The City in Glass
by Nghi Vo
Reviewed by Galen Strickland
Posted October 22, 2024
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I am almost too stunned to write this review. Nghi Vo's latest novel is short, but so rich in details on the people and events in the city of Azril, even while each individual mention is very brief. Azril is the adopted home of the demon Vitrine. She has chronicled its story in a book she keeps safe in a glass cabinet, which just happens to be within her own body. She has demon siblings she hasn't seen in a long time, but she knows they all go about their business in different ways. She came upon the small harbor town several hundreds of years before the story begins. In her book are the names of her chosen ones, people she supported and helped along their way, sometimes manipulating events to gain money she could give them to accomplish the tasks she wanted them to pursue. The fact they didn't always do what she wanted didn't discourage her, but rather helped her to approach things differently the next time. But Azril, and Vitrine, were devastated when a band of angels came and levelled the city with wind and fire.
She was able to segregate one of the angels from the others, cursing him by placing a piece of herself inside his body. Thus he was shunned by his brothers, left to wander the world alone. The fact he had a piece of Vitrine inside him altered his perception of the world and his place in it, which compelled him to hover around Azril as Vitrine attempted to rebuild it. Written in third-person, but all from Vitrine's perspective, the story weaves around the people of the city, back and forth through time, from the beginnings to the (not quite) end. She could transform herself into other creatures, usually birds, since that gave her a good overview of her city. At other times she would appear as human, or else hide herself in the shadows, just barely in people's peripheral vision. Some who saw her knew there was something different about her, a few realized she was a demon. Some feared her, others did not. The ones who did fear her were right to be fearful, since she was vigilant in her defense of Azril. At times she tolerated the presence of the angel (whose name we never learn, and Vitrine did not want to know it), but she would eventually grow irritated with him and try to drive him away. That was more difficult when she cut off his wings and stored them in her glass cabinet next to her book. If he was to leave Azril he would have to walk, or beg a berth on a ship sailing to other ports.
The concepts of angels and demons are flipped on their heads. We never learn the motivation of the angels for destroying Azril. Was it simply because its overseer was a demon? Why not just destroy Vitrine, if that was at all possible that is. The other angels never came back, and the shunned angel began to alter his understanding of Vitrine's motives. He eventually declared his love for her, but you have to wonder if he understood what love meant, or was he compelled to love that which was now a part of him? Vitrine wasn't sure about love either, except she knew she loved Azril, and occasionally some of its occupants, even when they defied her wishes. Would she ever accept the angel's contrition, acknowledge his love? Could she ever reconcile his and his brother's destruction of her city? Azril was altered numerous times throughout her long residence there. It is possible Vitrine was altered too, but maybe not enough to forgive the angel. But she would accept a sacrifice.
I've had a favorite book of the year since I read it in March. The City of Glass might replace it, or at least tie with it. I can not overstate how much I loved it, or how much I recommend it. That goes for everything else by Nghi Vo I have read.
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