Daughter of the Burning City

Amanda Foody — 2017

A darkly irresistible new fantasy set in the infamous Gomorrah Festival, a traveling carnival of debauchery that caters to the strangest of dreams and desires. Sixteen-year-old Sorina has spent most of her life within the smouldering borders of the Gomorrah Festival. Yet even among the many unusual members of the travelling circus-city, Sorina stands apart as the only illusion-worker born in hundreds of years. This rare talent allows her to create illusions that others can see, feel and touch, with personalities all their own. Her creations are her family, and together they make up the cast of the Festival's Freak Show. But no matter how lifelike they may seem, her illusions are still just that -- illusions -- and not truly real. Or so she always believed...until one of them is murdered. Desperate to protect her family, Sorina must track down the culprit and determine how they killed a person who doesn't actually exist. Her search for answers leads her to the self-proclaimed gossip-worker Luca, and their investigation sends them through a haze of political turmoil and forbidden romance, and into the most sinister corners of the Festival. But as the killer continues murdering Sorina's illusions one by one, she must unravel the horrifying truth before all of her loved ones disappear.

Reviews

Jamieson@jamiesonk

Jan 23, 2023

I WOULD DIE FOR MY DEMIROMANTIC ASEXUAL SON LUCA VON RASKE WHOMST I LOVE "The smoke is part of Gomorrah's legend: once upon a time, we were burned to the ground. But we did not die. Instead we kept burning, kept moving, kept growing. The smoke surrounds us, even if we no longer burn." MAGIC? check MYSTERY? yes MURDER? got it BASICALLY ALL THE GOOD STUFF IN ONE. Daughter of the Burning City was a book I was supposed to read last year and didn't get to and I'm soo glad I did now because it's dark and delicious and has such good characters and atmosphere. Daughter of the Burning City follows Sorina - a "jynx-worker" who can create illusions that look like people. When one of her illusions is murdered, she needs to work out both who the killer is, and how they killed her illusions. The mystery of this book absolutely compelled me to finish it. I became so invested in who the killer is, especially because this book contains sketches of the killers plan on how they want to kill each illusion - it's super creepy and I LOVED IT. The ultimate killer reveal is also done REALLY WELL and I was sooo confused on who to trust and what was going on which is, honestly, ideal. But what I really ended up becoming invested in is the characters and, surprisingly, the romance! Sorina and Luca, the central characters, are both so interesting in their own regards and I was super into their romance. It was genuinely SO GOOD TO GET SOME OWNVOICES DEMIROMANTIC ASEXUAL REPRESENTATION and I personally thought it was well done. The main character is also bi and while I think that representation could have been made more obvious it wasn't bad rep. Okay, I was so fucking invested in the romance like, I was so into this ship and usually that DOES NOT happen. I also liked that the author fleshed out the side characters, especially Sorina's family of illusions, because it definitely made the stakes feel higher and I really didn't want them to get murdered. Finally, the diversity really was excellently done. Beside the main characters sexualities as mentioned above, there is also a side lesbian character, and the main character is physically disabled (she has no eyes) I feel like there is some more I forgot to mark down, so sorry if true and I'll add more if I remember it. "But you're an illusion," I say. "I created you." "That doesn't mean I'm not real." Overall I really liked this! I had to take the rating down because the side poplitical plot didn't interest me at all, and I do think a section dragged a bit, but generally I really liked this and I ADORED THE ROMANCE WTF IT WAS SO GOOD. I'm outta here to think about my kids and cry