Set in a convincing alternate-history world, the Golden City of Kathleen Cheney’s novel offers a wealth of history and politics and a convincing society of humanity and seafolk. Of course, the twain should never meet, each banished from the other’s lands. But there are always spies.There’s twisted magic too in this fascinating novel, and there’s a pleasing mix of romance, mystery, suspense and curiosity. The tale flows swift and smooth as the tide, and the reader’s soon caught up in plot and counterplot; a lonely old woman longs for the sea; an eager young woman meets a cruel demise; officious politicians thwart police investigation; and a coolly convincing flavor of history pervades it all.The author succeeds in creating romantic tension without twisting the tale to its needs, balancing plot and emotion beautifully, and creating characters who ring convincingly true, whether they’re human, sereia or selkie, rich or poor, devious or kind (or both at once). In fact, the author creates a whole city of characters, and keeps them clear to the reader throughout the whole of the complex tale.The novel ends with hints of more to come, and is clearly part of a series. But the plot’s complete and readers who prefer standalone tales won’t be disappointed. A masterful tale, this one is highly recommended.Disclosure: I was lucky enough to win a copy and I offer my honest review. I picked this up at the library on a whim. I thought, "Hmm, alternate-history Portugal? With magic and murder and secrets? All right, I'll give it a try." Then I let it sit for a while as I worked my way through the other books on my to-read list. When I picked it up again, my eye caught the word "selkies" in a review on the cover...and I knew I had made the right choice. I read half of it in one night because I couldn't stop reading and finished it the next day.I can't decide what I most adore about this book. The world? It's such a well-crafted blend of history and magic. To be fair, I know nothing about Portuguese history, but the descriptions of society living and politics make sense together. The magic system (and roles of non-humans) blend in seamlessly. And the more I read about the non-human societies (the selkies and sereia) the more I want to know about them. Then, of course, we have the characters. Oriana and Duilio read like real, flawed people with only so much in the way of magical gifts. Their lives are made more complicated by the fact that neither of them are precisely "people", or at least not human. They both hide layers of secrets and spend much of the book carefully deciding how much they can trust those secrets to each other. My only complaint about this otherwise well-crafted story is the presence of several loose ends still dangling when the book is over. I was relieved to see that, firstly, there is a sequel, and secondly, the library has a copy. I look forward to reading more.
What do You think about The Golden City (2013)?
Loved this! Interesting, unique, well-realized world. I can't wait for the second one!
—foxin1900
DNF @ p. 223. Life's too short to finish books you don't care about.
—sweetthing76
Hhmmmmmm... Still thinking about this one.
—sazzles
