Book Blurb:
CITY OF BEASTS by Corrie Wang
Pub. Date: September 17, 2018
Publisher: Freeform
Formats: Hardcover, eBook
Pages: 384
"If you see a beast, and you have the shot, don't hesitate. Kill it."
For seventeen years, fees have lived separate from beasts. The division of the sexes has kept their world peaceful. Glori Rhodes is like most other fees her age. She adores her neighborhood's abandoned Costco, can bench her body weight, and she knew twenty-seven beast counter attack moves by the time she was seven. She has never questioned the separation of the sexes or the rules that keep her post-nuclear hometown safe. But when her mother secretly gives birth to a baby beast, Glori grows to love the child and can't help wondering: What really is the difference between us and them?
When her brother, at the age of five, is snatched in a vicious raid, Glori and her best friend, Su, do the unthinkable - covertly infiltrate the City of Beasts to get him back. What's meant to be a smash-and-grab job quickly becomes the adventure of a lifetime as the fees team up with a fast-talking, T-shirt cannon wielding beast named Sway, and Glori starts to see that there's more to males, and her own history, than she's been taught. Glori, Sway, and a motley cohort of friends will go to the ends of the earth to find her little brother. And maybe save their divided world while they're at it.
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“WHOO!” it shouts. “That was intense. Thank bumping heavens I
found you when I did. Cutter was about to Temple of Doom your asses.”
Everything about Yellow Bandana is fast and loud. From its movements, to its speech, to its bright blue hat, puffy orange coat with all
its buckles and straps, and shiny yellow sneakers that match the bandana. As it walks over to Cutter and tosses the whip across the room, the
only reason I’m positive it’s a beast is that no fee would ever select such
poorly camouflaged clothing choices. This must be the flash of color I
saw outside.
It kicks Cutter in the ribs.
“That’s for whatever it was you were about to do to these nags.”
Cutter lets out a little poof of air. It kicks it again.
“That’s for always stealing from my squirrel traps.”
It kicks it again.
“And that’s just karma, you dumb goit.”
Cutter groans. The white things it was hit with lay next to it and have
come unraveled.
“Are those . . . T-shirts?” I ask Su.
Yellow Bandana swings its cannon-like gun at me. I twirl Slim so I’m
pinching her blade.
“If you throw that knife at me,” it says, “I’ll shoot you, so help me
Rhonda. And maybe they’re poly-cotton blend, but the T-shirts leave a
Lake Erie–size welt at this range and hurt like a father bumper. Let’s all
stay calm.”
Slowly now, it lowers its bandana. A beast no doubt, yet entirely different than all the other ones we’ve seen so far. Tall and lanky, it’s about
our age, with smooth unmutilated skin. Unlike Su, myself, and the rest of
the Heinz 57 uber-mixed multi-ethnic fees our age, this beast seems bred
of a single race. Fully Chinese like Liyan, I’m guessing. I’ve never seen
someone so young be so sole-racial. As if further letting us acclimate to
its appearance, it takes off its baseball cap. Its haircut is short and neat.
Except for the star that’s shaved into the fade, it looks almost exactly like
Su’s hair.
Eyes flickering from me to Su, it studies us with as much interest as
I study it. Or maybe it’s simply making sure we don’t attack. Regardless,
it has absolutely paused Su. Mouth ajar, she hasn’t moved since it kicked
in the door. I lower my knife.
“There we go. You two all right?” When neither of us answers, it rolls
its eyes and says louder and slower, “Are. You. Okay? I saw you cross the
river. Let me guess, you’re chasing after that little boy, right? Everyone’s
been buzzing about him all day. Comma said he thought it was bunk, but
I told him if there were a little boy, someone would come after him. But
nooo, he said. If there’s a kid, Dictator Matricula and Mayor Chia will
handle it diplomatically. My ass.”
As it talks, it moves around the gloomy apartment, shoving things
into its pack—duct tape, a small gold picture frame, a refrigerator magnet
with a buffalo on it. When it finds the collection of magazines, it takes
a thermos from its bag and pours hot water into the drawer. Naked fees
must not be to its liking.
“Man, you two nags have bad luck. First, Mystique and his crew.
What goits. Just because you tattoo yourself blue doesn’t mean you have
crime fighting super powers. It means you have poor judgment. The
mayor’s been telling Mystique to mind his own business for years. Now
this scavenger rat? You are literally attracting the worst. Speaking of the
worst, my name’s . . .Wait. That didn’t come out right. I meant, speaking
of the worst, I’m the best. My name’s Sway.”
Su looks to me. I look to her.
It whispers, “This is where you introduce yourselves.”
“What do you think?” I ask Su.
“I think it talks too much and will turn us in first chance it gets.” Su
brings up her hatchet. “Do you want to kill it or should I?”
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My Review:
4 Out Of 5 Stars
Genre: Dystopian, Mystery, Survival, Suspense, Teen--
When Glori's mom was returned, they didn't tell anyone that she gave birth to a beast. But regardless of what Two Five is, Glori loves it. When Two Five gets taken, Glori and her best friend Su will brave the divide and enter the Beast's land to try and retrieve her baby brother.
City of beasts is so very unlike any dystopian book I have ever read before. It was interesting, while at the same time being so incredibly quirky and unique. The entire book was basically non-stop action, beginning with the girls (or rather Fees...or nags depending on who you ask) going on a dangerous mission to the beasts to bring back their own secret beast, ending up in one dangerous scenario after another. But nothing is very straightforward on this quest, instead they encounter the bizarre and the normal all tangled together, completely throwing the girl's expectations out the window. As a side note, how can you not love a book where the "hero" uses a t-shirt gun as a weapon, the girls save themselves here, and the actual females need to be prettied up to pass for the beautiful Swan boys?
We are dropped into the story without any background, the world building comes as the book progresses, with little snippets and ideas dropped like bread crumbs to piece the world together and I actually really appreciated that about the book. I liked the pacing the author used, keeping me engaged and on my toes the entire time instead of bogging me down with backstory at the beginning. I liked finding the clues and painting my own version of this seemingly crazy yet all too plausible future.
I liked how this felt like a mix of modern, futuristic as well as the simplistic past blended together to create both sides. I went into the story with no first impressions (or real idea what the book was about to be honest) and I think that was the best way since I got to be a blank slate to experience this world. I am 99% positive that City of Beasts is a standalone story which makes it even more incredibly what the author was able to do within the pages of a single story. I highly recommend this read to anyone looking for for something new, something quirky, something fast paced.
Corrie Wang is passionate about libraries, recycling, and eating all the food, everywhere. Corrie grew up in Buffalo but spent her formative years in Brooklyn, where one of her last paying gigs was managing a three-story nightclub on the Lower East Side.
Writing to fix things that make her angry and explore things that frighten her, Corrie’s novels are about girls unapologetically conquering scenarios they should have little control over. Tired of seeing women and girls lose in this culture - spoiler - they never do in her stories.
Her debut novel, The Takedown was chosen as one of the best books of 2017 by the New York Public Library and a 2018 YALSA selection for Best Fiction for Young Adults. City of Beasts is her second novel.
Seeing, as Corrie wrote an entire novel about the freakiness and perils of socializing too much on the internets her existence there is haphazard at best. Now, more than ever, she feels it is time for everyone to look up. (Also stand up, step up, and eat up.
Woot!) That being said, you may follow her poor photography skillz on
INSTAGRAM.
AND P.S. Wang rhymes with 'song' y'all.
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