City of Last Chances (The Tyrant Philosophers, #1)

by Adrian Tchaikovsky

2024 LOCUS AWARD FINALIST, BEST FANTASY NOVEL
WINNER OF THE 2022 BRITISH SCIENCE FICTION ASSOCIATION AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL

'Endlessly creative... so much invention peeking around every corner' Patrick Ness

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.

'Ilmar is vividly alive with ideas, conflicts, and a sense of its own history – a truly breathtaking fantasy city, down every street a compelling story.' David Towsey
'A master at the height of his powers. This is epic symphonic fantasy, weaving a breakneck plot through a sumptuously dangerous world.' Ian Green
'A wonderful twisty stew of a book with a cast of fascinating characters, set against the brilliantly realized city of Ilmar.' Django Wexler
'A triumph of a book: wildly imaginative, immediately immersive and hypnotically compelling.' Sharon Emmerichs

• ISBN10: 1801108420
• ISBN13: 9781801108423
• Publish Date: 8 December 2022
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 18 April 2024
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Head of Zeus
• Imprint: Head of Zeus -- an AdAstra Book
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 512
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

City of Last Chances is a political fantasy adventure by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Released in electronic format in Dec 2022 by Head of Zeus, it's 545 pages and is now also available in hardcover and audio formats in addition to ebook. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately. 

The author is an often astoundingly adept wordsmith and this is a complex and immersive fantasy against a brobdingnagian tapestry of intrigue and a city-under-brutal-occupation. The prose seethes, and despite its impressive doorstopper brick of a page count, it's eminently readable and readers will find themselves surprised at the passing of time immersed in the story. 

Although it's not derivative (at all!), readers who love Neal Stephenson, China Miéville, and Ann Leckie will likely find a lot to enjoy here. It's decidedly dark in places and the characters aren't so much black and white as varying shades of smudgy grey. The background and settings are also quite dark and disquieting and it's clearly by intent.

Four and a half stars. It's a big complex book, and very well written. For fans of political/campaign fantasy. 

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes