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City of Last Chances

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City of Last Chances

By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
Narrated by: David Thorpe
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Arthur C. Clarke winner and Sunday Times bestseller 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 Action & Adventure Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Crime Paranormal
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Adrian Tchaikovsky does it again. Defies expectations, that is! A strange story with some wonderful ideas and characters, flawed (though not all readers will concur) by being slightly too self-consciously ironic for its own good - it's certainly not a parody, but the author is very aware of playing up tropes, and with such a long book it was treading very close to the line. Performance-wise, Thorpe is very good at characterisation but somehow a little heavy on the narration; shades of public information film or something. A star knocked off both story and performance as a result. There's also a lot to love here, though.

A very good fairytale

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This book captured me quickly and then wouldn't let go. The richness, complexity and strangeness of Illmar was beguiling and reminded me of New Crobuzon (China Miélville's "Perdido Street Junction"). If there's a sequel (or prequel), I'm in.

Enthralling

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Difficult to follow. Confusing and seemingly disjointed. His other works are far better. Try others.

Didn't work for me at all

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It's not a character driven story, but more a look at a city under occupation. As the story is told from the perspective of a dozen or so characters, it was a bit hard to follow. That said, I did give the sequels a go and kind of grew to like this world.

interesting but scattered

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I’ve persevered rather than listened to a few of the author’s previous books, all of them a bit weird and way too long, but this one just didn’t work. Clear to see messages but made more confusing than his average level by too many weird names. Not his best as they say.

Quite a chew

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