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CITY OF SHATTERED LIGHT
Claire Winn
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Publisher: Flux
Pages: 400
Publication date: October 19, 2021
As darkness closes in on the city of shattered light, an heiress and an outlaw must decide whether to fend for themselves or fight for each other.
As heiress to a powerful tech empire, seventeen-year-old Asa Almeida strives to prove she’s more than her manipulative father’s shadow. But when he uploads her rebellious sister’s mind to an experimental brain, Asa will do anything to save her sister from reprogramming—including fleeing her predetermined future with her sister’s digitized mind in tow. With a bounty on her head and a rogue A.I. hunting her, Asa’s getaway ship crash-lands in the worst possible place: the neon-drenched outlaw paradise, Requiem.
Gun-slinging smuggler Riven Hawthorne is determined to claw her way up Requiem’s underworld hierarchy. A runaway rich girl is exactly the bounty Riven needs—until a nasty computer virus spreads in Asa’s wake, causing a citywide blackout and tech quarantine. To get the payout for Asa and save Requiem from the monster in its circuits, Riven must team up with her captive.
Riven breaks skulls the way Asa breaks circuits, but their opponent is unlike anything they’ve ever seen. The A.I. exploits the girls’ darkest memories and deepest secrets, threatening to shatter the fragile alliance they’re both depending on. As one of Requiem’s 154-hour nights grows darker, the girls must decide whether to fend for themselves or fight for each other before Riven’s city and Asa’s sister are snuffed out forever.
I think if you go into City of Shattered Light expecting to read a lesbian Sci-Fi adventure, you’re going to be severely disappointed. I know I was.
City of Shattered Light was action packed and fast paced, but it didn’t deliver what it promised. The premise made it seem like we’d be reading a story about Asa and Riven, unlikely allies, going on a dangerous journey together while facing a common enemy and falling in love along the way. That was not what happened.
There were a lot of action scenes and the plot did focus a lot on the dangerous situations Asa and Riven–and all the secondary characters–found themselves in. Those were probably the most exciting parts of the book, but the quick jump from one situation to the next made it so, at a certain point, things didn’t seem like they mattered much anymore. There wasn’t a lot of build up to some of them so the emotional pay off didn’t land as it should have.
Regarding the romance, I’m going to come right out and say this isn’t, yet, a lesbian-focused Sci-Fi novel like the premise made it seem. Asa and Riven didn’t get together until after the 95% mark. Before that, there was no development of their relationship because Asa was romantically involved with a male character. After that, there was no development of their relationship because the book was over. I do believe that relationship is going to grow and be explored more in future books, since this one ended in a big cliffhanger, but it still made me feel a little cheated.
I was seriously confused and pretty upset about how this was addressed and the circumstances surrounding Asa and Riven’s getting together. It left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth and definitely negatively impacted my reading experience since I came in with expectations that this book was going to heavily focus on a romantic relationship between two woman and that didn’t happen in this installment.
Sadly, a disappointing read.
owls reads 
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