City of Nightmares audiobook

Cheesy, camp, hilarious and so much fun, this was so much fun to read. I liked that it had the gritty, urban vibes of Repo The Genetic Opera and V For Vendetta, plunging us into a dark, grimy city where everyone's just trying to survive day to day.I wasn't expecting this to be as funny as it is, and the story balances that well with the fear and grief that Ness constantly feels. I loved that she wasn't a complex character, or a savior of the world, she was just a girl trying to get by, wanting to get back to the safety of her small room.Cy is a more complex character. A boy turned Nightmare Vampire due to the fear of his father who chose to become one, his wit bounces off Ness's sarcasm so well and the scenes they were both in were some of the best. I do want to see more from Ness's friend Priya in the next book, as she only appeared a few times.I liked that I couldn't predict where this story was going to go next, and I'm so ready for the sequel. This does have a little bit of a cliffhanger ending, leaving me desperately wanting to know what will happen next now Ness's decision seems to have changed her world forever.

This review was originally posted on Books of My HeartReview copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.2023 is off with a bang! Rebecca Schaeffer is a new to me author and I'm just going to say I am beyond impressed and could not put City of Nightmares the first book in the City Of Nightmares Duology down.  Not only was it completely different and surprising, I loved the main broken character and her journey to put herself back together as she learns the world around her is not what she thought it was.Ness lives in a corrupt and crazy city where literal nightmares roam the streets.  In Ness's world if you go to sleep and have a nightmare, you become that nightmare in life when you wake up.  Some of them look mostly like regular people, just with red skin and horns, others, well let's just say others don't look human at all.  Ness knows this well since her sister, the one protector she has ever really had succumbed to that fate. My sister’s worst nightmare was a giant, man-eating spider. I know because that’s what she turned into when she went to sleep for the last time. Ness's new home is with a group called Friends of the Restful Soul, everyone else in the city thinks it is a cult but to Ness it is the place where she is laying low with all of her fears and hiding in a room most of the time curled up on a bed just wishing the world outside away.  When Ness's place at the could be cult's sanctuary is threatened, she is willing to go outside the current jobs she has been doing there in hopes of making herself useful so she doesn't get sent away.  That is when everything goes wrong and Ness learns that the life she held onto for safety was probably just a big lie, as she tries to find out why now someone is trying to kill her.The world here is creepy, strange, brutal at times and just so weird.  This is one of the few books where I didn't see many of the twists coming and was surprised every time. It is a dark tale and the city has horrors people have just learned to live with are mind boggling but humans can get used to anything we are just resilient that way. Of course the Mayor has a pet pterodactyl that randomly eats citizens. At this point, I don’t even consider this an odd thing to happen in Newham. Ness is afraid of so many things, but it is satisfying to see her work through her fear of all Nightmares as she works with Cy, a vampire boy, to find out why there was an explosion meant to kill everyone on the boat they were on.  Cy seems like a good enough guy but he is a vampire, and everything Ness knows about vampires make her not trust him.  But being short on friends, he is her best bet to stay alive, that is, if Cy doesn't decide she is snackable.Honestly I enjoyed the world, the plot, the sub-plot, the twists and turns and the reason everyone in the world could turn into a nightmare when they dream.  It was all unique and interesting and I am so excited to see what happens in the wrap up to this duology.  Rebecca Schaefer has won me over with this book and I'm excited to check out her other series that looks just a dark and twisted.

