City of Last Chances (The Tyrant Philosophers)

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As you can see from that only partial list, we’re working with a lot of characters here. And rarely are more than two or three together at a time, which means a number of sub-plots peppering the over-arching dual narrative of the search for the stolen item and the possible rebellion against the Palleseen. Then there is the structure. Every chapter for almost the first half of the book is narrated through the eyes of a different character. This makes the whole plot a bit convoluted, until everything becomes more clear in the second half.

Unfortunately, the City of Last Chances didn’t captivate me. It’s a sophisticated novel with many characters, a dense writing style, and complex intrigue. I found it difficult to immerse myself in the story or sympathize with its numerous protagonists. Things do fall into place at the end, but I had to force myself to read the book. And that's never a good sign. For some reason it often takes me much longer to love Adrian Tchaikovsky’s fantasy offerings even though I tend to have love-at-first-sight affairs with his science fiction.

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This book reads like a collection of interconnected short stories. Each chapter, we are jumping POV to a different denizen of the city with fingers in different pies. As the book continues, the stories become more interconnected and we get repeats of the same characters. City of Last Chances is my seventh Tchaikovsky book, and my first experience with his fantasy works, having not yet gotten around to reading his Shadows Of The Apt series, or the Echoes of the Fall trilogy. Big Damn Heroes: Led by Shantrov, the insanity-inducing, hallucinatory forces of the Reproach are what save the refugees from the Gownhall from being arrested by the Palleseen forces set to guard the Anchorwood and Anchorage. Langrice; the owner of a inn called the Anchorage, which doubles as a gambling den, a safehouse and a neutral zone within the city. She knows many people and keeps many secrets. To those that know Adrian's work a little better - yes, there are bugs and insects scattered intermittently throughout the story. I would be worried if there wasn't at this point.

Perhaps my favourite character dynamic was Yasnic and … God. Yes, you read that right. God used to be worshipped everywhere in Ilmar yet his followers are dwindling to the point where God can only be seen by his high priest, Yasnic. Following him has rules. Very strict rules. But if you think a cranky old man perching himself on Yasnic’s shoulder and demanding fealty is the strangest character quirk in the novel, you really have another thing coming. Tchaikovsky’s characters are wondrous. The shifting perspectives blend in the mystical Ilmari melting pot and I was always wanting to read more. If you are in the market for a superbly written, complex and intricately woven standalone fantasy, with a large cast of stand-out characters, world-building that is metered out at a brilliant pace and a plot that will keep you effortlessly intrigued throughout, then this will be one to read. And you have a mysterious Wood on the edge of the city. Sometimes it’s just a stand of trees you can cross in a few strides. But other times it becomes a vast and mysterious forest, and a path to … elsewhere. If you have the right protections that will let you past the monstrous guardians. Our story begins when the #2 of the occupiers sets out to cross the Wood (because whatever is on the other side could undoubtedly do with some good old fashioned perfecting), yet the magical totem that will let him pass has been mysteriously stolen, with unfortunate consequences for him. A thank you to Cassie Waters from Head of Zeus for inviting us aboard the book tour for The City of Lost Chances by Adrian Tchaikovsky. While she kindly provided an arc of the title, this review and my thoughts are my own.The Siblingries, factory workers who banded together first to resist the power of the Armiger factory owners. RUSLAV (Ruslav in Love Again, Ruslav's Master's Voice, Jem's Reasons for Leaving, Hospitality of the Varatsins, Ruslav in the Teeth, Nihilostes Loses A Convert, Chains, Price of Rope, Wings, The Bitter Sisters, The Dousing, Resurrections, Another Round). That being said, I followed the tale with some decent interest and appreciated the layered approach to the city's ongoing history. The Dragon: While Sage-Invigilator Culvern is the most powerful Palleseen official in Ilmar, he spends most of his time suffering the effects of his curse, leaving Fellow-Inquirer Hegelsy to be the main face of the Palleseen occupation. The city and it’s people are walking the line between total assimilation into the “Palleseen Sway” and all-out riots-in-the-streets revolution.

A wonderful twisty stew of a book with a cast of fascinating characters, set against the brilliantly realized city of Ilmar.' Django Wexler Tchaikovsky explores themes of oppression and revolution through characters at various levels of social hierarchy on multiple sides of the conflict. The impulsive passion and heart of youth in their idealized yet privileged shouts for freedom they have only a vague notion of, the cynical resignation of older figures who only talk of uprising but make do with unfair compromise, self-styled rebels who try to profit from the fighting. Caught up in all this are the people at the bottom of the pyramid who suffer either way, factory workers and demon slaves. There is even a perspective from a lowly demon from the Underworld, among my favourite chapters. YASNIC (Yasnic's Relationship With God, Nihilostes Loses A Convert, Conservations About God, Price of Rope, Drinking Alone, The Apostate, Port to Nowhere, Another Round). I had never read anything by Adrian Tchaikovsky, despite seeing his name very often on Goodreads and various lists of sci-fi and fantasy authors to watch. I’m not sure why, but when I saw “The City of Last Chances”, I grabbed it. Sure, the cover art is gorgeous, but this is a “science fantasy” (to me, that means a novel where the magical system is basically a replacement for technology, as opposed to high fantasy, where the magic is a central element) novel set in a city-state occupied by a foreign power, where a resistance is brewing, cultural and class conflict fans the flame of rebellion and weird creatures and artifact exist in the city’s periphery, just to make things weird and scary. Honestly, that all sounded too cool to pass up! I would like to thank Cassie from Head of Zeus for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest reviewIt took me a little while to wrap my head and heart around the happenings in this one. It’s odd and weird and a bit warped, and full of strange and often unlikable characters inhabiting a strange and decidedly unpleasant city that is teetering on the verge of major unrest, waiting for a tiny spark - a McGuffin, really - to set off a chain of disasters. There’s magic - it’s fantasy after all - but really it’s more of a veneer for the social divisions and bureaucratic oppression musings, and the city and tone at times reminded me of China Miéville minus the overuse of thesaurus. The city of Ilmar may be not as strange and beautifully ugly as Miéville’s New Crobuzon, but it’s decidedly unpleasant in a oddly fascinating way.