City of the Plague God – Sarwat Chadda

Once again, I wanna give a big thanks to Netgalley for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Keeping in mind this is an ARC, I’ll get on with my review!

Plot

Thirteen-year-old Sik lives an ordinary life of running his parents Deli and going to school, but everything changes when a Mesopotamian god comes looking for him in search of immortality. 

Sik gets caught up in a fight that involves him only because of his older brother that sadly passed away. However, he is not alone. He meets Belet, the daughter of the goddess Ishtar, who helps him in his fight against the plague god that is attacking him. Along with this, a former hero named Gilgamesh is at his side and fights to keep New York City from falling under the control of the plague god. 

With New York City a mess and plagues running wild, Sik and his friends have to find the flower of immortality to save their friends, family, and everything they hold close to them. 

I actually really loved this plot. I do think it could use some revision because it took me a while to understand everything going on, but overall I think the plot was really interesting and it definitely kept me intrigued the entire time. I finished this book in less than two days, and could not stop reading!

Characters

First of all, Sikander. He was definitely an interesting character and I loved how much he cared for his family. His one goal was to get back to them and make sure they were safe, which made me like his character a lot more. I also forgot he was thirteen at many times throughout the book. He seemed mature for his age (even for a book character), and that shows how well he was described. Overall, he was the perfect character for this adventure. 

Belet was also a character I adored. She was just so different than the typical girly girl. She was a strong warrior, and she just added a ton of depth to the book. It was clear she had some issues she had to work through with her mother, especially because it seems like shes been a bit neglected in terms of parenting. She can take care of herself fine, however, she does need a mother, and her character is kind of based around her trying to gain attention from her mother. I loved that this was added into the story and her character in general because it turned a flat character into something so much more. 

Ishtar was my favorite character, by far. The goddess of love and war was so interesting and different. She was hilarious, I mean she didn’t even know where her own kitchen was, but she has centuries worth of knowledge about a million other things. She was just a genuinely good character that once again, added a ton of depth to the story. 

Finally, I have to mention Daoud. He was so funny! His character constantly made me laugh, and while he was definitely full of himself, he was just a fun addition to the story and ended up being an important part of the book. 

Setting

New York City was absolutely the best choice for this book. A ton of the story was based around Central Park which I thought was really cool because I’ve been there and I can actually imagine where they’re talking about. 

Along with that, I loved how we kind of saw all over New York City instead of just one place. It was pretty cool to travel all over the city. 

Writing

I have to mention the cultural aspects of this book. Our main character is of Iraq heritage, and I loved how it was a huge feature of the book. It was so different and new to me, especially as someone who doesn’t follow that culture. It was so interesting to have a sort of sneak peek into that type of culture, and I think I definitely appreciate it a lot more now. 

On top of all this, Chadda’s writing style was so unique and I really enjoyed it. It really kept me interested. I never got bored, I never wanted to stop, it was exactly what I needed from the book. 

In Conclusion… 

I enjoyed this book a lot more than I expected to. It’s probably not my favorite, but it’s definitely a good, quick read, and I enjoyed the break from some of the other novels I’ve been reading. 

Rating: 4/5⭐