City of Dod

This review is also featured on Behind the Pages: City of Dod

Thank you to Book Sirens for providing me with a copy for an honest review! I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this book review voluntarily.

Askari is trying her best to follow the rules set down by her community, but she still struggles to truly believe in some of their decisions. When a hunt goes wrong she ends up being tracked by a monster that will kill her entire community. With Harcos and Shujaa by her side, they embark on a quest to kill the monster. But they will find a new threat with abilities they've never seen before, and discover long hidden truths about the end of the world.

City of Dod capitalized on world-building elements. New communities are brought to light and the history of the world before the invasion was revealed. I felt like there was a solid foundation for the third book to grow on. Askari's character arc also steadily grew as her concept of the world and how she fits into it became more established. However, I still found the dialogue lacking in complexity. I felt that certain character reactions were younger than they should have been for their ages.

Arielle Sieling is highly talented when it comes to creature creation. The time and effort that went into building up the variety of monsters that are seen make this series all the while. She doesn't slow down the pace explaining but puts just enough detail into each one. Watching Askari and her friends fight to survive against new monsters thrown into the mix was an entertaining read.

I did find that the sequence of events followed a bit too closely with the first book. And there were quite a few dream sequences that didn't seem to add value to the story. Hallucinations were a common theme due to encounters the team had with monsters, and I felt that the less coherent moments should have been reserved for these.

Overall I enjoyed City of Dod. The battle scenes are on point and riveting. The world is bursting with potential and Askari has a worthy character arc to follow. Plus, with the way this book ended, I can't wait to see how the next begins.