Daughter of the Burning City

by Amanda Foody

'Utterly original. Amanda Foody has a wicked imagination.' Stephanie Garber, Sunday Times bestselling author of Caraval

Reality is in the eye of the beholder...

Even among the many unusual members of the travelling circus that has always been her home sixteen year old Sorina stands apart as the only illusion-worker born in hundreds of years.

This rare talent allows her to create illusions that others can see, feel and touch, with personalities all of their own. Her creations are her family, and together they make up the cast of the Festival's Freak Show.

But no matter how lifelike they may seem, her illusions are still just that-illusions, and not truly real.

Or so she always believed...until one of them is murdered.
Now she must unravel the horrifying truth before all her loved ones disappear.

• ISBN13: 9780373212439
• Publish Date: 29 June 2017
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 14 November 2023
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Harlequin
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 384
• Language: English
• URL: http://harpercollins.co.uk

Reviews

[emruth13]

I really enjoyed this book! The twists near the end were amazing and I was not expecting one of them! The other twist I kind of guessed when the characters started bringing it up but I love how the truth was revealed. Such a good book!

[tweetybugshouse]

I picked this one up at the library on a whim i had read the blurb a few times and figured i give it a shot.  I am glad i did this is a unique fantasy centered around a city that travels around kind of like a traveling circus but on a much bigger scale.   The story focuses on Sorina and her family of illusions that she has created since she truly does not have a real family. 

As the story progresses one by one her family is murdered.  This is what got me how do you murder an illusion?  Off we go on a murder mystery to solve the crime.  I really felt for sorina and cried as each character was slaughtered in her family.  The author did a great job of keeping you guessing on the who done it.   I highly recommend this debut novel and am looking forward to checking out her series that is coming up later this year. 

[Beth C.]

Review to come at vampirebookclub.net

[liz089]

I received this one in the FairyLoot box of July and was very curious about it. I have seen it come by a lot recently with mixed reactions and I was very eager to find out on which side I would end up.

Also, I've been trying for the last couple of months to keep my FairyLoot reads up to date (as in finish the book before I receive the new book), and so far I'm doing great this whole year !! Still have some from last year on my TBR.. XD But I'm straying..

So yeah, I was burning with curiosity (hihi) to get into the magical world of Gomorrah and get to know it's residents. Especially since this is a standalone, which can be kind of refreshing from all the series in YA (so don't make this in a series all of the sudden Madame Foody !!).

What I Liked.
Gomorrah. I really liked how visual she made the world. It did feel like I was in Gomorrah and I could see it all around me. It had a great atmosphere.

The plot (part one). I have my likes and dislikes about the plot, but about the positive side of it: I did not guess all of the plot twists. Most of the book it kept me trying to figure out what was going on and I was re-thinking all kinds of theories. I really enjoy it when a writer makes me do that.
Even though you can definitely call it a Fantasy, I would also describe it as a mystery. Lots of murder and putting pieces together in this one.

I really enjoyed the unique and weird world she created. How did she come up with some of the characters ?! They were very different from what we normally read in YA and I loved the originality of it.

Also one of my favorites in these kind of books: the romance did not overrule the plot. I really dislike it when that happens, and I was very pleased that the romance barely made it to the surface for most of the book.

Finally, I would also like to mention that I enjoyed the drawings in the book. It made for a nice change even though they were kind of dark and creepy.

What I Disliked.
The pace, I had a lot of trouble staying into this one. It is not that I didn't like it, but I had a hard time keeping my interest focused on this novel. A couple of times I wanted to dive into another book... but I knew that if I would have let myself to get into other books I would not finish this one. Which is not a good sign.. but I carried on and finished it in a week. For me, this is longer then I usably take, and to make the point clear: It was not a page-turner for me.

Even though I liked the world she writer created with Gomorrah, I also felt like she threw too much information at me sometimes. I felt a bit overwhelmed. The world building was a bit messy because of that and it got me confused at certain points that I did not understand what was happening.

On that thought, I also had some issues with the magic system. I did not really get how it all worked, and some things seemed too complicated to make it work good in this story. When I thought I got it , things would happen that changed the rules I thought were earlier on established. Confusing.

The plot (part two). Even though it had one or two plot twists I did not see coming.. most of them were predictable. I had some bad feelings with certain persons from the beginning on, which only got stronger along the way, so most of the plot twists did not surprise me.

