Library Journal: Vycol Ferec believes he’s working for the city of Wickhills, doing good and smoothing down the rough edges. However, he’s really the secret police, and this mission is going to get a whole lot of people killed, including his own team—unless they betray him first. He’s protecting a scientist who has discovered a way to destroy all the city walls, and everyone is out to capture that secret so they can do unto others first. Vycol Ferec is never certain whether he should keep running or stop fighting because he’s burning through his friends and his enemies, and it looks like no one is going to come out of this alive, possibly not even the city he loves. This gas-lamp urban fantasy combines an exciting adventure, a walk through dangerous, secret places, and one man’s crisis. The pace is relentless, the characters are unreliable at every turn, and the stakes are high with every step. VERDICT Recommend Mohamed’s (The First Thousand Trees) latest to lovers of gas-lamp fantasy, epic political machinations, or hidden motives and anyone who has wondered what a fantasy version of Green City Wars by Adrian Tchaikovsky would look like.
Jul 222026