City of the Uncommon Thief by Lynne Bertrand (review)

Bertrand, Lynne City of the Uncommon Thief. Dutton, 2021 [400p] Trade ed. ISBN 9780525555322 $19.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9780525555339 $10.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R* Gr. 9-12

This grim, haunting fantasy novel explores life inside a strictly quarantined world made up of 1,000 inhabited towers and a horrifying city underneath. Indeed, the core protagonist here is the setting itself: it offers endless secrets, each worse than the next, an entire mythology and elaborate history, and fascinating details that slowly coalesce into an entirely realized world that could be any time or any place, though not somewhere or sometime anyone would ever choose to be. As for the humans, Odd Thebes is a bard, brilliant but insecure enough that his cleverness with words is used more often to close others off than to create community. He is inextricably bound to Errol, who is as quintessential a hero as Odd may be villain, though neither is so easily boxed, and he believes himself to be madly in love with someone below him in status within a rigid hierarchy, the gorgeous and clever Jamila. The three are even more closely drawn together by a mysterious pair of iron needles that wind up being two of the most destructive, world-changing pieces of metal that ever existed. Bertrand is wildly ambitious, and she's masterful in her success, trusting readers to be patient and thoughtful enough to tackle shifting locations, characters, perspectives, and plots. It all comes together into a conclusion that drags wildly disparate parts together, howling for their independence but finally yielding to become part of a (begrudgingly) tamed and comprehensive whole that is worth every word.