Black City by Elizabeth Richards

So today while in my English class we were discussing the different forms of relationships that we could write our first essay about. My teacher pressured us to think outside the box and come up with a relationship that is more complex than just brother/sister, husband/wife, boyfriend/girlfriend. It got me thinking about about the relationship between readers and fictional characters. How readers idolize characters and even say that they love them. I just thought it was a unique relationship that a lot of people don't think about.

Anyway, today's book is...

Black City by Elizabeth Richards

Black City. A city true to it's name is clouded in darkness. The Darklings have been forced behind the Ghetto walls by law. Ash, a Twin Blood (half Darkling, half human) is allowed to walk around the city but it constantly facing prejudice. When Natalie Buchnan arrives, the daughter of a powerful leader, Ash falls for her. This romance causes tension in the city. Ash and Natalie have to decide who they can trust and uncover secrets that could change their lives as they know it.

Vampires are something that has been completely overdone since Twilight revamped the craze a few years ago. Though the Darklings are technically Vampires, I enjoy the twist Elizabeth Richards takes with this novel. First of all they are called Darklings and not Vampires which is a good twist in itself. I also liked the fact that the Darklings carry haze and can drug people when they bite them. It gives the Darklings a modern twist on a paranormal creature we have been hearing stories about for centuries. Also having only certain people being able to hunt and locate Darklings gave it and extra special twist that I thoroughly enjoyed. Although knowing that both Ash and Natalie would be able to hunt them was not that big of a plot twist, I saw it coming.

This novel is actually the closest thing to a romance novel I think I would ever enjoy. There are still some things about Ash's and Natalie's relationship that make me want to run my head through a concrete wall, but it's not horrible. Surprisingly. I have previously wrote about a novel called 'Legend' by Marie Lu, and I think that Ash and Natalie have a lot of the same aspects that June and Day do. They come from different worlds, they cant be together, yet they still love each other. It was a good relationship and a good pairing. I loved how in the beginning Ash and Natalie did not like each other very much yet there was that underlying sexual tension that you could just tell was there. It made the fact that they fall in love more believable. I mean we all know that one couple that started out hating each others guts but now they can't live with out each other. Am I right?

Though this novel was extremely well written, in the middle, I would have liked the see a different beginning and maybe a slightly less cheesy ending. I felt like the beginning just dove straight into the plot and we didn't get much back story. I would have liked to get to know Ash and Natalie separately for a few chapters before they met. It just felt rushed having them meet within the first five pages. I fell like I didn't get a sense of who they were without the other. If you get my drift. And with the ending, it just felt like one giant cheese fest. Yes it was setting up the plot for the second book and I am glad that Richards had the fore site to do that but it felt like some Harry Potter/Chloe King shit up in here. I won't spoil the ending but you will understand where I am coming from.

Overall I give this novel a 7/10. Richards is an amazing writer but I didn't have a taste for a few aspects of the plot. And for anyone who reads my blog will know that this is an extremely high score for me to give a novel that is based around a romance. And a paranormal romance at that. 'Black City' by Elizabeth Richards should be on everyone's to be read list. the sequel 'Phoenix' came out in 2013 so pick that one up to!

-Shawnee Smith