City of Light by Keri Arthur
2.5 / 5 stars
This is the second book I've read by this author. The first one was some time ago, and while I was not impressed back then, I saw potential. The blurb for this new series was intriguing, so I decided to give it another go . . . I should have waited a bit longer.
City of Light has a great story idea. A war between the races—humans, shifters, vampires—resulted in rifts between worlds that opened the door to creatures of nightmare. The post-war bitterness that still burns on all sides stands in the way of much needed cooperation in order to face a terror that none can hide from.
During the war, humans created déchets--enhanced human hybrids—to aid in the war effort. All were believed to have been eradicated. All except for Tiger. Not only is Tiger a supersoldier, she has the DNA of a vampire, tiger shifter, and possesses psychic seeking abilities. She is also immune to almost every known poison.
She is special.
She lives surrounded by the ghosts of shifter children who died from a gas poisoning from which Tiger alone survived. They love and protect her in their abandoned military bunker of a home outside the city.
One evening, she goes to the rescue of a lost child and inadvertently rescues Jonas, a shifter with a deep-seated hatred of all things déchet. He carries a lot of anger, a lot of the time. And we are reminded of this barely contained anger quite frequently, lest we forget that he is very angry. Very often.
What the first one-third of the book actually forgot was Jonas' name. It flipped back and forth between Jonas and Jonah enough times that I kept going back and re-reading sections to see where I missed the introduction of this very familiar character. But alas, Jonah eventually settled on being Jonas. (Seriously? This was not even a self-published book.)
And then there are the info dumps. If you can overlook those, there are still long descriptions of every thought and act of Tiger's. I skimmed pages and didn't miss anything important. So, was there anything of merit amidst the muddle?
The overall plot is sound—a species war, post-war rifts between worlds that let loose a creature no one is safe from, the bitter rivalry between species that must be overcome in order to face this new menace, the suspense of trying to figure out who the accomplices are in this world, combined with the appearance of a long-lost friend—all make for a definite page-turner. Plus, the world building is pretty interesting. But once again, you must sift through a lot of fluff to get to the essence.
City of Light held my interest and kept me guessing long enough to get to the end. But the character development is weak for anyone other than Tiger, and I'm really not a fan of this very special, extremely talented, rare superhuman hybrid. Did I mention just how special she is?