Tuesday, January 31, 2017

City of Light by Keri Arthur

Title: City of Light
Author: Keri Arthur
Genre: Sci-Fi Dystopian
Series: An Outcast Novel #1

Mass Market Paperback, 304 Pages

Publication: January 5, 2016 by Signet

Source: I received a review copy from the publisher in exchange for a honest review.


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When the bombs that stopped the species war tore holes in the veil between this world and the next, they allowed entry to the Others—demons, wraiths, and death spirits who turned the shadows into their hunting grounds. Now, a hundred years later, humans and shifters alike live in artificially lit cities designed to keep the darkness at bay....

As a déchet—a breed of humanoid super-soldiers almost eradicated by the war—Tiger has spent her life in hiding. But when she risks her life to save a little girl on the outskirts of Central City, she discovers that the child is one of many abducted in broad daylight by a wraith-like being—an impossibility with dangerous implications for everyone on earth.

Because if the light is no longer enough to protect them, nowhere is safe...
 
This book was amazing and my first book by Keri Arthur. I don’t know why I waited so long. At least now I know why she has such a huge fan base, her world-building and writing is definitely top notch. I remembered being super intrigued when I first heard about Arthur’s new series and I got it when it was released but for some reason I never got around to reading it. So much regrets! City of Light is a Science Fiction Dystopian that takes the overly used supes of vampires, shifters and ghosts and spins it into something completely new and unique…nothing like I’ve ever read before and I loved all of it.

City of Light follows Tiger, a déchet, a human created super soldier with human, vampire and shifter DNA. There are two main types of déchets; assassins and lures and Tiger is the later. A Lures’ main function was to seduce, spy, and gather information from enemies. But since the war over a hundred years ago between humans and shifters destroyed most of humanity, shifters and déchets alike; Tiger believed she was the last of her kind and has kept under the radar, hiding out in an old military bunker with hundreds of ghost déchets. It’s been a quiet and lonely hundred years until one night she came across a child being hunted by vampires. Unable to turn a blind eye, Tiger rescues the girl and her incapacitated guardian and is thrust back into civilization whether she wants to or not.

I haven’t came across many sci-fi novels that incorporated vampires, shifters and ghosts …by themselves let alone all three! As for hybrid characters…you got your usual fares of Vampire/Human, Shifter/Human but never a Humanoid/Vampire/Shifter. I was skeptical at first about it all, it’s never been done before as far as I knew but Arthur pulled it off flawlessly and made it worked ; creating a world and characters that kept me engrossed and more importantly invested in the story. The world building took a little getting used to as there were so many groups involved but it was never difficult to understand. I loved that it was complex but not overwhelming with useless details.

Tiger was an awesome heroine. Despite what history said of déchets, Tiger wasn’t a mindless and unfeeling abomination. She was quite the opposite. Tiger was strong, ruthless (when she needed to be), caring and had a moral compass when others around her had none. She had more feeling (humanness) than the humans that created her and the shifters that despised her kind. I also appreciated the lack of romance in City of Light as it kept Tiger focused on the problem at hand and she wasn’t falling head over heels over a guy (which from what I heard usually happens in Arthur’s novels). However, this didn’t mean there wasn’t anything else going on. There were a few sex scenes and sexual tension going on with Tiger and another character but luckily it didn’t detract from the novel itself…since there were reasons for those graphic scenes.

I loved City of Light and am still beating myself up about reading it so late. Thankfully the sequel, Winter Halo is out so I won’t be making the same mistake twice! City of Light left readers on a big cliffhanger and I can’t wait to see what happens next with Tiger and the children! This may be my first book by Arthur but it certainly will not be my last. I highly recommend Urban Fantasy and Sci-fi readers to check this new series out, you don’t want to miss it!



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