Review: The City's Son by Tom Pollock

The City’s Son by Tom Pollock

The Skyscraper Throne #1

Release Date: September 8^th, 2012

Number of Pages: 480

Publisher: Flux

Source: NetGalley + Bought copy

Running from her traitorous best friend and her estranged father, graffiti artist Beth Bradley is looking for sanctuary. What she finds is Urchin, the ragged and cocky crown prince of London’s mystical underworld. Urchin opens Beth’s eyes to the city she’s never truly seen-where vast spiders crawl telephone wires seeking voices to steal, railwraiths escape their tethers, and statues conceal an ancient priesthood robed in bronze. But it all teeters on the brink of destruction. Amid rumors that Urchin’s goddess mother will soon return from her 15-year exile, Reach, a malign god of urban decay, wants the young prince dead. Helping Urchin raise an alleyway army to reclaim his skyscraper throne, Beth soon forgets her old life. But when her best friend is captured, Beth must choose between this wondrous existence and the life she left behind.

The City’s Son caught my attention when I was at BEA, even though I missed the signing for it. It was one of those book I was really curious about, without really knowing what to expect from it. When I first started it, I was a little confused, and a little uncertain about where the book was going. The more I read, the better it got, to a point where I simply didn’t want to put it down. I did have the unfortunate luck of having bought a misprinted copy, which was missing the last 50 pages, but I still had the eARC in my computer so I was able to read it. (I often buy a finish copy of my eARC if I find it hard to concentrate on it on my computer… Don’t ask.)

If there was one thing that really blew my mind, it’s the world created, the mythology of the Mater Viae, and all the story around the creation of the city. That was really something that caught my attention from the beginning. I like a book that really give you the backstory, especially if it isn’t in our world/time. It really made it easier for me to follow the story. The characters were also interesting, but they didn’t really made an impression on me. A little over 24 hours after having finished the book, and there’s nothing that was that memorable to them, in all honesty. Doesn’t take away from the fact that the book was addicting. It’s just that don’t remember that many details about them. I remember liking Filius’ differences, enjoying the brave side of Beth, liking seeing her father ‘waking up’ at some point, and Parva’s addition to the story was interesting, but disappointing in the way I was hoping to find more from her, to have her make a bigger impact on the story.

Overall, I did really enjoy the novel. It seems like a huge book, but I have to say that I ended up reading it in a couple of hours. I’m really curious to see where Tom Pollock will be taking the story next, especially with that ending.