I just finished City Of Others. I have a lot of thoughts on it, thoughts that could easily be their own blog post – but in case that post is never written, here are some spoiler-free ideas.
It’s kind of the antithesis of a short story he wrote, something called “Mother of Monsters” that I cannot, for the life of me, track down (which is just as well, that could have violated intellectual property laws). The idea was interesting, albeit dark, the protagonist was extremely mysterious and emotionally detached (as was the style of writing), and there were time skips left and right…but it blew me away. What made it work was the execution.
I could praise City Of Others. It was excellent writing, and if it was self-published or showed up in a writing workshop then I have no doubt I would be blown away again. But somehow I think that may be a disservice to the writer. I want to give it my honest review, but treat it like something that was written by JK Rowling under an anonymous account or that popped up on my bookshelf one day. Because this isn’t a self-published book. This is a book that is showing up everywhere now, including at our local library.
Would I Read It?
Would I read it, had it just been a book that showed up on the library bookshelf?
No, because it’s not the kind of book I would normally read, but maybe that’s the most inspiring thing here. City Of Others is fun. Instead of being about violence, monsters, and grief, like Mother Of Monsters, City Of Others is about…
…violence, monsters, and grief, but also magic. The main characters have superpowers and enchantments. They face a lot of government bureaucracy, but are overpowered (and their overpowered nature nature is one of the two biggest issues I have with this book. My thoughts are somewhat similar to what someone else wrote here, but are not nearly as harsh…I just very much preferred the story we got at the beginning where their magic seemed mundane in the face of government bureaucracy and it felt a bit more like a detective novel). Problems have solutions. Stakes are real. I don’t know if this book qualifies as Young Adult, but it certainly has the lightness of a Young Adult novel. No crazy monsters to be seen here, Jared.
Oh wait…
In our Sacramento book club, we read a lot of self-help. Everything had to have a purpose. Everything had to tie to real life. I found myself questioning the decision in the beginning, wondering if maybe I could still use this by treating “magic” as a metaphor for “computer programming.” No fun to be had.
Jared invents magic with a lot of rules. I would have preferred if he fleshed them out more slowly, which is something I think they do particularly well in Harry Potter – if there’s no journey and learning process, big moments of skill feel unearned – but like he always has, Jared mostly does his work in the execution. I was simultaneously reading “The MANIAC,” and it was crazy how similar the writing styles felt in spite of the extremely different subject matter.
It’s inspiring that he not only published a book, but a really good and popular one. It’s a great debut, and I’m invested in the story.
Bullets
To praise this book endlessly would feel disingenuous. To criticize it unnecessarily and/or provide advice would be unsolicited advice…but that’s basically what GoodReads is. Welcome to a website of unsolicited advice.
Liked
*Writing style. Brilliant, as always
*First third. Rules, limitations, powers
Disliked
*Overpowered abilities
*At the risk of getting torn apart on GoodReads, the love interest. I thought it had a lot of opportunities to get fleshed out and came across as 2-dimensional. I even had theories on it that didn’t come to fruition, but that would be a spoiler
Random
*The climax was fast-paced but I found the main page of it really moving
*Because of pacing, some things seemed convenient
*Loose ends to possibly be tied up in sequel – characters who disappear
*Because of pacing, new powers sometimes appear without introduction. Rules change, powers expand, even serious trade-offs/consequences seemed a bit off to me because they were so abrupt
Inspiration
I am really glad I read it, though, it was a hell of a book.
I eagerly await the novelization of Mother Of Monsters.
I may be inspired to finally write my own book, no matter how bad, and I can’t imagine how much work this required meticulously workshopping, rewriting, and re-researching. Or maybe it was effortless. I recall going to one Zoom session in which a young author said she basically wrote a book on a plane ride, it was a first draft, and it was so good that she found an agent pretty quickly. Some people seem to have it all, but others write over the course of years.
And that’s why it doesn’t seem fair to take this and treat it like just any other book. I’m obviously filled with envy considering it was written by someone in my class, but I suppose that’s a bit like feeling envy that someone who used to frequent the same UC Davis Starbucks as me went on to win a Nobel Prize.
He had to think up the characters, the premise, the world. He had to conjure a universe, and he made a page-turner that lends itself to a TV series.
I am excited to see what comes next.