This note also appears on Goodreads.
Author's Note
& Content Warnings
City of Shattered Light is the unexpected, scrappy-underdog book of my heart, with characters who already feel like old friends and a world that still pervades my dreams. The book is infused with so many of my favorite things—a ride-or-die disaster team, crystal-scarred cityscapes with Final Fantasy vibes, enigmatic and bloodthirsty villains, and a violently-colored cyberpunk world teeming with danger and adventure.
But beneath the flashy firefights and banter, the story heads down some darker paths.
It’s ultimately a story about loss, survival, and found family. Riven’s a broken girl who hides the chip on her shoulder behind a sharp tongue and a pair of revolvers; Asa is a brilliant ex-heiress fleeing not only from bounty hunters, but from her deep, harrowing guilt.
This book is about rejecting the shape the world tries to force you into. It’s about discovering your truest self under pressure, and it’s about finding the people you’re willing to give up everything for.
Here’s a few questions I often get, and some content warnings below.
Not as the main plotline, but yes! The book contains a bisexual love triangle (M/F and F/F, with both girls as the POV characters—no melodrama, don’t worry) and some side M/M. It’s set in a future where queer romance and attraction are normalized. The two POV characters, Asa and Riven, are both unapologetically bisexual.
(there’s also a secret third POV chapter, but you’ll have to discover that for yourself 😉)
I really hope so! For now, it’s a standalone—but I will say that the sequel is written and I adore it. We won’t know whether it will be published until a few months after CoSL releases. So cross your fingers!
It’s being marketed and published as older YA (specifically for readers aged 14-18), but there’s definitely crossover appeal; it’s resonated with many adult readers as well!
Gun violence, death, blood, mild gore, language (casual swearing, with three f-bombs total), abuse (emotional/manipulation, and implied past physical abuse), human experimentation, mild sexual harassment, references to suicide, terminal illness, drug and alcohol references, mild body horror.
Death: semi-graphic character death in flashback, and other deaths occur (many due to gun violence).
Terminal illness: From the beginning, a character is suffering frequent pain from a past encounter with an experimental bioweapon, which she believes is slowly killing her.
Gun violence/blood/mild gore: Fights occur throughout (usually with guns), with various resulting injuries. Examples: lacerations from clawed monsters, a minor character’s fingers are shot off, a main character shoots an attacker in the head with a gun.
The main characters are handcuffed, restrained, and imprisoned.
Sedatives are used to knock characters unconscious.
Body horror & human experimentation: off-page experiments are performed on laboratory subjects, including brain-tech interfacing. Hacked/out-of-control cybernetic body parts are also depicted.
Emotional abuse/manipulation: Asa’s father tries to control his daughters through subtle threats and praise; a character has a run-in with a manipulative ex; it is implied that another character’s parents were physically abusive during their childhood.
Sexual harassment: some instances of leering or unwanted touching.
Drug references: alcohol and fictional drugs are mentioned as part of the setting.
And, if you’re worried about queer found family in a darker story, here’s a sorta-spoiler: I promise the gays don’t get buried here. (Also, I promise nothing bad happens to the dog!)