I usually like fantasies with magical carnivals or circuses in them, and this certainly has that, but it has a lot more besides. I immediately became attached to teenaged Sorina, the head of the Freak Show in the traveling carnival city of Gomorrah, and her family of performers, from Crown, whose body is covered with fingernails instead of hair, to toddler Blister, who performs fire magic. They are a very close family indeed, because they are all illusions created by Sorina—but somehow they have become real enough, not only to be seen by her audiences, but to be murdered, one by one, as the story progresses. I don’t just mean that someone makes them disappear; these are real murders, with blood everywhere and bodies to bury afterward. The grief-stricken Sorina, therefore, must solve not only the classic murder-mystery question of “whodunnit,” but a greater question: how can an illusion be killed?
Sorina is more than a performer in Gomorrah; she is also the adopted daughter and heir apparent of the show/city’s Proprietor, Villiam. Because of her youth, he has kept most of the details of Gomorrah’s past and the Proprietor’s job from her until now, but the murders suggest to both that she needs to learn more, and quickly. Readers don’t learn much about the geography and politics of the land Gomorrah travels through until about a third of the way through the book, but thereafter, these elements become increasingly important. Sorina also encounters romance, but her her relationship with Luca, a fellow performer who helps her investigate the murders, develops slowly, and the author does not hit the reader over the head with it.
I was amazed to discover after I finished the book that it was part of a “Harlequin Teen” series. Such an imprint would have led me to expect (mistakenly, perhaps) not only a “YA” book but a rather superficial one, heavy on the romance—but this book is anything but. It does have a teenaged protagonist, and a romance of sorts, but the character development and the issues raised, including the nature of reality and illusion and the painful inner conflict that competing loyalties can produce, make it worthwhile and enjoyable reading for people of any age.
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Daughter of the Burning City
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Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2017
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Top reviews from other countries
Laura Machado
Bem melhor do que eu esperava - e bem esquisito também
Reviewed in Brazil on January 12, 2021
Laura Machado
Reviewed in Brazil on January 12, 2021
Confesso que eu não esperava grande coisa do livro, então acabei me surpreendendo. É bem escrito, tem uma história interessante e a grande revelação do livro, apesar de ter sido previsível, ainda faz sentido e encaixa com muita coisa. Foi bem emocionante também, cheguei até a ficar ansiosa pelo romance. Outro ponto alto é a representatividade. Apesar de se passar em um mundo completamente novo, tem pessoas de várias raças diferentes (e com detalhes que deixam o mundo parecido com o nosso), além da protagonista não ser hetero e o interesse romântico dela ser assexual. Ainda foram coisas bem feitas, não aleatórias e inutéis na história.
Minhas críticas são pequenas. Primeiro, acho que o final ficou corrido demais. Não é porque já resolveram o clímax principal que tem que correr para finalizar o livro. Nisso, além da resolução ficar apressada, a autora acabou deixando algumas pontas soltas que não deveriam ter sido deixadas, principalmente a questão sobre as ilusões da Sorina, o que realmente são e como ela as cria. Precisava ficar mais certo, mais claro, mais exato.
Minha outra crítica é para a criação do mundo. São nomes bem diferentes para não ter um mapa. É muito difícil se situar, ver as cidades pelas quais estão passando, ver onde fica cada país e entender o conflito geopolítico desse universo sem ver em um mapa. Para mim, poderia ser uma palavra nova por vez que mencionavam um lugar, porque faria pouca diferença. Eu preciso ver isso em algum lugar, ver desenhado mesmo. Mas isso pode ser um problema meu só, de eu ser muito visual. Uma coisa que não é algo que só vai incomodar a mim é que a autora não explica tão bem quais são os países, quais são as cidades, então fica difícil de localizar a quem pertence a realeza de vez em quando.
Mas o livro tem bem mais coisas boas do que problemas. A protagonista é interessante, o romance é bom, a vida dela no festival com seu pai adotivo também. Gostei da reviravolta, gostei dos momentos de tensão e apreensão, teve até um em que eu mal conseguia respirar! Gostei de torcer pelo casal, de encontrar personagens mais complexos do que eu esperava, de ler e ler e perceber que esse livro é bastante original e único, bem diferente de tudo que eu já li. Gostei bastante!
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Deborah S.
Love it
Reviewed in India on August 27, 2019
Deborah S.
Reviewed in India on August 27, 2019
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