Review: Diamond City by Francesca Flores

DIAMOND CITY by Francesca Flores

Hardcover: 400 pages
Published: January 28th, 2020 by Wednesday Books

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Good things don't happen to girls who come from nothing...unless they risk everything.

Fierce and ambitious, Aina Solís as sharp as her blade and as mysterious as the blood magic she protects. After the murder of her parents, Aina takes a job as an assassin to survive and finds a new family in those like her: the unwanted and forgotten.

Her boss is brutal and cold, with a questionable sense of morality, but he provides a place for people with nowhere else to go. And makes sure they stay there.

DIAMOND CITY: built by magic, ruled by tyrants, and in desperate need of saving. It is a world full of dark forces and hidden agendas, old rivalries and lethal new enemies.

To claim a future for herself in a world that doesn't want her to survive, Aina will have to win a game of murder and conspiracy—and risk losing everything.

Full of action, romance and dark magic, book one of Francesca Flores' breathtaking fantasy duology will leave readers eager for more! 

There is no greater feeling as a reader than picking up a random book that you have never heard of, and falling in love with it.

I had never heard of Diamond City. It was nowhere on my radar. I didn't even read the blurb, to be honest. Damaris sent it to me for review, and so...I read it.

And it was really, really good.

It's dark, and it's sad. It's about survival and the sometimes terrible things we will do in the process. It's about redemption. It's about hope. 

I am pretty big on being able to root for a character. If I can't find something in them to root for, I have a hard time staying invested. Let's be honest, assassins aren't exactly wholesome and lovable characters, typically. Yet..saw pieces of myself in not just Aina, but most of the characters. I rooted for them even though they hadn't made great choices. I understood the choices they'd made, and all the different reasons they had made them. 

One underrated thing that the author pulled off was the ENDING. It leaves plenty open to continue the series (and you can bet I'll be reading the next one...) but it also closes JUST enough to leave you satisfied. So, if the series was to be suddenly dropped by the publisher (look, it sucks, it really does, but that is an unfortunate side of the business we are all familiar with), you wouldn't be left with a MASSIVE cliffhanger that left you unsatisfied. We need more endings like this one.

Ultimately I would say that Diamond City is not for the faint of heart. It's not cute. But it's a great story, against a harrowing backdrop, with a rich group of characters. I recommend it.

Cover: 3 | Characters: 5 | Plot: 5 | Pace: 4 | Creativity: 4