4.5 stars

The City of Dusk is a political & magical novel featuring 4 magical houses all grabbing for power. This novel features necromancy, shadow magic, elemental magic, & sun / paladin-esque magic. This definitely gave me dnd vibes & I was here for it. It features angry warring gods, demons, & conjuration & some politics with secrecy & betrayal. Some really great characters - there's multiple pov's. We have angelica, an angry & rage filled lesbian on a path to prove herself & fix her magic. We then have Taesia, a morally grey character with shadow magic who never wanted power & responsibility & will do everything to protect her family. We then have Risha, a necromancer who wants to protect people. Then Nikolas, who is trying to overcome his grief. And finally, Julian, who has a mysterious magic. The characters were the best part with some really great dynamics, motivations, & arcs.

I think some of the bad reviews are quite harsh, it is a good solid fantasy & definitely an adult novel (the characters are 21!), authors just tend to get shoved into the YA category when they've previously written it.