Even though she had a lot of unique and special (though not in the annoying way) characters, I felt like we missed a lot on them. They did not really get enough attention in my opinion and I would have liked to know more about them.

Want to read more about this review or others ? Check o ut my blog Freyja Eats Books

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

I still genuinely enjoyed reading Daughter of the Burning City, but it didn’t wow me as much as my first read through. I think a lot of that has to do with having more experience with Amanda Foody’s writing style. I still think that Gomorrah is an incredibly crafted world, and I love all the Illusions and Sorina. Where it falls short for me is in pacing and plot – there was so much build up in the story that the ending seemed to fall a bit flat.

Another qualm I still have with this one is the general tone of the ending… and this was something I picked up the first time as well. Daughter of the Burning City has a very vibrant cast and world, and the way the story ends has a promise of a new beginning, and I feel so unfulfilled with the last chapter. I don’t think Sorina has any more of a story to tell, but I think that the next chapter in this world belongs to Nicoleta, and there’s a third chapter that belongs to Hawk. From my recollection, Amanda Foody has no intention of returning to this world, and she’s in the middle of another trilogy right now, so I don’t expect to see a continuation. And it kills me a bit, because Daughter of the Burning City is so good in so many ways.

It was really wonderful to revisit Sorina and the Freak Show, and this book is definitely still a keeper for me. I’ll read it again sometime in the future, when I need a little murder and magic. But I finished it feeling a bit unsatisfied.

Original Review: 5 Stars (8/4/17)

I finished this book last night and I am still not done with it. Bear with me, because there is SO MUCH GOING ON (in a good way) and there are LOADS of little things I want to talk about.

Sorina is an immediately likable character. She is talented, kind, loving, a little funny, and innocent but not stupid. Even when she is grieving, she is confused but never completely lost. She never claims to be a heroine, AND she never says she is not. She is, simply, Sorina. I love her. I love her awkwardness and jeweled masks (this is SCREAMING bookish Halloween costume, guys) and her great big heart. I WAS ROOTING FOR HER.

I never like the protagonist, but I liked Sorina.

As for the surrounding characters, they are all wonderful. Foody includes illustrations of Sorina's family members, and they are PERFECT. Nicoleta was my personal favorite. They also serve to MESS WITH THE READER'S MIND by inferring patterns and misleading you. Sorina is NOT an unreliable narrator, not on purpose, but her entire world will mess with you. The misdirection was fabulous, the ideas original... I just... I loved it from cover to cover.

THINGS WHICH WERE WONDERFUL:
- Sorina's family. They are sweet and perfect.
- Luca. I should've called the thing with him, and I didn't, and I am ashamed, but I LOVED IT.
- The villains. I wanted SO BAD for a certain character to be the villain and was frustrated when it appeared to be someone else THEN... BOOM! ZAP! POW! It was that character and it was aweeeesome.
- The world ITSELF was great. It reminded me of something foreign and exotic, but brimming with character and untapped beauty.
- The homage to the story of Sodom & Gomorrah with the salt tower was fab.

THINGS WHICH I DID NOT ENJOY:
- It started REALLY quickly and I had to reread a smidge and get my bearings.
- It ended REALLY quickly and I want more.

All in all, I read Daughter of the Burning City as a slice of life, not a full story in that there were more adventures before and more to come. Things do not necessarily get wrapped nicely in a bow and there's definitely a LOT of room here to wonder what comes next, and what is missing.

BUT.

I don't mind that.

I do wonder though....

1. What happens to Kahina?
2. Is there war?
3. Does Sorina continue creating family members? (HOLY SMOKES. I ASKED THE AUTHOR ON TWITTER AND HERE IS HER INTERPRETATION. DISCUSS.)

All in all, I give Daughter of the Burning City ALL THE STARS and would like to beseech Amanda Foody to consider writing another story within this world, because I would like to give her more money. THANKS.

[Stephanie]

This book was pretty good. The first part was a little boring and lost me for awhile. I almost considered putting it down, but once the action picked up (second half of the book) I blew through it. If you liked The Night Circus or Caraval, then I recommend this one.

Although, I did have a hard time imagining Gomorrah as a giant city (i.e. miles and miles of tents and shops) no matter how many times it was described as sprawling and huge, made of Uphill and Downhill sections. My brain got stuck on the size of normal carnivals/circuses. Maybe it's just me.