3.5
Tarnished City
ByPublisher Description
MAGIC COMPELS. WE BLEED.
The captivating dystopian trilogy that began with Gilded Cage continues. In a modern Britain where magic users control wealth, politics—and you—an uprising has been crushed. In its aftermath, two families will determine the country’s fate. The ruthless Jardines make a play for ultimate power. And the Hadleys, once an ordinary family, must find the extraordinary strength to fight back.
Abi Hadley is a fugitive. Her brother, Luke, a prisoner. Both will discover that in the darkest places, the human spirit shines brightest. Meanwhile, amid his family’s intrigues, Silyen Jardine dreams of forgotten powers from an earlier age.
As blood runs in the streets of London, all three will discover whether love and courage can ever be stronger than tyranny.
How do you choose when you can’t save everyone?
Look for all three books in the mesmerizing Dark Gifts trilogy:
GILDED CAGE • TARNISHED CITY • BRIGHT RUIN
Praise for Tarnished City
“Highly recommended . . . There’s an admirable level of world-building . . . with real moments of empathy and compassion [and] a true nail-biter of a cliffhanger ending.”—Fantasy Literature
“Multifaceted complexity . . . lively, determined characters.”—Publishers Weekly
The captivating dystopian trilogy that began with Gilded Cage continues. In a modern Britain where magic users control wealth, politics—and you—an uprising has been crushed. In its aftermath, two families will determine the country’s fate. The ruthless Jardines make a play for ultimate power. And the Hadleys, once an ordinary family, must find the extraordinary strength to fight back.
Abi Hadley is a fugitive. Her brother, Luke, a prisoner. Both will discover that in the darkest places, the human spirit shines brightest. Meanwhile, amid his family’s intrigues, Silyen Jardine dreams of forgotten powers from an earlier age.
As blood runs in the streets of London, all three will discover whether love and courage can ever be stronger than tyranny.
How do you choose when you can’t save everyone?
Look for all three books in the mesmerizing Dark Gifts trilogy:
GILDED CAGE • TARNISHED CITY • BRIGHT RUIN
Praise for Tarnished City
“Highly recommended . . . There’s an admirable level of world-building . . . with real moments of empathy and compassion [and] a true nail-biter of a cliffhanger ending.”—Fantasy Literature
“Multifaceted complexity . . . lively, determined characters.”—Publishers Weekly
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesTarnished City Reviews
3.5
“Oh boy was this a ride! Luke is still our precious baby boy, he reminds me a lot of Percy Jackson, a normal boy put in an unfair situation but never loses his will or determination to push forward and always maintains his own moral code. This was a fun book to read, full of action and twists and turns not even I coudl predict. Things I did predict: Jenner's betrayal- I never thought his relationship with Abi was equal or approach, the master/slave thing gave me the ick already and Jenner always seemed so strange, as if he could turn at any moment, and when he had the chance he did indeed change. Coira being Corvan's daughter- I guessed tbis very early after the kitchen scene where Coira is able to escape the bullies unharmed, i also suspect that the crime she committed is killing her mother during childbirth, the only thing a child is condemned for in fiction. Things that surprised me- The deaths of all the couples except Oz and Jessie, apparanetly all couples die in this book, Doc and Dina, Aunt Euterupe, and Chancellor Winter all meet untimely ends. Silyen's experiments are the cause of Gavar killing Leah- this blew my mind, Silyen is a snake thru and thru, he's got a dark and uncaring heart but the BL vibe he has with Luke is crazy, the way they are connected by a soulbond, please make the ship happen!
Characters: Abi is a girl who is not humbled until the moment of Jenners betrayal, it always felt she looked down on others in a way, even her depiction and belief of Gavar is skewed in a way by her prejudice, she calls him an alcoholic cruel misogynist which is not shown to be Gavars character at all who adores his daughter and cares for Abi's commoner sister as well as fell in love with a commoner himself and surprise surprise saved not only her brother from Milmoor but Abi from the blood fair. Abi is humbled in this book a lot which is good cuz she needs to see past herself and look at the big picture.
Gavar- hes a man's man, he is the one and only, he has my heart and soul, from the beg8nning I thought the prolonged with Leah was weird and it turned out to be an experiment gone wrong! The ongoing grief and dissociation Gavar feels woth parliament and his family grows into Gavar breaking away and doing what he believes is right. If anyon4 shoukd become the next ruler I hope it is Gavar despite him not caring about the throne unlike Silyen who's been eyeing it all along. I think Gavar is the most normal equal ever, a regular man with some magical powers but doesn't believe in torture or humiliation, just wants to peacefully live and play with his daughter, who if given the chance, may have married a commoner and forfeited his birthright.
Overall, this book is hopeless. It feels like the equals win all the time, and the commoners only make a few changes that never seem to make the impact they intend. The political scheme and even the overall world favors the equals which is upsetting, I can't wait for book 3. I don't believe they'll be able to change things, but I'd like to see them try.”
About Vic James
Vic James is the author of Gilded Cage, which was shortlisted for the Compton Crook award and was a World Book Night 2018 pick, and its sequels Tarnished City and Bright Ruin. A current-affairs TV director who loves stories in all their forms, she has covered the 2016 U.S. presidential election and Britain’s EU referendum for BBC1 and has twice judged The Guardian’s Not the Booker Prize. She has lived in Rome and Tokyo, and currently lives in London.
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