If you love a book that gives you angels and demon vibes, that has a love story you think is doomed from the start, and asks questions about humanity, then check out The City of Glass. It’s a story that packs so much into just over 200 pages. Keep reading this book review of The City of Glass for my full thoughts.
Summary
The demon Vitrine—immortal, powerful, and capricious—loves the dazzling city of Azril. She has mothered, married, and maddened the city and its people for generations, and built it into a place of joy and desire, revelry and riot.
And then the angels come, and the city falls.
Vitrine is left with nothing but memories and a book containing the names of those she has lost—and an angel, now bound by her mad, grief-stricken curse to haunt the city he burned.
She mourns her dead and rages against the angel she longs to destroy. Made to be each other’s devastation, angel and demon are destined for eternal battle. Instead, they find themselves locked in a devouring fascination that will change them both forever.
Together, they unearth the past of the lost city and begin to shape its future. But when war threatens Azril and everything they have built, Vitrine and her angel must decide whether they will let the city fall again.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
The City of Glass is a story that only grew. It begins as a city in ruins asking us what we will make from the ashes. How can we rebuild? For Vitrine she mourns the ghosts and we see snapshots into their lives. Tied together, Vitrine and the angel are doomed to never escape each other. Throughout the years this relationship evolves from hate, to resentment, to uneasiness, to more. But could this forced proximity, this forced confinement with our enemies, make us realize the things we share?
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And then The City of Glass develops into a story about humanity. About their cyclical natures, the traps they build for themselves. This is a character focused story that examines the cycles we can get caught in and the ones we can break out of. Susan Dalian did a great job at infusing this novella with heart and tension. We can feel Vitrine’s emotions and frustrations. Find The City of Glass on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop.org, Blackwells, & Libro. fm.