Black City by Elizabeth Richards Review

Book Review: Back City by Elizabeth Richards

            The cover of Black City is very much an eye catcher. I love how black the city is portrayed in the cover just as it is in the story, extremely dark. A shattering rose into a black city has a great color scheme of the red contrasting the white and black and has a meaning that follows very closely into what happens in the story. The symbolism of the city being covered flows with how the black city starts to flow with unity from a single source, the most unlikely of heroes.

            Ash -a half darkling young man- and Natalie -the governess’s daughter- are the most unlikely group of people and must come together to save the lives of darkling’s and humans alike from the most corrupt of governments. Ash is the bad boy type. He is dark and mysterious as well as the local drug dealer. While Natalie is the good girl who falls for the bad boy despite all of the differences and fights with Ash with all she has because she knows its right.

            Both of the main characters are very relatable to young adults in high school. The only thing that separates them from normal, everyday people is that they live in a different time line. They have their own little groups and clicks that range from the outcasts all the way to the preps. I can see a little of myself in Ash, not being a drug dealer, but being an outcast through out grade school and high school with only a few friends. I can say with a fair amount of certainty that anyone could find something in the main characters to relate to, that’s just how diverse they are.

            When I first started the book it sounded like it was more of a historical fiction relating to the concentration camps in Nazi Germany and WWII. A race was being repressed by the superior race and the Darklings were thrown into ghettos and sent to camps where they were exterminated. Where history started to differ, or I don’t know enough about WWII history, is when the superior humans in the government try to poison the darkling race.

            I would suggest this book to anyone looking for a great adventure in the face of extreme odds that will challenge anyone’s look on morality.

Cover: 4/5

Character: 5/5

Plot: 4.5/5

Overall: 4.5/5

Recommendation Scale: {1-2-3-4-5}

May the Force be with You,

Sean

@Bookz_For_Nerdz