City of Last Chances by Adrian Tchaikovsky: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

City of Last Chances by Adrian Tchaikovsky

City of Last Chances is the kind of fantasy I currently like best: compact in scope yet telling a large story. Ilmar is a city occupied by Palleseen invaders, a people obsessed with perfection, be it language, thoughts, or behaviour. Religion or magic aren’t allowed—gods don’t exist in their world view—and dissidents are submitted to correction, i.e. hangings.

Unfortunately for them, Ilmar is a messy city, with a forest that is a portal to unknown worlds filled with monsters and protected by mysterious people; a district full of ghosts that take over the living; many magical systems, and demons powering the factories. There are several resistance factions waffling about, crime lords and aristocrats that have their own ideas of how to get rid of the occupiers, and seditious ideas spreading among the university students.

Seemingly random events spark a revolution—or try to. People are swept into events they have no control over, with no one knowing what’s really happening or if these actions are wise. When the dust settles, nothing has changed.

The story is told through a large cast of characters. Some play a greater role in the events—or rather, are impacted more by them—some appear briefly, only to instantly die. Many of them have their own agendas and all are powerless to influence the world around them. Some rise above their selfishness, but no one emerges as the hero of the day.

With such a large cast, no one becomes the main character, which for me was the weakness of the book. When a new character after another was introduced, with most of them not driving the narrative in any way, it was difficult to take interest in them. The few that reappeared several times were great, complex characters, and the story would’ve been sharper and more impactful if the story had concentrated only on them.

My favourite was Yasnic, a priest and only follower of an exacting god. He starts as a downtrodden and weak, but manages to carve out a slightly better life for him and his god in the end—the only character with some sort of growth arc. I could’ve read a whole book from his point of view. Other characters were either tragic, or cunning enough to be able to return to their earlier lives after the upheavals.

The pace was slow. Descriptions of even minor characters are detailed, and the narrator directs the story rather bluntly at times. Everything is duplicated. There are two mysterious districts, two McGuffins—the revolution and a protective amulet—every character has their parallel or counterpart, and even some events, like hangings, are repeated.

Small, random events don’t so much cause the revolution as they give the characters a reason to take part in it, even if it’s not in their interest. A tighter narrative concentrating on the few main characters would’ve made a better reading experience. But the ending was satisfying, which made up for the slowness of the book. If you like character-driven fantasy, this is for you.