion with me, so much so that I had to put it down and go talk about it on twitter. At first, I wasn't sure how I felt, but the more I talked about it to friends, the more I realized how brilliant it was. I think the joy in this book is it's uniqueness. It made me terribly angry at points and even forced some unwanted feelings in me, but all of that adds to how refreshingly different this book is.
So, on to these "emotions" that this book drew out of me. It was....dare I say it.....a love triangle. Gasp! It did have a love triangle, but not one of your everyday run of the mill, heroine torn between her 2 guys mess. This one basically ripped my heart out! Before you read this book, just chuck out all of the normal YA stereotypical love triangles. Ms. Richards gives you a triangle of the hero trapped between 2 girls. The crazy part is, there is a CRUEL twist of fate in the story that truly makes this triangle torturous. It made me question the rules of fate. What makes someone a soul mate and what is it in another person that binds 2 people together? Terrible questions that will cause you to run to twitter like I did to seek solice and advice from fellow YA lovers.
The world setup is superb and draws the reader into the characters plight for normalcy, justice, and equality. It's very reminiscent of the history of this world that even though it is fantasy, this truly would have happened if Darklings exsisted along side humans on this planet. I hurt, grieved, and empathised so well for these characters. I wanted to step inside this book to prevent them anymore pain. Emotions, emotions, emotions, I am telling you!
And if you want the big guns of emotion, wait until the end! This book has a killer of an ending that will leave everyone craving more and quite possibly in tears! It's a crazy, show stopping conclusion that left me dying for book 2, but NOT with a loathsome cliffhanger! Three cheers for no cliffhanger, right?!?!
So in conclusion, if you are a fan of dystopian, fantasy, or YA in general, I think you will enjoy this book. I give you fair warning, some of the emotions are not pretty that I felt, but feel free to come vent to me on twitter! And, you like me will soon realize how brilliant an author has to be to be able to cause such emotions in her readers!
