Review: Dark Metropolis (Dark Metropolis, #1) by Jaclyn Dolamore

Sixteen-year-old Thea Holder's mother is cursed with a spell that's driving her mad, and whenever they touch, Thea is chilled by the magic, too. With no one else to contribute, Thea must make a living for both of them in a sinister city, where danger lurks and greed rules.

Thea spends her nights waitressing at the decadent Telephone Club attending to the glitzy clientele. But when her best friend, Nan, vanishes, Thea is compelled to find her. She meets Freddy, a young, magnetic patron at the club, and he agrees to help her uncover the city's secrets-even while he hides secrets of his own.

Together, they find a whole new side of the city. Unrest is brewing behind closed doors as whispers of a gruesome magic spread. And if they're not careful, the heartless masterminds behind the growing disappearances will be after them, too.

I loved Dark Metropolis, right until the ending started to lose me. I loved the 1930s-esque fantasy world. I loved the author’s take on zombies and necromancy. I even loved the revolution plot until it got rushed at the end. I didn’t want to put it down because I had to learn more! The story follows Thea, Freddy, and Nan who are all caught up in this strange magical scheme. Thea’s mother is “bound-sick” and believes her husband is still alive despite being notified by the military of his death. Freddy is a young necromancer, who works for his “uncles” but doesn’t know what’s really going on. And Nan is Thea’s best friend who recently committed suicide, before she’s revived and stuck in a workhouse so she won’t hurt herself again.

While the setting didn’t play a huge role in the overall story, I still really liked it. But I have no idea if this was an alternate history setting or just a fantasy world based on history. In Dark Metropolis, the world has just finished with a war. The people are settling back into their normal lives, or as normal as they can get with tons of women being sent to the asylum with the bound-sickness ranting about their dead husbands being alive. However, there’s more going on than that. The city doesn’t have enough laborers after the war to keep it running, so what better way to make sure there’s power than resurrect the dead and put them to work? Fascinating stuff! I wish there were more world building!

The plot of Dark Metropolis is largely centered around some revolution. There are those who know about the dead being used as slave labor, and want to stop it, even though doing so will upset the peace within the city. I was really interested in where this was all going, until it actually started happening. One of the leaders’ true motive came out, and I was just like “oh.” It also didn’t seem too well thought out either. And it was all rushed through. One moment there’s zombies everywhere, and then they’re all gone and the book is over. Now I can’t help but wonder what the heck could the following book be about?

I did like Dark Metropolis. I just wish the revolution had been handled better, since it’s mainly chaos which is quickly resolved, and that the world building had been stronger. While I’m glad there was no giant cliffhanger, there’s also nothing that compels me to want to continue reading. If it had been a tiny bit longer, this would have been a fantastic standalone. As it is though, I have no kind of idea as to the direction of the series, since everything the characters set out to do has been accomplished. I suppose I’ll just have to read the sequel and find out.

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