Daughter of the Burning City by Amanda Foody
Published by Harlequin Teen on July 25th, 2017
Genres: Fantasy, YA
Page Length: 384 pages
How I got my copy: Borrowed
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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 smoldering borders of the Gomorrah Festival. Yet even among the many unusual members of the traveling 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.
Note: I received an advanced copy of Daughter of the Burning City from the publisher. Some things may have changed in the final version.
I so wanted to absolutely adore this book and for the most part I did. There were a couple of things that really annoyed me though.
Strengths:
- Gorgeous writing describing the carnival
- wonderful mix of fresh ideas for the fantasy genre
- nice discussion of how disability is perceived since MC doesn’t have eyes but her magic lets her see just fine. This doesn’t stop people from acting weird and making her feel excluded :(
- fascinating magic and mystery: how can an illusion be murdered??
- No heteronormativity! There are many mentions of people romantically and/or sexually involved with those of a different gender and it is completely normal and basically assumed that everyone is pan/bisexual. There also are basically none of the stereotypical gender roles.
Weaknesses:
- I was excited to see a demisexual love interest, but his origin story and the reason for his sexuality is damaging to people’s idea of what demisexuality is.
- The name of a certain character basically ruins a twist. I was thinking all along there’s no way she could be that obvious. Yup, yup it is. It just feels sooooo cheesy.
Have you read this one? What did you think? Are you excited for it if you haven’t gotten to it yet?
– Anya
Daughter of the Burning City by Amanda Foody
© 2017, Anya. All rights reserved.
