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Black City by Elizabeth Richards (Review #63)

"In the aftermath of a brutal and bloody war, in the still-smoldering Black City, sixteen-year-olds Natalie Buchanan and Ash Fisher do the unthinkable - they fall in love. Natalie, a human and the daughter of a government official, is still reeling from her father's murder by a crazed Darkling, upending her entire life. So how can she now be falling for Ash, a brooding half-blood Darkling boy? Natalie's heart betrays everything she's ever believed with one magnetic beat, forcing her to choose between her family and the boy she loves.

Ash tries desperately to deny his feelings for Natalie. She is a Sentry brat, after all. The very Sentry who would love nothing more than to see all Darklings totally eradicated from the United Sentry States. For now, they've settled for banishing all Darklings to the wrong side of a ghetto wall. Despite being half-human and being allowed to live on the human side, Ash is still scorned everywhere he goes, always wondering what it would be like on the other side of the wall with his own kind. Then Natalie steps into his life, a calming force, and he, too, has to choose. But choosing Natalie could get them both killed."

Review:
Black City gave me mixed emotions. The setting was great. I loved the mixture of an apocalypse theme and the vampire/werewolf craze. The author took it down a direction that steered both almost cliché topics into a captivating new route. However, aside from the whole "finding your true love will start your heart" thing, I failed to see the depth in Ash and Natalie's relationship. I feel like the only connection they had was the physical attributes their relationship provided, like starting Ash's heart and the weird feeling they got whenever the other was near. I think the big picture of the story, fighting against those who hold prejudice to those unlike themselves, was what really held my attention. Natalie and Ash's relationship did not. Nevertheless, I am interested in seeing what happens to Natalie and Ash, but especially Black City as a whole. Maybe a new era is on the horizon.


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