black city

Title: Black City
Author: Elizabeth Richards

Release date: November 13, 2012
Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons BYR

Pages: 373

Source: ARC from Publisher

Goodreads: {via}

Summary:

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.


Review:
This one is really hard for me to review. 

I came across a giveaway, which featured the first chapter of the novel. I was hooked, so I entered said giveaway. I ended up winning, and was happily surprised when this, as well as three other, books came in the mail. I told myself that I was going to wait much closer to the November release date, but well, we see how well that happened. 

Black City is kind of a mixture of several different genres. It's dystopian, because it's set in the not-so-nice future. It's a vampire novel, only they aren't called Vampires, they're Darklings. It's got a sense of contemporary, because it's got a "girl meets boy, girl falls in love with boy from the "wrong" side of the tracks, boy and girl must work to keep their relationship secret" vibe to it. It's a love story. It's because of all these things that a lot happens in Black City.Like, a lot. There's not one, but two big bads. There are characters that have lost their parents. The aforementioned romance happens. There's even a bit of a triangle. There are enough jaw-dropping cliffhangers to make your mouth sore. 

The characters in this novel were good. Readers definitely get to see many sides of the characters, both primary and secondary. I feel like I know the motivations of most, if not all of them, which I liked. I liked to see and know what I was getting myself into. Natalie and Ash are the main characters. Natalie is a Sentry, meaning one of the "ruling" class. She's special amongst them because her mother is the Emissary in charge of all Black City. Ash is a twin blood, meaning he's half-human, half-Darkling. He's a twisted, tormented soul, all wrapped up in a bad boy body. Natalie and Ash's relationship frames the whole story. It really lets the reader see what's going on in and around Black City and the outside world. I liked their interaction, as well as their interactions with the people around them. They felt real, and not forced at all. 

Richards has really created a unique world. I liked what she did with the backstory – she essentially created a history for several different types of people, as well as created a religion from scratch. I felt that I better understood who these characters are, and why they are the way they are all because of what happened in their world so many years ago. 

If I had one complaint, it would be that the novel was so full of things happening. I honestly felt like there was a new, shocking revelation on every couple of pages. This in itself isn't totally a bad thing – I was totally sucked in – but I did feel as if I needed air from time to time. 

Good novel. I'm interested to see how the next one is. 

I won a copy of this novel in a giveaway. The novel was provided by the publisher. This in no way affected my opinions or my review.