I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
City of Nightmares by Rebecca Schaeffer Series: City of Nightmares #1
Published by Clarion Books on 1/10/23
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Horror & Ghost Stories, Paranormal, Young Adult
Pages: 381
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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Ever since her sister became a man-eating spider and slaughtered her way through town, nineteen-year-old Ness has been terrified—terrified of some other Nightmare murdering her, and terrified of ending up like her sister. Because in Newham, the city that never sleeps, dreaming means waking up as your worst fear.
Whether that means becoming a Nightmare that’s monstrous only in appearance, to transforming into a twisted, unrecognizable creature that terrorizes the city, no one is safe. Ness will do anything to avoid becoming another victim, even if that means lying low among the Friends of the Restful Soul, a questionable organization that may or may not be a cult.
But being a member of maybe-cult has a price. In order to prove herself, Ness cons her way into what’s supposed to be a simple job for the organization—only for it to blow up in her face. Literally. Tangled up in the aftermath of an explosive assassination, now Ness and the only other survivor—a Nightmare boy who Ness suspects is planning to eat her—must find their way back to Newham and uncover the sinister truth behind the attack, even as the horrors of her past loom ominously near.
Short and Sweet Review
Ever since Ness’ sister became a man eating spider Ness has been terrified of nightmares. Ness lives in the city of Newham where she works for the Friends of the Restful Soul, which may or may not be a cult. Ness is on her last straw with the friends organization for her inability to be brave. Ness goes on what should be a simple task: delivering mail, until it all blows up. Ness meets a nightmare named Cy, who’s a vampire, who may be trying to eat her. After Ness and Cy realize that the boat was blown up intentionally, they make their way back to Newham to try to find out who was behind the attack.
The world building in this book is great. When people have dreams they could end up waking as their worst fear. Ness has tried to avoid anything that scares her, she even leaves her friend to fight a nightmare by herself. I did like Ness she may have started off as a coward but through the course of the book she becomes less afraid of things that would normally send her running. I liked seeing the dynamic between Ness and Cy mainly because she wants nothing to do with him because he’s a vampire but he saves her life so that kind of changes things in her mind. I liked seeing how the nightmares worked and we even see what’s called a nightmare phantom in Ness’ dreams and he basically makes becoming your worst fear possible. Anyway Newham is filled with corruption and the assassination attempt was only scratching the surface. Ness doesn’t have any family, so it was nice seeing her friendship with Priya and her new one with Cy. The ending of the book was good and it sets up the sequel well. I’m excited to see what the sequel has in store and what decisions Ness will make.
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