Terms of Service is a book that kept surprising me in all the best ways. I had high hopes after Bluebird, but they were entirely smashed! This world is so unique and immersive! Keep reading this book review of Terms of Service for my full thoughts.
Summary
Luzia N.E. Drainway never really thought too much about the Astrosi. They lurk above and below Bastion City – a giant multileveled megalopolis she calls her home – and they tend to keep to themselves. On the rare occasions they use their magics to meddle with human affairs, most people with an ounce of sense steer clear of whichever unfortunate soul happens to be their victim. Luzia is far too dedicated to repairing and maintaining the frequently-damaged Bastion to pay them much attention, and prefers to ignore the Astrosi just like everyone else.
That disregard gets blown out of the water when a rogue Astrosi and nefarious trickster named Carrion kidnaps her nephew and sells him to the Eoi, one of the Astrosi courts.
With no other options to save her nephew, Luzia trades her life for his and finds herself in service to the Eoi. Unfortunately for her, Astrosi logic is acrobatic in ways even the most devious human mind can barely comprehend. It’s not until the deal is struck that she realizes she’s trapped in the most abstruse verbal contract imaginable. She is essentially conscripted into their ranks, and her devotion to her city becomes stretched to breaking point by her new masters’ orders.
As she struggles under this weight, she begins to uncover the secrets of the Astrosi people – the internal battles for power between the two kingdoms, the never-ending conflict between them, the trickster Carrion who somehow bridges that gap, and the very nature of the Bastion itself.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
Terms of Service is this speculative fiction world of megalopolis and powerful almost supernatural levels of society. I would love to get a glimpse into this world so I could see it unfold in color. Terms of Service is action packed from start to finish. And in this dangerous world, Luzia is thrown into a contract and a world she’s never known. From the beginning I loved the ways she solves problems instead of running first to violence. And the world just continues to get more interesting in ways I can’t talk about because of spoilers!
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But it’s a story that will continually challenge what you think and what you expect. It gains this new level which is an experience I don’t think I’ve experienced ever before. Terms of Service asks us whether we need to learn from our pain, from our losses, and from the things we wish we could forget. If we are alone in our isolation, do we allow ourselves to become cold? To see lives as merely tally marks? Terms of Service develops to ask questions about finding one’s purpose, but also the ethics of doing what’s right for all versus just a select few. If you’re looking for a speculaltive fiction world that sweeps you away and makes you think, check this one out! Find Terms of Service on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop. org, Blackwells, & Libro. fm.
