I hate books with a supernatural theme. I can never get into them, they bore me and I always go back to my harsh-realism novels within a few chapters. I never really got into The Mortal Instruments, never got into Twilight, or anything to do with vampires or monsters. I just get frustrated with them, and for that reason I'm afraid to say I did leave City of Halves in the corner of my suitcase on holiday, and read it when I had nothing left to read. And, you all know what's coming – I absolutely loved it.
The book starts off slowly, with a girl who is obviously an amazing hacker of systems and computers. Her dad lets her out of the house at any point to find these people he needs in his court case. Usually, I would pick this out as being unrealistic and ruining the book, but I didn't even notice it. The beginning didn't suck me in, but as soon as Lily almost got torn to shreds by a dog, I started listening. I like how casually I just wrote that, but when you've finished City of Halves, nothing is a surprise anymore.
The story unfolds when you meet Regan, a half-human, half-something-else-that-I-never-quite-understood and you instantly fall in love with him, and with the story of him and Lily. My favourite aspect of the book was doubtlessly the characters. If I'm honest, not necessarily Lily. I didn't not like her as such, I just preferred the smaller characters, such as the cleaner. I loved all the parts he was in, and he was so different from everyone else in the book.
I'm finding it hard to write this review, because I don't know what it was exactly that made me enjoy the book when it was so far out of my comfort zone. It was just so gripping, and whether that's because of how Inglis wrote it (and I think it might have been), the characters, or the plot. AND THE ENDING. Let us all pay our respects to Lucy Inglis for such a great and DRAMATIC ending.
I literally swooned every time Regan came to Lily's rescue, and when we met his brother, and then I loved finding out what happened to the girls, and their stories and everything was so good, and then later…I think I need to stop writing, because I'm going to give it away. This plot is so intricate that the best part is discovering it for yourself and uncovering the weird and magic world Inglis has created. When I went to bed after reading a chapter, I spent ages awake, wondering what would happen, which very rarely happens to me. I'm usually great at switching off, but the romance and the magic kept the world alive for me, even when everything else was gone.
The book has everything: great pace, a strong narrative, romance, adventure, danger, monsters and a Jamaican cleaner. What more could you want?
Now it's time for some nit picking: the things I didn't like so much. There aren't that many things. Apart from not really engaging with Lily that much, I think the only thing is that I feel it was branded too much like The Mortal Instruments. The cover, described plot and title almost feeds off The Mortal Instruments' popularity. And to be honest, I really don't think it needs to. In my opinion, it's far better, far more fantastical and tantalisingly exciting.
I would thoroughly recommend City of Halves. Not to Mortal Instruments fans, although I'm sure they'd love it too, but to everyone who just wants a really good fantasy novel. It's what I've been looking for for ages: a genuinely good book.
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