11 exciting SFF book releases to kick off your New Year right this January
By Lacy Baugher
Shadow City – Francesa Flores
The conclusion to Francesa Flores’ “City of Diamond and Steel” duology, Shadow City picks up right where last year’s Diamond City leaves off.
The book is set a month after assassin Aina Solis fails to complete her most recent contract but helps discover a plot to kill a visiting member of a foreign royal family. Now, she and her fellow assassin Tannis are masters of their own crime house, where they train new assassins, spies, and thieves, all while trying to stay out of the way of their former boss Kohl.
He’s been sowing chaos in an attempt to undermine Aina’s power but may just turn out to be the person she needs to help stop an even worse threat. (And what will happen between them once they take out their mutual enemy is certainly anyone’s guess.)
The official synopsis describes the story as follows.
"Aina Solís has fought her way to the top of criminal ranks in the city of Kosín by wresting control of an assassin empire owned by her old boss, Kohl. She never has to fear losing her home and returning to life on the streets again—except Kohl, the man who tried to ruin her life, will do anything to get his empire back. Aina sets out to kill him before he can kill her. But Alsane Bautix, the old army general who was banned from his seat in the government after Aina revealed his corruption, is working to take back power by destroying anyone who stands in his way. With a new civil war on the horizon and all their lives at risk, the only way for Aina to protect her home is to join up with the only other criminal more notorious than her: Kohl himself. As Bautix’s attacks increase, Aina and Kohl work together to stop his incoming weapons shipments and his plans to take back the Tower of Steel. To defeat them both, Aina will resort to betrayal, poison, and a deadly type of magic that hasn’t been used in years. Through narrow alleys, across train rooftops, and deep in the city’s tunnels, Aina and Kohl will test each other’s strengths and limits, each of them knowing that once Bautix is dead, they’ll still have to face each other. If she manages to kill him, she’ll finally have the freedom she wants—but it might forever mark her as his shadow in a city where only the strongest survive."
Shadow City is available on January 26.