Ilmar is a conquered city. Only a few years before Adrian Tchaikovsky’s imaginative novel, City of Lost Chances, opens, it was taken by the Palleseens as part of their quest to “perfect” the world. Tchaikovsky’s cast of characters provide a wonderful selection of vantage points to watch as the city begins to spin out of control, leaving us all to wonder if the long-awaited day of independence might be coming at last. Because there are so many characters, however, I had to reserve judgment about who to root for. Like any other newcomer to Ilmar, I had to wait and watch until everyone’s true colors emerged...

Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type.