Oh, I'm OBSESSED with this book. Which I honestly wasn't expecting but I'm so glad that's the case, because this book is amazing.Ness lives in a crime filled city where people's worst nightmares happen to wander the street, just your normal, average, every day type of thing.When people dream, they have nightmares, and when they have nightmares they turn into their worst fear. So one day Ness's own sister forgot to take a pill that prevents dreams and turned into a huge spider that ended up killing their father.This eventually led fear-filled Ness into joining a totally-not-cultish organisation that provides therapy for nightmares. And this sets off a chain of events which I can only describe as chaotic. I loved every minute of it.LITERALLY, from the first sentence I was hooked and I didn't want to stop reading.This book really feels like YA which is a good thing, because a lot of YA books now border NA, but this one is fine for the younger kids to read.There's a mystery plot in the background, and by the end it makes sense. I didn't really predict any of it which is another plus.Our main character Ness starts off as a huge coward who's basically scared of her own shadow, but as the book goes on she faces her fears in a way that felt natural. I believed that she was getting braver and braver.I also like Cy and the Phantom. Both are cool, and I hope they become a trio in the sequel, they'd be unstoppable.There's a subtle romance happening between Ness and Cy, me being me though I also ship her with the Phantom so we'll see where it goes. The world is one of my favourite parts of City of Nightmares, it's so well developed and I'd like to live there despite the fact that I could be killed at any moment. But I'd like to live in Gotham too which this city is inspired by soooooo...The nightmares are a unique concept that was executed perfectly, in my opinion. No one could've done it better.And this book sends a good message too, that you are not your fears and you shouldn't let them control you.I AM ABSOLUTELY GETTING A PHYSICAL COPY OF THIS BOOK, not only because I'm obsessed as I said, but also because the cover is gorgeous. I mean JUST LOOK AT IT, SO PRETTY.*Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review*

City of Nightmares was a fast-paced, thrilling read that kept me constantly guessing. I thought the idea of nightmares coming to life after dreaming was such a cool concept, and one that was expertly explored. As someone who had a lot of nightmares as a kid, this book was both fascinating and kind of terrifying, because I’m pretty sure I even had a nightmare about my nightmares coming to life at one point! This book begins quite unassuming. The reader follows Ness, a terrified girl who wants nothing more than to feel safe and secure. Unfortunately for Ness, safety is just an illusion in the corrupt and dark city of Newham, and she soon finds herself caught in a conspiracy that would see her dead. I really enjoyed how the book started almost quietly—introducing us to Newham and all its horrors, while still shielding us from some of the grimmer parts of the city. Gradually, though, and almost imperceptibly, the stakes were raised so high that it became impossible for us or for Ness to ignore. Each chapter increased the anticipation that little bit more, so skillfully I didn’t always notice until I felt suffocated by the suspense. I was never quite sure where it was headed, but I always knew each piece of information being introduced was going to be important at some point, which it most certainly was. Aptly, the entire story felt like a spider weaving its web until the entire city of Newham and all of its plot points were trapped and connected by this web. Even though a lot of questions were answered, there’s still so much to be uncovered, and I already cannot wait until the next book comes out!Something I especially enjoyed about City of Nightmares was the protagonist’s personality. Unlike many other MCs in YA fiction, Ness was terrified of almost everything, and very rarely willing to put herself on the line to face those fears. It was rather refreshing to see and set up some interesting plot points. Additionally, her personality made for an excellent character arc that was done believably. I enjoyed being in her thoughts, and I’m excited to see what adventures she gets up to in the sequel. Another aspect to commend is the relationships. While there’s a hint of romance between Ness and Cy, most of the story is focused on friendship and building that foundation, which I love to see! Neither Ness nor Cy was in the position to begin a relationship, so I loved the fact it focused on developing their interactions as friends. Ness is also best friends with Priya, someone completely opposite in personality to Ness. Even so, they compliment each other well. Their friendship was already established before the book began, but that didn’t keep the author from exploring it further and expanding the dynamic. From start to finish, City of Nightmares was a wild ride that constantly kept me on my toes. I highly recommend this one to anyone who enjoys paranormal or urban fantasy with a little bit of a spook factor.Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

