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Release-Day Review: City of Light by Keri Arthur (Outcast #1)

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City of Light by Keri Arthur // VBCCity of Light (Outcast #1)
Keri Arthur
Published: Jan. 5, 2016 (Signet)
Purchase: Book Depository or Amazon
Review source: copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review

Reviewed by: Margaret

Rating (out of 5): 4 stars

I’ve been a fan of Keri Arthur for several years, but lately I’ve felt like her work is getting repetitive. There’s always some sort of bio-engineering, at least one supernatural hybrid creature, a potential love triangle, and a heroine with a biological need to have lots of sex. City of Light still has all of those elements—the heroine, Tiger, is a lab-created vampire-shifter hybrid bred for seduction and espionage. But this post-apocalyptic world is so different from any of Arthur’s other series that it makes up for the similarities.

About a hundred years ago, the humans and shifters in this world went to war. In order to counter the shifters’ superior physical abilities, the humans created a race of super soldiers called déchet. Most of them were used as expendable infantry and had their mental and emotional capabilities limited. But a few, like Tiger, were created to be spies and assassins. When the war ended, the victorious shifters destroyed the déchet, calling them all monsters. Tiger was the only survivor in her bunker and has hidden there with the ghosts of the dead déchet ever since.

Tiger’s near-constant companions are the ghosts of two déchet children who died in her arms when their bunker was gassed. Her inability to save Cat and Bear has left her with a soft spot for children in trouble. So when she finds a little girl crying in a nearby park, she’ll do anything to protect her. Even help her injured uncle, a shifter who should be Tiger’s worst enemy. Through him, Tiger meets a team of mercenaries who are trying to rescue children stolen by a wraith. Though Tiger and the shifters don’t trust each other due to the history between their races, she agrees to help find the missing children.

Right from the beginning, I loved the action in City of Light. It features several exciting running-slashing-trying-not-to-get-eaten scenes, which remind me of zombie battles, though in this case it’s vampires chasing Tiger. She’s a strong, independent heroine who doesn’t depend on anyone to rescue her. However, spending so much time alone in the bunker means that there’s a lot she doesn’t know about her world. Her ignorance makes her seem a little naïve, and was frustrating at times since I want to know all about the politics.

Arthur hints at government corruption and possibly a rebellion, which I hope to learn more about in the next book. I still have questions (and some theories) about Jonas and his team, as well as the government’s role in the story. The ending was not precisely a cliffhanger, but it’s definitely not the end of the story either. This was one of those times where I kept trying to turn the page but nothing happened. So I’ll definitely be watching for the next book in the series.

Sexual content: lots of sex

2 Responses to “Release-Day Review: City of Light by Keri Arthur (Outcast #1)”

  1. Amy M says:

    I’m glad you liked this one. I agree that her work can seem repetitive. On the positive side of that Keri Arthur definitely has her out mythology and style set. I think if I blindly began reading a book without knowing the author I could figure out it was Keri Arthur pretty easily.
    But it’s nice to hear that City of Light breaks out of that structure a little bit.

    • Margaret says:

      It was hard to ignore things like how much her powers resemble Risa’s, especially once you have that in your head. But I like your idea that she has her own easily recognizable style. That’s a great way to look at it!

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