Title: The Immortal City
Series: The Sacred Dark: Book Two
Author: May Peterson
Publisher: Carina Press
Length: 258 Pages
Category: Fantasy
At a Glance: The Immortal City is stunning in its landscapes, its characterizations, and has left me anxious for the next book in the series to see where May Peterson’s imagination might ask readers to follow next.
Reviewed By: Lisa
Blurb: I don’t remember you…
Reborn as an immortal with miraculous healing powers, Ari remembers nothing of his past life. His entire world now consists of the cold mountainside city of Serenity. Ruled with an iron fist. Violent.
Lonely.
I may never remember you…
Regaining the memories of who he once was seems an impossible dream, until Ari encounters Hei, a mortal come to Serenity for his own mysterious purposes. From the moment Hei literally falls into his arms, Ari is drawn to him in ways he cannot understand. Every word, every look, every touch pulls them closer together.
But I’m with you now…
As their bond deepens, so does the need to learn the truth of their past. Together they journey to find an ancient immortal who can give them what they both want: a history more entwined than Ari could have ever imagined, but which Hei has always known.
It’s the reason they will risk the world as they know it to reclaim who they used to be—and what they could be once again.
Review: May Peterson’s debut novel, Lord of the Last Heartbeat, was an absolute stunner, lush in its world building and written in a lavish prose that complemented the dream-like quality of the story. To say that she repeated that success in her latest novel, The Immortal City, would be true, but this book is in no way a mere replica of the last. It’s stunning in its own right, in the landscapes she draws, the characters she creates, and she has left me anxious, yet again, for the next book in the series to see where her imagination might ask readers to follow next.
At its heart, this is the story of a love that defies the limits of reality. Peterson has called upon us to believe in a promise—that the heart never forgets true love—and to follow her characters, Ari and Hei, through tests and trials and a clear and present danger to prove that notion. There are enemies to vanquish along the way, allies to secure, and faith to restore, all while they rediscover a timeless love.
There is a particular magic at work in this book as well as a particular villainy, and Ari and Hei face it all with a fervency that tries their bond but only succeeds in strengthening it as they cross each hurdle. Every scene that leads readers to the crucial moment in which Ari and Hei must face their greatest challenge, and a powerful adversary, is dense with the imagery of a world in which humans and the sublime coexist.
May Peterson is an author whose books are a welcome addition to my collection of favorites. I loved this book every bit as much as her first.
You can buy The Immortal City here:
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