Cities of Smoke and Starlight

Slowburn, steampunk, romantic fantasy/Sci-fi

This had elements of so many other things I enjoy. The adventurous feel of Atlantis: The Lost Empire meets the hot-headed banter of Han and Leia meets the discovery of hidden cultures from The Last Camel Died At Noon by Elizabeth Peters.

This feels like a quick read but there's plenty of plot. The sci-fi/fantasy aspect is very approachable, although I'm not sure it would appeal to people who aren't already a fan of those genres. I didn't feel like I was missing context for the new dialect of the world.

My only complaint is the formatting, mostly around the italics. Some things were italicized that didn't need to be. Others weren't that probably should have. This was a minor annoyance and nowhere near bad enough for me to stop reading.

I suppose the ending is a cliffhanger but this book still feels complete.