Book review - The Nameless City

Title: The Nameless City
Author: Faith Erin Hicks
Genre: graphic novel/adventure
Similar books: Amulet by Kazu Kibuishi
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Rating:

Summary(provided by publisher): Every nation that invades the City gives it a new name. But before long, new invaders arrive and the City changes hands once again. The natives don't let themselves get caught up in the unending wars. To them, their home is the Nameless City, and those who try to name it are forever outsiders.
Kaidu is one such outsider. He's a Dao born and bred--a member of the latest occupying nation. Rat is a native of the Nameless City. At first, she hates Kai for everything he stands for, but his love of his new home may be the one thing that can bring these two unlikely friends together. Let's hope so, because the fate of the Nameless City rests in their hands. 

My opinion: I'm very impressed by Hicks' range. I was enthralled by her mildly spooky but mostly real world in Friends With Boys. In this book, she handles an invented world just as deftly without oversimplification. There is a variety of cultures, a complex political situation with far reaching effects, poverty and changing world views, and the simplicity of friendship between kids on opposite sides of a situation. It reads like a fantasy book without magical elements. An excellent story in and of itself with plenty of room for growth, should Hicks write further volumes.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.