The City Inside

“They'd known the end times were coming but hadn’t known they’d be multiple choice.”

Bewertung am 10.05.2022
Bewertungsnummer: 1710080
Bewertet: Buch (Gebundene Ausgabe)

Thank you to Netgalley and Tordotcom for providing me an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. CW: sexual assault (on and off page), gaslighting, mentioned human trafficing and genocide. “They'd known the end times were coming but hadn’t known they’d be multiple choice.” This one was really interesting, definitely a book I'd recommend to many people (no promise they'll enjoy it though). The City Inside is a slice-of-life slow burn anti-distopian story set in near future Delhi ("anti-distopian" meaning that the world presented by Samit Basu isn't that far-fedged as to be called distopian). Regarding the precise time The City Inside takes place, I've heard conflicting opinions, going from late 2020s to 2070s. To me personally, there were too many pop-culture references to be set more than 20 years from now. But the exact year isn't that important. What is important, is that it's near-future and things are bad. From climate catastophies over unbreatheable air to your home spying on you for the government. There are daily crises reports and gruesome pictures on the news - but alas, just turn on content filters to protect your parents from being over-whelmed. In this beautifully detailed setting, we follow two average citizens just trying to get through life in one piece. While I loved Joey, Rudra I didn't find that interesting. Maybe because Joey actually speaks up for herself throughout the whole story instead letting other use her as a punching-bag as Rudra does for the most part. But all the characters were original and eye-catching, and I definitely had opinions about them all (not all of them good). The one problem I had with this book was the plot - which might be surprising to people who know my reading taste. But while I never need much plot and actually prefer slow-moving stories, The City Inside simply lacked sense of direction. I didn't mind so much the middle part where things were a little stagnant but got frustrated near the end. Because this is when things get more interesting, but then the final execution of what's built-up in the last three chapers, fell flat for me. It was just too vague and lacked in detail - escpecially compared to the detailed world-building. In the end, I wasn't satisfied. Perhaps a few more pages would have helped to further explain what was going on there and it's not like this book was so long that 20 pages more would have been too much. But despite an ending that left me wanting, I can't get this world out of my head. I want to further explore this terrifying yet fascinating Delhi, and I want to read more of Samit Basu's cutting but charming opinions on how the world might look 10 to 20 years from now. It's a world that you can't look away from and that often makes you laugh only because you would otherwise cry.