City of Last Chances

By: Adrian Tchaikovsky

Narrated by: David Thorpe

Length: 19 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

Arthur C. Clarke winner Adrian Tchaikovsky's triumphant return to fantasy with a darkly inventive portrait of a city under occupation and on the verge of revolution. There has always been a darkness to Ilmar, but never more so than now. The city chafes under the heavy hand of the Palleseen occupation, the choke-hold of its criminal underworld, the boot of its factory owners, the weight of its wretched poor and the burden of its ancient curse. What will be the spark that lights the conflagration? Despite the city's refugees, wanderers, murderers, madmen, fanatics and thieves, the catalyst, as always, will be the Anchorwood–that dark grove of trees, that primeval remnant, that portal, when the moon is full, to strange and distant shores. Ilmar, some say, is the worst place in the world and the gateway to a thousand worse places. Ilmar, City of Long Shadows. City of Bad Decisions. City of Last Chances.

©2022 Adrian Tchaikovsky (P)2022 Head of Zeus

Promising world but impossible to follow

Others have mentioned that this is very hard to get through. I powered through the first 8 hours and while there are moments that are quite interesting, the writing is so baroque in between that it’s impossible to follow who’s who and what’s going on more broadly. It’s a shame because some of the author’s other books are my all time favorites (Children of Time) and the narrator is fantastic.

World building

4.5/5 stars for me.
-it dragged a bit with the set up to the penultimate action.
-world building was great
-sets up many more entries in the world.
- the commentary on what we are willing to endure waiting for change or what we allow to happen to others if it benefits ourselves was masterfully done.

Worth reading

I really enjoyed this book. It had some great characters and a well developed world. The setting is pretty unique. It is a little hard to pin down, but it is reminiscent of the industrial revolution and WWI.

I also appreciated that it was pretty clean and wasn't overly dark or overly angsty. A lot of fantasy books are way over the top, and this one was not like that. My only complaint is that the ending was a bit sudden. I wish there was a sequel.

Amazing world building

Tchaikovsky’s imagination is supported by the depth of his fully-fleshed (and highly fallible) characters, and action and high stakes leavened with dry humor.

Vibrant Fantasy World

Excellent world building. The author turns standard fantasy tropes on their collective ears and builds a city that is both familiar and new.

Awesome story

This book was a little slow to start, but had a number of excellent threads the lasted throughout it. Once it got going, both the character development, and the action were well written, and enjoyable. And I loved how the protagonists did not have an easy time of things.

From 4 stars to 5 stars

I would like to adjust my rating from the original 4 star to now 5 stars. The more I have reread and revisited the story, as well as the second book in the series (that is very, very good btw) the more I feel inclined to grade this first installment with a 5/5 grade. And I look forward to the third book coming out and hopefully even more to follow that.

Occupied Paris during WW2 In Fantasy World?

I have no idea if that is an accurate description, but it was the most persistent correlation I had in my head throughout the book.

Pros
Good World building focused on a city and its mystic grove of trees A plethora of different characters who were well developed, and some interesting magic mechanics I thought was interesting. I enjoy when multiple magical systems are introduced.

Cons:
the way the view jumped from a large number of characters both major an minor, caused the plots and timelines to be hard to follow sometimes. Found it hard to get attached to any of the characters and, maybe due to the fact there were so many perspectives, I had a hard time finishing the book.

Great Narration, not my favorite A.T. Story

Some authors get stuck in a rut, but definitely not Adrian Tchaikovsky. I was expecting to enjoy a great sci-fi that challenges our assumption about sentient life, like many of his other works. But, this was entirely different. I loved the narration, but the story never grabbed me.

not the best by this author, but great world building

I really look forward to the next. I think this might in some ways be an answer to his first major series, or, rather, his thoughts on the reality of many of the characters?

it's rare an author is so prolific, and produces so many gems. But not every book by him is a gem (they do all have good points, though, imo)

At the top of his list I'd still suggest Children of Time, dogs of war, and cage of souls (those books, not series, specifically) But I'm really excited about what he'll do here.