The City – Book Review

Here is my friend Cathy’s sequel to The Gifts . Well done Cathy!

Her amazing imagination and incredible capacity to create names and geography for a whole new world have once again been applied to this follow up story which (no plot spoilers) ends with a sense of completeness.

It starts with a very violent and shocking story in which one of the main characters becomes disgusted and disillusioned by those in meant to lead her. In the same incident a second main character is filled with hate and a desperate desire for revenge. From such a bleak beginning you might not expect things to turn out that well. But in the end this is a hopeful story and the hope comes from the power of courage and friendship.

If you’ve read the first book, you’ll enjoy picking up with all the previous characters but there is just enough backgroud to understand the story on its own. Cathy once again transports her readers into an alternative world with fantastical properties but uses their dilemmas to explore our own very human issues of prejudice and injustice. Because it’s a story which rattles along at a good pace, the reflective part doesn’t feel preachy but there is much to ponder on if you choose.

Of the two books I’d say the ending of the first one was more dramatic but the ending of this one is more satisfying. You would really enjoy this book if you like adventure stories set in alternative worlds involving plenty of arrows flying and swords swirling.

I think both books would make great fantasy films, think ‘Avatar meets Lord of the Rings’ and you’d be about there!