City of Miracles

Mystery, spies, magic, and an elaborate, fascinating world

I found the books in this series an irresistible combination--one that kept me up at night when I should have been getting sleep for work the next day.

One of the nicer things about The Divine Cities novels is that each is a self-contained story, each focusing on a different main character. While I definitely recommend reading the books in order -- because a lot of important worldbuilding and character backstory takes place especially in the first, and somewhat in the second novel, each book provides a satisfying ending which does not leave the reader hanging.

City of Miracles continues the story from the first two books, while having a plot all its own. This one features Shara Thivani's secretary/bodyguard Sigrud, and I really enjoyed how it continued to develop his personality from the mysterious big burly hulk as he appeared at the beginning of the series.

There are more mysteries yet to be known about Bulikov, the city of miracles, and Sigrud proceeds to unravel them even as he seeks retribution for Shara's apparent assassination.

Is this the end of stories about The Divine Cities? The author has created a satisfying ending to the series without unraveling all the secrets of the Divines, and has left the characters in a place where there is potential for future adventures, should he decide to pursue writing them.

I had City of Stairs and City of Blades on my Hugo nomination ballot for the years they were published, and City of Miracles will certainly be on my ballot for Best Novel, and Best Series, next year.