Dystopian fantasy, not enough sarcastic AIs

City of Bones
by Martha Wells

“Somewhere else, in a room shadowed by age and death, a man readies himself to look into the future for what may be the last time.“
First chapter

It took me five days to read the first chapter. I only read in bed that week and this book put me to sleep so fast that I made no decent progress. I could not get into this for the life of me. City setting, two outsiders and underdogs as main characters. Dystopia, aka apocalyptic fantasy world having risen from a world ravaged by climate change and turned into a desert world. One of the main characters with unusual biological features. Magic that drives its wielders crazy—where have I read that before?

The second chapter then turned into Mad Max and I started to become interested. I liked the part in the Waste (desert). The initial chapters in the city were engaging enough, but the plot didn‘t exactly move fast. A lot of explanations and descriptions of the scenery. Nice, but although I liked what I read, it ultimately bored me. It went downhill from there.

I would have liked more exploration of Khat‘s society and biology, sadly it was only light backstory details. I also liked the idea and workings of the Remnant.

Wells lost me somewhere in the city and never got me back. I heavily skimmed from the middle of the book. It seems that fantasy these days only works for me if it is heavily plot driven and fast moving. I liked the idea of this story, but not the execution.