This review contains affiliate links, which earn me a small commission when you click and purchase, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my small business and allowing me to continue providing you a reliable resource for clean book ratings.
The city of Athanor was cut loose thousands of years ago from the rest of the planet’s countries, always to relocate every few years or so, by a group of alchemists called “Curious Men” who rule over the disparate peoples in the city. Since it’s moved constantly, it’s picked up bits and pieces of other cities as well as citizens (and species) of those areas, and it’s become a sprawling and unmappable metropolis, and anyone who becomes a citizen stays one forever, never able to go home. Many areas are filled with gangs who supply the people with the drug of choice, cinnabar. Isten and her group of Exiles dream of returning to their homeland, but most days they are just struggling to survive. Isten particularly is a slave to her addictions, making those who depend on her begin to lose hope that they’ll ever break free from their violent life of crime and survival.
When a Curious Man called Alzen encounters Isten and proposes a way for her to quickly take control of her seedy part of the city, aided by his alchemy, it seems a miraculous solution to many of her problems, even though she suspects there must be some dangerous ramifications. But she goes along with the plan and ends up experiencing power she’s never imagined and that’s just as addicting as any drug. What happens, further destruction and enslavement of the people of Athanor, or perhaps even a fairer future unchained from the will of a few powerful alchemists, depends on her finding the better parts of herself, buried deep below all the ugliness she’s had to endure.
The Ingenious’ premise piqued my interest, and its description on NetGalley made it sound particularly fascinating. Though it did have interesting magical elements, it was mostly just dark and violent, with a powerful alchemist thirsting for more power and doing whatever inhumane things he had to do in service of a twisted higher purpose and plenty of lowlife gangs fighting for dominance of neighborhoods no one should ever have to live in. I was relieved when it was over.
Rated: High. There were roughly 30 instances of strong language and a good number of uses of the s-word (mostly for its literal meaning; the city is just a nasty place). Violence is strong and constant, and there’s lots of blood and maiming. Sexual content is limited to general references to prostitutes providing plenty of services. Drug and alcohol use is a big part of the story, though the point is made that addictions are hampering people from making a better life for themselves and being able to fight back against their oppressors. Drugs are another tool that some in power use to keep the citizenry in line, even. A strong cautionary tale about rising above addiction.
*I received an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Click here to purchase your copy of The Ingenious on Amazon.
