Daughter of the Burning City by Amanda Foody

Title: Daughter of the Burning City

Author: Amanda Foody

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Pub Date: Jully 25, 2017

Pages: 384

My Copy: Advanced Reader Copy that I Picked Up at Book Expo America

Book Summary:

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.

Book Review:

Darkly delicious novel that makes you love Sorina and her family of interesting characters. Sorina is someone that does illusion work at a skill level that few people ever have possessed in quite a long time. She is working at the Gomorrah Festival. 

Things are going well for Sorina at least in the beginning. Her Freak show is very unique and interesting. Her illusions are very realistic. Sometimes they act and behave as though they are human beings. All of the characters in her illusions have their own personalities and a unique ability that is unique to them. So of course they put on a show that is like nothing else in the Festival. It draws attention and brings in money, sometimes good and bad. Of course, things happen that one does not expect.

Sorina has created something definitely that she never expected, a family. There is something that makes each member an important part of the show. They all have their roles. Her illusions are so real that they all think that they are actual people. The Illusions each have their own personalities and job to do in the show. Yet things get more intense when something doesn’t go as planned and customers demand their money back and that’s very bad. Plus then something else happens. One of her illusions has been murdered, yet they are not disappearing. They are not fading as they should have. Which is weird and not what Sorina would expect to happen. 

One of the things that I enjoyed about this book was the way that the killer gave us notes on the victims that he intends to kill. The Killer is someone that has been watching Sorina and the show obviously as he is learning each of the illusions and what makes all of Sorina family tick. This is interesting and adds some dimension to the book and maybe give us some hint as to why he is doing this. As the book progresses more of the illusions are getting killed and Sorina is getting scared along with the rest of her family. She goes to her father and Luca, her boyfriend for help.

This book takes a really weird turn that you don’t expect. I really love how the relationship formed between Sorina and Luca. You got to hear him explain about his past and why he had to leave. Sorina bonding with him in a way she never expected. Yet things progress at one point according to her father, that the killer might be Luca. We learn that is not the case, because something happens that reveals the Luca is another one of her illusions. She made a lover for herself. This seems to be something odd, but not out of question. Plus at one point she seems to be losing her grip.

So many weird twists and turns towards the end. I found myself loving every moment of the lead up to the conclusion of this novel.  The conclusion was something that was unexpected to say the least. The ending left me feeling a little bit unsure of how to feel about quite a few things. Not to mention what happened after everything was revealed. I did like the magic element a lot of this book. I just wish the ending had been a little bit more satisfactory. Overall a good book.

Rating:

4 Hearts