Savage City by L. Penelope - NO

Savage City by L. Penelope, 281 pages. OrangeSky Audio, 2022. $20.

Language: PG (12 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: R; Violence: PG13

BUYING ADVISORY: HS - NO

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

Talia (23yo) is surprised to find herself in a world that looks like hers – besides the magical creatures and powers, of course – because the last thing she remembers is dying. In this world, those around her keep insisting that she is the missing princess, and Talia hopes to help the kingdom and those who are enslaved by going along with the charade. The longer she pretends, though, the more disheartened Talia becomes; she is nothing like the princess and maybe she doesn’t want to be.

Overall, Talia’s story is well written. The world building of a fantastical futuristic San Francisco is interesting, especially with the separation of races by how they use the magic system involved. However, Talia is Mary Sue-ish and there is an explicit sex scene that was unnecessary. If you stop reading at the end of the last chapter, the story wraps up very nicely; reading the epilogue leads to a cliffhanger. Also, I listened to the audiobook version, and the two narrators did a very good job.

Talia is portrayed on the cover as Black and is described as having brown skin. Ryin is described as having freckled, cinnamon skin. Shad is described as African-Korean in appearance. Penelope also includes descriptions of various skin colors and races of side characters. The mature content rating is for intense makeout sessions, nudity, foreplay, and sex. The violence rating is for mentions of child abuse, blood, battle gore, and murder.

Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen