Review: Black City

Black City by Elizabeth Richards

Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons BYR
Publication Date: November 13th 2012
Pages: 374
Source: Library
Genre: Fantasy/Dystopian, Romance
Goodreads

  A dark and tender post-apocalyptic love story set in the aftermath of a bloody war.

In a city where humans and Darklings are now separated by a high wall and tensions between the two races still simmer after a terrible war, sixteen-year-olds Ash Fisher, a half-blood Darkling, and Natalie Buchanan, a human and the daughter of the Emissary, meet and do the unthinkable—they fall in love. Bonded by a mysterious connection that causes Ash’s long-dormant heart to beat, Ash and Natalie first deny and then struggle to fight their forbidden feelings for each other, knowing if they’re caught, they’ll be executed—but their feelings are too strong.

When Ash and Natalie then find themselves at the center of a deadly conspiracy that threatens to pull the humans and Darklings back into war, they must make hard choices that could result in both their deaths.

I remember the first time I ever heard of this book, back when the cover was being reveled. I really knew nothing about the book at the time, but I knew I would have not add it to my list. Black City is a very interesting story that feels equal parts Dystopian and Fantasy. I really didn't know what to expect when I first picked it up, but I was happily surpised.

Black City tells the story of Ash and Natalie, a girl and boy who live in the Black City after a terrible war that left everything in a chaotic mess. The two could not be more different, Natalie is the daughter of one of the most powerful woman in the country. She recently moved back into the Black City after the war, and she now goes to a school for those who tend to be much poorer than she. Ash is half Darkling, another type of intelligent creature who has recently come to living with humans. Darklings were the source of the recent war, and segregation is strictly enforced. Pure Darklings live in an enclosed area of the city, away from all humans. He is the only half blood in Black City, allowed to go to school with normal kids. They are not allowed to fall in love.

So the summery I wrote above pretty much sums up the entire story. They were not supposed to fall in love. At the beginning of the book I really couldn't help but compare it to Legend by Marie Lu. I loved Legend, but when books seem so much alike sometimes it's a little... odd. After a while the tone did change and I no longer had that comparison.

The characters were really hard for me to form an opinion about. I really didn't like or dislike either of the main characters. Both Natalie and Ash had very hard lives, and they both had times in which it was hard for me to really like them, but I didn't dislike them. I think I'm going to have to wait until the second book to really know for sure.

The romance in the book was extremely abrupt in this book. In the first chapter we get the first hint of what might happen and it really just pissed me off. Though the romance was cute, it really wasn't very realistic or logical. They didn't seem like people who would ever really be a couple.

There was a lot going on in this book. A LOT. Black City really is a very messed up place. There is political mayhem everywhere, Natalie keeps getting threatened, and then there is the very strange romance 'triangle' thing going on. It's not really a full out love triangle, but... it's just weird. Though there was so much happening, I really didn't ever feel lost for very long, if I did. I really liked how complex this story was. There was nothing predictable in it at all.