I received an ARC from Edelweiss TW: trauma, death of family members (sister, father), explosion, threat of drowning, gore weapon use, cannibalism, abusive father, rape metaphor, cult, mentioned trafficking4.6“In death she became something more. Someone impossibly intelligent, savant-level gifted. Something bigger, something larger than she’d ever been in life. Literally. That spider was fucking massive.”Lemme tell you how much fun I had!!! This is one of my favorite books of 2023 so far, I preordered it immediately after reading my ARC, I desperately checked to make sure there was going to be a sequel (there is), and I cried when I couldn’t immediately yell over it because I do not cross picket lines. If you want whiplash, Gotham energy, and morally gray people everywhere with some of the funniest out of the blue lines you could expect, please, please, pick this book up!This book was promoted as basically being about “someone ordinary living in Gotham, without heroes”. And that tracks! It’s actually even more fun if you start actively reading it that way. This book is kind of crazy, and goes off the rails in the most perfect ways. This book hits you over the head again and again and you just say thank you. There is never a dull moment, never a “stop and rationalize” narrative pause, never a need to be down to earth or moral with it.And that means you never- never- know where it’s going to go, or what’s even possible. And yet! What does happen always winds up feeling plausible and even foreshadowed! I don’t know how that’s possible.I also weirdly love everyone in this book. In particular I, of course, love Ness and her willingness to break ankles, and I have a soft spot for Cy, but I also absolutely love the Nightmare Phantom, without even getting to know him more than about chapter. This is one of the big reasons I needed a sequel- I absolutely must see how this plays out.I fell for Ness and Cy’s friendship, and I still think it’s wonderful, but I have a bad feeling it’s going to turn into a romance, which will be a disappointment for me personally, though I’m sure go over well with some other readers. I just love a platonic coupling! I love a platonic love story! I want those couple of moments implying Ness might actually be aspec to not be accidental! But, well, we’ll see.The only things about this book I didn’t totally love, were the parts that felt a bit too loose. The thematic moments, the lessons, didn’t quite work for me overall, there are places in the end that feel forced. And the character arcs are fairly slow for the first two thirds, which is a shame- though there’s so much going on I can almost excuse this. What I wanted, was really for Ness’ conflicting personality to have been worked out earlier or made more sense. She’s characterized as a coward- she clearly thinks of herself that way and we’re supposed to too. But she’s also ruthless! She’s fine threatening people, going on a boat full of people, she bounces back from danger mostly easily- her fear of being on the street just makes her more willing to put herself in compromising situations where she has to metaphorically bite. She just has a phobia of Nightmares.“I weigh my options and then decide I’m screwed anyway, so I might as well go out by being an absolute bitch.”I really love this book! It’s a wild ride with characters that are easy to be ride or die with, and a world so out there that nearly anything can happen. I’ll take the sequel now please!Pre-review comments below"Ever since her sister became a man-eating spider" 👀👀👀👀👀AND blurbed by Xiran Jay Zhao?????? Okay, go off. Wtf.

