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Series Review: The Kingston Cycle by C.L. Polk

Greetings and welcome to Reviews That Burn: Series Reviews, part of Books That Burn. Series Reviews discuss at least three books in a series and cover the overarching themes and development of the story across several books. I'd like to thank longtime Patron Case Aiken, who receives a monthly shoutout. This episode discusses The Kingston Cycle by C. L. Polk.  Full Audio Here    In an original world reminiscent of Edwardian England in the shadow of a World War, cabals of noble families use their unique magical gifts to control the fates of nations, while one young man seeks only to live a life of his own. Magic marked Miles Singer for suffering the day he was born, doomed either to be enslaved to his family's interest or to be committed to a witches' asylum. He went to war to escape his destiny and came home a different man, but he couldn’t leave his past behind. The war between Aeland and Laneer leaves men changed, strangers to their friends and family, but even after...
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The City of Dusk by Tara Sim (The Dark Gods #1)

The Four Realms—Life, Death, Light, and Darkness—all converge on the city of dusk.

But the gods have withdrawn their favor from the once thriving and vibrant metropolis. And without it, all the realms are dying.

Unwilling to stand by and watch the destruction, the four heirs to divine power—Angelica, an elementalist with her eyes set on the throne; Risha, a necromancer fighting to keep the peace; Nikolas, a soldier who struggles to see the light; and Taesia, a shadow-wielding rogue with a reckless heart—will become reluctant allies in the quest to save their city.

But their rebellion will cost them dearly.

TITLE: The City of Dusk
AUTHOR: Tara Sim
PUBLISHER: Orbit
YEAR: 2022
LENGTH: 576 pages
AGE: Adult
GENRE: Fantasy
RECOMMENDED: N/A

Queer Rep Summary: Lesbian/Sapphic Main Character(s), Bi/Pan Main Character(s), Genderqueer/Nonbinary Minor Character(s), Trans Secondary Character(s).

DNF 229 pages in (40%).

This has a lot of story elements I’d normally like, but for some reason it’s just not working for me. I gave it a month and it started to feel like a chore.

I think I’m having trouble because of the size of the cast. It starts out with four main characters (with one more important one who isn’t a POV character) and then adds another one. They’re all in the same city and there’s a degree of redundancy as one character learns something and then one or two others figure it out separately. Whatever the reason, I’m not enjoying it and I’m stopping.

Graphic/Explicit CW for grief.

Moderate CW for sexual content, cursing, racism, xenophobia, kidnapping,  blood, gore, violence, injury detail, medical content, chronic illness, animal death, death.

Minor CW for alcohol, self harm, police brutality, parental death, child death.

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A black and gold circular frame with a skull and daggers at its base. In the middle is a misty view of a large building in black and white.


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