Hooray for YA novels! They can be a little bit hit and miss sometimes, but when you get an author who has put thought into creating a detailed world, with believable, nuanced characters, then it’s a breath of fresh air and I can’t get to the end quickly enough.
Tarnished City is one of these. It’s the second in a trilogy, and for those of you who haven’t read it, it takes place in an alternate-reality version of the UK: one where the general population are subject to their supernaturally gifted ‘Skilled’ overlords. Every person has to undergo ten years’ slavery to these Skilled ‘Equals’- often in appalling slavetowns, where the goods they make are sold in luxury London shops.
Since the cliffhanger of the first novel, I’ve been dying to get my hands on the second book and see where Vic James has taken the story. Turns out, it plunges us straight into more insurrection, excitement and some excellent plotting, all whilst taking the time to develop the characters still further.
My favourite bit about Tarnished City is that there are not, really, any real villains. James tells her story using multiple characters, and even unsympathetic characters like Silyen, Bouda and Gavar get their own backstory, weaknesses and emotions that helps make them much more likeable and their actions more understandable (even if you are, like Bouda, a political machinator par excellence). Real life isn’t a case of black and whites and I loved that James brought that across to her story- it made for a so much more interesting read than it would have done otherwise, even though it does come at the expense of some of the characters: for instance, Abi, who didn’t seem to have too much of a personality, or Jenner, who mysteriously popped up at the start then vanished.
The world that we’re introduced is still as compelling as ever. James has really taken her time to build her world, complete with backstory, reimagined famous monuments and even an alternative telling of the Battle of Trafalgar, and that really pays off here as the story goes beyond Milltown and Kynaston to the rest of the UK, as the Jardine family rise to power and the relations between the Equals and the population they’re controlling become ever more fractured. The stakes feel a lot more real when the world has been explained to you in detail.
And boy does it all kick off. The main theme of the story is on that relationship, and each of the characters experiences it in a different: for Bouda, it’s about fighting her way to the top of the pile by keeping the people she believes are subhuman under control; for Luke, trapped in the sadist Crovan’s castle and forced to undergo what is essentially torture, what he undergoes makes the story doubly compelling, especially as Abi slowly becomes embroiled in a slowly-emerging political resistance. Vic James blends these different plot strands together skillfully, and the end result is a gripping novel that had me reading well into the night.
As the second book in the Dark Gifts series, Vic James expands her story in a way that’s definitely heading for a big conclusion. There are unexpected friendships, even more unexpected plot twists and a cliffhanger of an ending that’s got me hooked for the next book. Can’t wait!
Book cover taken from Goodreads.
The Roaring Bookworm 