Review--Dark Metropolis by Jaclyn Dolamore

Cabaret meets Cassandra Clare-a haunting magical thriller set in a riveting 1930s-esque world.

Sixteen-year-old Thea Holder's mother is cursed with a spell that's driving her mad, and whenever they touch, Thea is chilled by the magic, too. With no one else to contribute, Thea must make a living for both of them in a sinister city, where danger lurks and greed rules.

Thea spends her nights waitressing at the decadent Telephone Club attending to the glitzy clientele. But when her best friend, Nan, vanishes, Thea is compelled to find her. She meets Freddy, a young, magnetic patron at the club, and he agrees to help her uncover the city's secrets-even while he hides secrets of his own.

Together, they find a whole new side of the city. Unrest is brewing behind closed doors as whispers of a gruesome magic spread. And if they're not careful, the heartless masterminds behind the growing disappearances will be after them, too.

Perfect for fans of Cassandra Clare, this is a chilling thriller with a touch of magic where the dead don't always seem to stay that way.

I received this ebook from the publishers via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, I was in no way compensated for this review. 


Jaclyn Dolamore's Dark Metropolis sounded like an intriguing read! There was a buildup of mystery, magic, and monsters! But somewhere along the lines it began to fall apart for me.

Perhaps it starts with the beginning, things moved along really fast, almost too fast. I enjoy a good fast, paced read every now and then, but I felt like this was so fast I struggled to keep up. I couldn't understand who my characters were other then a first name basis. What exactly was the point of everything that just happened? I really wouldn't be able to tell you.

Thea is your not-so-typical teen; she waitresses to support herself and her mother instead of going to school. Her father is presumed dead in war, and it has made her mother totally heartsick and a tad bit crazy. Her parents were magically bound to one another at their wedding--a practice that wasn't enforced at the time, but her parents did it anyway. Basically, it makes them attached to one another so completely, should they lose the other...well, bad things happen. And so they do. Then suddenly Thea's mother is "found out" as Thea was trying to keep her mother's illness a secret so she wouldn't be left alone. 

During the thick of all this, she meets Freddy, a mysterious boy with a talent of his own. As we learn rather quickly, he can bring the dead back to life.

Throughout all this, I still couldn't exactly understand what the greater impact was. It becomes clear it involved Freddy and his unique powers. But then, Nat, Thea's friend who goes missing ends up playing a larger role than I anticipated. For a good chunk of the novel we are with her and dealing with her issues, that I was left wondering who are main character actually was. Thea shared a good chunk of page time with both Freddy and Nat.

As far as romance went, there wasn't a whole lot of that either. We get teases between Freddy and Thea, but it was like any romance between them wasn't really important to the story, which is usually fine, but it seemed like the two really connected and were involved with one another, it just sort of seemed expected that romance would play a part in their story, but it kind of didn't.

Overall, I just really couldn't grasp this story. There was a lot of potential for a thrilling read, but I wasn't so thrilled. I had to force myself into finishing it. It's a nice read if you're wanting a sort of slower paced kind of read, where the story takes longer to build, but the action still moves forward pretty quickly. But it really just wasn't for me.


Overall Rating 1.5/5 stars