⤅ 3.5 stars, rounded up for actually executing its premise pretty well.I used to be a big fan of Rebecca Schaeffer (who incidentally shares her name with a murdered model). I LOVED the first two Market of Monsters books, but they built a romance which was totally deflated in the final book with the revelation that both characters are asexual. That's fine in general, BUT since they had kissed previously and looked to be establishing a romance, it felt a lot like readers had been misled.Nonetheless Schaeffer is a good writer, so I went into this one knowing there probably wouldn't be a romance. And I was right, so because I knew ahead of time, I didn't have any unfulfilled expectations and I was able to enjoy the book.19-year-old Ness has a tragic backstory. She lives in a world where, every time someone goes to sleep, they run the risk of turning into their worst nightmare. Years ago her elder sister Ruby woke up as a man-eating spider and murdered their father, plus a few others, before eventually being taken down. This has coloured Ness's entire worldview; now terrified of all Nightmares, even though not all of them are mindless, she lives in a tiny room provided by the Friends of the Restful Soul, which basically is like the Salvation Army. Everyone calls it a cult, but as long as they let Ness stay, she doesn't care.Unfortunately she's a liability because of her Nightmare-inspired cowardice. To prove herself, she agrees to go on a mail run, but then the ship explodes and the only survivors are her - plus a vampire Nightmare named Cy. Though he saves her life, she's still terrified of him. Slowly though, as they make their way back to civilisation, she realises maybe he isn't all bad. At least, she hopes he isn't - because it turns out the ship explosion wasn't an accident, and there are assassins after the survivors determined to silence them.⤅ What I Liked✔️ The whole book is infused with a kind of dark comedy that quite appealed to me. Basically, the city of Newham is like a wild paranormal/sci-fi/dystopian kind of mashup where people are more suspicious of honest people than of criminals and being hunted by assassins feels more like an expected inconvenience than a nightmarish shock. Ness's internal voice is so dry and resigned about it all that it was really rather funny.✔️ Ness herself is a great protagonist. She's decidedly NOT brave, or strong, or clever, or anything that distinguishes many other protagonists; she's a girl trying to do the best she can after withstanding awful trauma. Her arc with trusting Cy was believably paced.✔️ The twists in the plot are decent, particularly in the first 3/4 of the book. I'm not a big fan of the very end, because the book enters the paranormal realm there more distinctly than sci-fi, but overall it works.⤅ What I Didn't Like❌ Unfortunately, there are times when the author's own thoughts and views come across in a very strong, inorganic way through the mouths of her characters. For example, Cy randomly gives Ness a long and impassioned rant about the evils of being in a monogamous relationship, characterising it as being the preserve of people who want to abandon all other connections. Ness does challenge him a little bit but mostly agrees with him. Having read the Market of Monsters series, I'm aware the author seems to have a pretty dim view of romance overall, but this lecture from Cy felt kind of out-of-place and ill-timed. We know he enjoys one-night-stands - there was no acknowledgement on his part that of course plenty of people would rather be in a committed sexual relationship than rely on ONS, and it's perfectly understandable. ❌ The sci-fi-esque elements of the book work better than the paranormal elements, such as the Nightmare Boy.⤅ OverallLooks like there might be a sequel, which will definitely go on my TBR.

A funny, heartwarming masterpiece of a book. Give me the sequel yesterday.I took a whopping zero notes whilst reading this book, so please excuse me if this review is short.In the city of Newham, no one is safe. Corruption is rife, violence is commonplace, and if people dream when they sleep, they become their worst fear. Ness's sister Ruby dreamt once, for once is all it takes, and became a giant man-eating spider, killing her father and leaving Ness traumatised. Ness takes refuge in the Friends of the Restful Soul, a totally-not-cult offering Nightmare therapy. All is well in the world, Ness safe in her ex-janitor's closet of a bedroom, before a Bad Day at Work leads to the threat of that safety being ripped from her. As a last ditch effort to remain with the Friends, Ness cons her way into the only remaining job in the organisation, but - as this book's synopsis will tell you - it blows up in her face. Like, actually blows up. It's through this assassination attempt that Ness meets Cy, a vampire who has to make a fair few reassurances that he won't eat Ness over the course of the book. From the very first page, I was drawn to Ness as a protagonist. I can't say that my non-existent sister turned into a giant spider and ate people, but there was something inexplicably relatable about her, and it was a joy to follow along with her journey as she faced her fears. Her development from start to finish was so heartwarming, and I'm already eagerly anticipating spending more time with her in the sequel (which is out the same year as this first book.... big yay!!!). I loved Cy just as much. He's a softer, quieter character compared to Ness, but with just as big a heart, and once you get to know him, all you want to do is give him a bear hug. There wasn't any romance between the two of them, but in my opinion, this book didn't need it. Their friendship was more than enough, and the cutest thing at that. Ness's feisty best friend, Priya (a wannabe Nightmare hunter), was also a great addition to the cast, and I loved her back and forth banter with Ness. City of Nightmares was everything I wanted in a book: it's full of twists and turns, action-packed with a loveable core cast of characters, and tackles some potentially difficult topics like grief and trauma. But it does all of this whilst being funny and retaining a level of lightheartedness. I really couldn't recommend it more, and will certainly be keeping an eye out for any special editions of this book that pop up ;) A big thank you to Kate Keehan at Hodder & Stoughton for sending me an ARC of City of Nightmares!↠ 5 starsBlog ✦ Instagram ✦ Twitter ✦

