Name: Cici Pearson's review of The City in Glass by Nghi Vo
Item: The City in Glass
Rating: 5
Author: Cici Pearson

Nghi Vo

In this new standalone novel, Hugo Award-winning author Nghi Vo introduces a beguiling fantasy city in the tradition of Calvino, Mieville, and Le Guin.

A demon. An angel. A city.

The demon Vitrine—immortal, powerful, and capricious—loves the dazzling city of Azril. She has mothered, married, and maddened the city and its people for generations, and built it into a place of joy and desire, revelry and riot.

And then the angels come, and the city falls.

Vitrine is left with nothing but memories and a book containing the names of those she has lost—and an angel, now bound by her mad, grief-stricken curse to haunt the city he burned.

She mourns her dead and rages against the angel she longs to destroy. Made to be each other’s devastation, angel and demon are destined for eternal battle. Instead, they find themselves locked in a devouring fascination that will change them both forever.

Together, they unearth the past of the lost city and begin to shape its future. But when war threatens Azril and everything they have built, Vitrine and her angel must decide whether they will let the city fall again.

THE CITY IN GLASS is both a brilliantly constructed history and an epic love story, of death and resurrection, memory and transformation, redemption and desire strong enough to reduce a world to ashes and remake it anew.

The City in Glass

Cici Pearson

Vo might actually be one of the best stylistic writers currently being published. Few writers have so successfully been able to emulate the language and feel of fairy tales without feeling overwhelming and overwrought. She also has such an excellent knack for worldbuilding, which shines even more here.

This is the first full-on fantasy novel I have read in about a year, and the first new one I have read in several years.  The idea is intriguing--a demon (not really an evil sort, as is commonly understood) watches and influences the growth of a city, choosing caretakers and deciding who will be successful and who will meet untimely ends.  The demon grows to love the city, almost in the same way as one would love a spouse.  Then angels destroy the city, and no clear explanation of why is ever presented.  (Because of course, angels=bad.)  Over the course of centuries, the city is rebuilt, and the relationship between the demon and one of the angels becomes increasingly complex and close.  Then, at the end, the angel becomes what the demon loves the most.  This was a good introduction to the current state of fantasy, and as well-written and dreamy as The Chosen and the Beautiful.  I go back and forth between this being a 3 star or 4 star read.  My personal interpretation of angels is what is keeping me at a 3 for now. 

shellybn

A beautiful exploration of realistic change, development, and grief through the fantastical, amoral lens of a city's resident demon. Based on the synopsis, I expected a little more action and romance, but it leans more pensive, character-driven, and light on the plot.

Emiley Jones

The book was beautifully written, and one of the only books to have me absolutely invested in the metaphors within without being bored. A story about grief due to violent circumstances out of your control and finding the inner strength to rebuild while surrounded by the chaos, surrounded by the reminders of how you were wronged. I was invested cover to cover. A book that puts my English/Reading comprehension skills to good use. 

Ami Is Dreaming Again

Not memorable, I expected more from it based on the premise

Amira BEN

Does Nghi Vo know how to write a mediocre book? Well, no! 

Loved every bit of this. How she tells stories is always so beautiful, and her characters are so full of life. 

Floofyflower

Does Nghi Vo know how to write a mediocre book? Well, no! 

Loved every bit of this. How she tells stories is always so beautiful, and her characters are so full of life. 

Cici Pearson &
The City in Glass by Nghi Vo

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Cici Pearson &The City in Glass by Nghi Vo

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