I’ve been a fan of Marie Lu’s books for years, so when I heard she was dropping an adult novel, I was highly intrigued. We’ve seen several YA authors switching to adult novels over the last year or so, which always piqued my interest in the story idea that pulled them away from their genre.
For Red City [Buy Bookshop Amazon LibroFM], there’s a lot of factors that make this an adult story, and I would agree that there’s no real way to make it YA. We meet Sam and Ari as are best friends at school, but quietly. They write each other letters and don’t share all of the details of their life. That’s because Ari is studying alchemy magic after school in order to work for a syndicate that may or may not be threatening his family. Sam overhears the word alchemy while hiding out at her mom’s job and becomes fascinated by it and the woman running another syndicate. This sets her up on a collision course for trouble with Ari… and many other things.
This book is giving Romeo and Juliet with crime and magic. Ari and Sam working for opposing syndicates brings so much tension and action to the story, but I think my favorite part is all of the complex relationships. Sam has this incredibly wild relationship with Ari, but she’s also got fascinating dynamics with her mom, and people in the syndicate. I’m definitely intrigued to see how these aspects play out in the next installment.
The one thing I missed the most was Marie’s usual worldbuilding. This story is set in an alternate version of modern day Los Angeles, so it didn’t have as much worldbuilding as her full-fledged fantasy novels. There’s still a complex magic system at play, but I kinda missed the beautiful way she describes fictional worlds. Either way, I cannot wait for book two.
Literary Hypewoman 
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