The Travelling City is an urban fantasy with some familiar echoes. My first impression was "Alita: Battle Angel clone," but that's not it at all.
The city of the title is a paradise, or is it? Every resident can shape reality with their thoughts. Want a palace? Just imagine it. Want someone to disappear? You can do that too, if you're powerful enough. But every power has a price. Get too close to the sea of clouds beneath the city and collective madness will swallow you whole. The heart of the book is the relationship between Reihan, a seaver, a creature that serves humans, immune to their magic and with an expiration date like a carton of milk, and Phillippe, a man searching for his brother who has built his entire identity on being likeable and finds himself disarmed by someone who doesn't need him. Their growing closeness is slow, full of sharp conversations and stolen moments of vulnerability.
The worldbuilding is delightful. The Travelling City is a place you'd want to visit and escape from at the same time, which I think is a good measure of how deep a setting really is. Buildings get manifested according to collective desires, neighborhoods shift shape, and the streets are full of dangers.
The opening scene, where Reihan must carry out a "legal" massacre, is as disturbing as it is necessary to establish the tone. It's as if Adrienne is telling us, here's what my book is like. You've been warned. The third POV, Ellis, is also a delight. At times she's the comic relief, but she also has moments of genuine tenderness.
Where the book struggles is in its middle pacing. The first half builds expertly. The second settles into the relationship between the leads, losing some urgency. The investigation into what happened to Alexander resolves a bit hastily, and the true antagonist emerges too late. But these are minor sins in a book that knows what it wants to be and does it with elegance.
The Cover
The cover is gorgeous. I'll admit it. It's the main reason I picked up this book in the first place. Great choice. A dreamlike city in pink and orange, which perhaps promises a lighter tone than what the book actually delivers. Reader warning: there are moments of genuine horror here, even if veiled in melancholy rather than splatter. Adrienne isn't about gore. Yes, there's violence, but it's purposeful, not gratuitous. A clear, deliberate authorial choice that I applaud.
If you're looking for a different kind of fantasy, with non-human protagonists exploring what it means to love, with worldbuilding that's as much a character as it is a setting, The Travelling City deserves your time. It's not perfect, but it's unique. And in a sea of interchangeable fantasy novels, that's what matters most.
It tells you this is an author worth following for more moments like this.
ARC copy received in exchange for an honest review.
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