Mystic City Review

For fans of Matched, The Hunger Games, X-Men, and Blade Runner comes a tale of a magical city divided, a political rebellion ignited, and a love that was meant to last forever.

Aria Rose, youngest scion of one of Mystic City's two ruling rival families, finds herself betrothed to Thomas Foster, the son of her parents' sworn enemies. The union of the two will end the generations-long political feud—and unite all those living in the Aeries, the privileged upper reaches of the city, against the banished mystics who dwell below in the Depths. But Aria doesn't remember falling in love with Thomas; in fact, she wakes one day with huge gaps in her memory. And she can't conceive why her parents would have agreed to unite with the Fosters in the first place.

Only when Aria meets Hunter, a gorgeous rebel mystic from the Depths, does she start to have glimmers of recollection—and to understand that he holds the key to unlocking her past.

The choices she makes can save or doom the city—including herself.

Mystic City was billed as a Romeo and Juliet style of story and the fact that it was written by a guy intrigued me the most.  That being said, I had a little trouble forgetting this fact at first, especially as the main protagonist was female but once I detached a little and got into the story, I started to enjoy it.   

I actually read this book a while ago now but I didn’t write my review as I had read Black City by Elizabeth Richards at the same time and I thought in some ways, that the stories were similar – a crumbling infrastructure, political goings on and forbidden romance – see, what I mean?  Thankfully though, these two stories couldn’t have been executed more differently which goes to prove that having a similar story idea really does mean nothing in the end. 

I really enjoyed unraveling the mystery behind Aria’s memory loss and indeed, the story itself but if I’m honest, I’m not sure I was overly convinced with the love story between Aria and Hunter.  I’m trying to keep an open mind though. 

Mystic City is a gripping read, I thought the writing was very good and I enjoyed the world building tremendously.  I liked the idea of a futuristic New York City and the idea behind mystics with everything ultimately being wrapped up in politics.  I really did enjoy the book, I’m looking forward to reading the sequel (but 2014 is too far away!) and I believe the story would work well as a movie.  I’m definitely excited by the possibility of that.

Mystic City was published on 9th October, 2012 in the US and 11th October, 2012 in the UK.  The sequel, entitled Renegade Heart will be published in 2014. To find out more about Theo and his books, please click here to visit his website.