City Without A Sun by Alexander Charalambides
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the next installment of the Vampire State books and it is just as good as the first book, it is full of twists and turns with everything being still in shades of grey and black and as confusing as ever when we rejoin Rowena and Vincenzo as they are getting to grips with their new life living together away from their families in an apartment in one of the Pale areas of the city. It is raining the usual black rain and Rowena is slowly getting used to the different light levels in daytime and nighttime in the city without a sun. She is waiting for Vincenzo to come home, so while she is waiting she checks in on her dad to see how he is finding life as a Pale since he became a citizen, he is enjoying it and the lifestyle and the perks of being a Pale and a politician, he asks after them and then hangs up and by this time Vincenzo is home. They have some toast and settle in to talk about his day and look at the news channels sitting on the sofa together, this includes the backlash from their recent legalisation of citizenship without having to become a Pale, they also discuss Flavius Fortis and the ULA and how they are gaining popularity since the vote, it is looking like they are stirring the pot and blaming it on the humans and the Prince of Kemet and his upcoming trip to Sanguinia.

The next morning Rowena heads out to start her new job at Gargoyle, a Sanguinian news network as their first human contributor which Vincenzo has pulled some strings to get her, she is nervous and sets of early to get there on time and it is a good things she did as she gets slowed down by a protest on the highway, as she is passing by she sees the officers dragging away a sign saying “Honor and Virtue”, but does not dwell on it while she is too stressed out about her first day. When she gets there she decides to give everyone who works there the benefit of the doubt, so she starts this with the Pale on reception whom she asks where to go to get to the offices and when she gets there, she is directed to the editor’s office by another Pale Ernesto. When she meets Corsi she is dismissed after a short introduction to her role at the paper and follows Ernesto to where her new office will be, which is an unusual thing for a new hire, she is told it is because she is famous, yet another thing for her to think about later on. Not surprisingly, there is a post it note with her login details on so that she can access her computer, so when that is done and remembering that part of her role will be on the screen as a presenter, she decides to go and explore the other floors of the building and meet some of the people she’ll be presenting the shows with.

It is busy on the floor she needs, there are Pale’s everywhere with clipboards, headsets and microphones, as well as other equipment, so Rowena passes by the editing suites until she finds the main broadcast room and Titus Serverus, the Pale she will be on screen with, he shows her round the room and warns her about the producer and then as it is lunch time, she asks to join him and ask him more questions about himself and Gargoyle. After Titus excuses himself and Rowena finished exploring, it seems like a good first day and after a few weeks of settling into the job and writing some articles, it is time for her first televised debate against Titus and just before they go on air, Titus leans in closely, covers her microphone and threatens her, he is hoping to throw her off her game and he almost does, but Rowena holds her own and manages to get through the debate and decides that the way she can win against him and others with the same viewpoint is to keep her job and as Titus corners her after the debate, she tells him just that and no matter what he says, she will do things on her own terms. It is when she speaks to Vincenzo about the experience and he didn’t think it was as bad as she thought, although he was supportive, she still ended up angry at the world, her position in it and him and the knowledge that she still had to go back to Gargoyle despite that. It is when she is pulled into Corsi’s office and is told that there have been complaints made about her from the public that she knows her suspicions were dead on and that the only thing she can do is to take a leap and say that she can get an interview with the only other thing that the current news networks are craving, the Prince of Kemet and now she just has to put a plan together to get it.

Has Rowena dug herself a hole which is too deep for her to dig herself out of? Will she survive this next round of political intrigue and will she still be able to stay her individual self? Only by reading the book can these questions be answered.

Reviewed by @roxsannel

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