Ever since Ness her sister became a man-eating spider and slaughtered her way through town Ness has been terrified of nightmares, wether this means another nightmare murdering her or being turned into one. No one is safe in Newham, Ness will do anything to avoid being turned into a nightmare or being killed by one. I loved going on this journey with Ness, Cy and Priya. I loved this book from beginning to end. The development that Ness went through was amazing and I felt like it went very realistic and smoothly. Everything made sense. The setting of this book was amazing and I loved that the MC in this wasn't some strong, brave heroine like in so many other books. Following Ness from her scared, running away self to the brave and strong MC who overcame her fears was the absolute best and I loved every single minute of it! Thank you Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for giving me the chance to read and review this book! #CityOfNightmares #NetGalley

An original concept, sparky dialogue and solid character growth are the hallmarks of this twisted fantasy tale.The pitch? What if you turned into your worst nightmare?My thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

When people dream, they are transformed into their worst fear, and the world has been decimated by these Nightmares. When Ness was a child, her sister became a giant spider and killed their father and several others. Since then, Ness has had an irrational phobia of Nightmares. Her method of coping: running and hiding like a coward. She has taken refuge at the Friends of the Restful Soul, a group that claims to help society by offering counseling and other charitable services. But after surviving several assassination attempts, Ness begins to unravel sinister plots within the organization. The setting is like an interesting blend of dystopian future mixed with alternative history. There’s just enough reality baked into the world-building to make all of the fantastical elements feel real. Nightmares come to life is such a fascinating concept. Cy, a Nightmare, is an alluring, mysterious enigma that changes Ness’s perspectives from black-and-white thinking to a more nuanced perspective of the world around her. I adored seeing the relationship blossom, and I enjoyed following Ness’s journey in learning to thrive in the world. Ness and Cy are an unlikely duo, who both know what it is like just to struggle to survive another day. And it is this that ultimately brings them together. My one and only point of contention with this book is that Ness’s inner monologues become repetitive at times. I wanted a little more depth into her personality and motivations, other than her simply being a coward, which is overwhelmingly stated. Priya, Ness’s best friend, is an absolute badass and I loved her fearlessness, fierce protectiveness, and slaying power. In her part of the story, we see how differing views of society can create complex family dynamics, where Priya and her sister both want to make the world a better place but disagree on the method of doing so.There are so many plots unraveling simultaneously and I never knew what to expect. The surprises just kept coming. This book is emotional, darkly compelling, and a fun, action-packed adventure.My favorite part of this story is the depth in which it explores themes relevant to the human condition. It explores the differences in how people cope with grief and trauma, how they perceive the world around them, and how the past can affect our decisions. The awareness that we can be a part of something but never truly feel like we belong is something many of us can relate to. This story also reminds us that we should never be quick to judge, as we never really know the full extent of what is going on inside a person. I loved this book and I highly recommend it - cannot wait for the sequel!Huge thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for blessing me with an advanced copy in exchange for my honest feedback! I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I absolutely devoured this book within a day. It was fast paced and thrilling to read (especially on a rainy day). Ness was a great character who showed depth and development throughout the story. She is terrified of all nightmares and can’t help but flee instead of fight when she needs to. After begrudgingly teaming up with Cy, a vampire, she learns more about her fear and how to overcome it. It’s a great story that inspires courage but still shows that you are allowed to be scared.I thought that the plot twist was a bit predictable but either way I loved the world building and the characters. I can’t wait to see where the next book will lead us (especially with Cy and Ness because they are sooo cute together). Im glad the author went with a slow burn and just finished the story with them as tentative friends.

Freakin’ amazing!!! As soon as I started reading I couldn’t put it down, the story, characters and brilliant writing just make you want to read more and find out what happens next! The main character is Ness, a 19 year old orphan who resides with a maybe-cult, the Friends of the Restful Soul. After her sister became a Nightmare and killed their dad, Ness finds it hard to trust anyone and is fearful of all Nightmares. When Ness ends up on a job for the Friends of the Restful Soul, she doesn’t expect it to be anything other than a simple job, but it turns out nothing is simple anymore! She ends up running for her life with a Nightmare for company!