City of the Plague God
Ratings4
Average rating4.3
15
Ratings4
Average rating4.3
Thirteen-year-old Sikander Aziz has to team up with the hero Gilgamesh in order to stop Nergal, the ancient god of plagues, from wiping out the population of Manhattan in this adventure based on Mesopotamian mythology.
Featured Series
1 primary bookCity of the Plague God is a 1-book series first released in 2020 with contributions by Sarwat Chadda.
Reviews with the most likes.
This book was absolutely stunning! One of my favorite reads of the year Sarwat Chadda crafted a beautiful tale of a Muslim American teenager, struggling with loss of his brother and intense responsibility he feels to be there for his parents. The story is gorgeous and captivating! I never wanted to put it down. It carried me from emotion to emotion, and left me with a deep warmth. I would absolutely recommend this to anyone
I couldn't get into to this because author has this little quirk where the character's thoughts are detailed without describing what's actually occurring physically. DNF as there's too many other reading options in my world.
If i could give this 4.5 stars I would!!!! I loved this adventure so much. I haven't read much Mesopotamian based fantasy and this was a perfect starting point! It's middle grade so it's perfect for people who don't know much about the myths in the first place, and the author does an amazing job introducing the gods and the aspects of the myths that people might not know about.
I cared about the main character so much and I was rooting for him the entire time, and at one point I almost cried because of how upset he was over something (that would be a spoiler soooo read it and you'll know lol).
Didn't reach a full 5 star, but it was set up in a way that it could have a sequel. I think the author mentioned wanting to write more as well.
I can't wait for my pre-order of this book to come in so I can see it's beautiful cover in real life!
Thank you to Disney Publishing Worldwide, Rick Riordan Presents, and NetGalley for providing me with an eBook copy to review
This book was a lot of fun and fits in perfectly with the Rick Riordan Presents line–I'd definitely feel comfortable that any kid who liked Percy Jackson would also like this story steeped in Mesopotamian mythology. I liked the side character Daoud, an actor who is frustrated that the only roles he's offered are terrorists–he's a funny, vain character but also a good way to gently open the eyes of young white readers to think a bit about stereotypes in media, while validating some of the experiences and frustrations of brown readers.
I do have one quibble: the reveal that Daoud and Sik's late older brother, Mohammad, had actually been a gay couple rather than the platonic friendship the family had assumed, was actually so vague that I think a lot of kids might miss it? I know Rick Riordan has had openly queer characters and relationships in his books so I don't think this is a case of the author trying to sneak something in past a disapproving publisher. Why not just have them say "boyfriends" or "dating" or "in a relationship" or something?? Maybe (hopefully) they'll dig a bit more into that in the inevitable sequel.
