Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    City of Bastards
    City of Bastards
    City of Bastards
    Audiobook11 hours

    City of Bastards

    Written by Andrew Shvarts

    Narrated by Brittany Pressley

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Tilla, bastard of House Kent, has it made. Safe from her murderous father in the dazzling capital of Lightspire, she lives a life of luxury under the protection of the Volaris King, alongside her boyfriend, Zell, and best friend, Princess Lyriana. So why isn't she happy? Maybe it's the whispers and stares that follow her wherever she goes, as the daughter of the traitor waging war against Lightspire. Or maybe it's the memories of her beloved brother, Jax, who lies cold in his grave even as she tries to settle into a life in the city's prestigious University. Then Tilla stumbles upon the body of a classmate-a friend. The authorities are quick to rule it a suicide and sweep it under the rug, but when Tilla herself is attacked by a mysterious man with terrifying powers, she's convinced of a conspiracy. Her friends beg her to stay silent; what she's suggesting is impossible . . . and treasonous. But Tilla can't-won't-let it go. And the deeper she digs, the more questions she uncovers. How is the West beating the supposedly invincible Lightspire mages in battle? Is it connected to the shadowy cult wreaking havoc in Lightspire? Nothing is as it seems in the glorious capital, and Tilla's presence might just be the spark that sets the Kingdom aflame.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateJun 5, 2018
    ISBN9781980000105
    City of Bastards

    Related to City of Bastards

    Titles in the series (3)

    View More
    View More

    Related audiobooks

    YA Action & Adventure For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Two Poems by Phillip B. Williams

      Dec 15, 2017

      The masters are yet dead. Wanting to be human,I tried to rewrite The Waste Land. The canon’s reachcasts ruinous light. The masters’ pens breachthis page where, above, my own hand spectates. Babylonrisen, exorcism in reverse, whose nature upended now?

      6 min read

    • Article

      Spell

      Apr 25, 2018

      Spell
      4 min read

    • Article

      Perfect Prose II

      May 15, 2020

      Perfect Prose II
      4 min read

    • Article

      Poetry

      Jun 1, 2021

      Poetry
      3 min read

    • Article

      Yara And The Witch Queen

      Oct 1, 2019

      I knew the dangers of witchcraft. My parents had told me about the time before I was born, when magic plagued our desert kingdom of Bahati. Untrained witch doctors trying to cure warts ended up paralyzing their patients or turning them into crocodile

      10 min read

    • Article

      Jude THE OBSCURE

      Jun 18, 2021

      Jude THE OBSCURE
      5 min read

    • Article

      Life In The past Lane

      Aug 27, 2021

      Life In The past Lane
      5 min read

    • Article

      Our Lady Of The Rockies

      Aug 7, 2023

      Our Lady Of The Rockies
      13 min read

    • Article

      To Save Arrhinsal

      Nov 1, 2021

      Tolin lives on Arrhinsal, an island that floats in the sky two miles above the land below. One day, while hunting in the maze of tunnels that run through the island’s thick hedges, he encounters a girl who, her sword raised, has turned to face a huge

      6 min read

    • Article

      HEALTH & WELL BEING

      Sep 23, 2022

      ‘I’m not really sure why I’m here, lying in a bin-bag on the side of a hill, but I’m strangely glad that I am,” writes Raynor Winn, part of the way through her latest walking odyssey with her husband, Moth. She won’t be the only one glad. With her pr

      2 min read

    • Article

      My Dinner with Denis Johnson

      Jun 25, 2018

      My Dinner with Denis Johnson
      13 min read

    • Article

      HUNTING With The Ellements…

      Sep 13, 2021

      HUNTING With The Ellements…
      19 min read

    • Article

      New Nature Writer Of The Year 2021 Runner-up

      Sep 23, 2021

      Former local government worker Mike is a keen walker and wildlife enthusiast, based in North Yorkshire. Prize judge Stephen Moss praised his entry as: “A delightful recollection of a long-ago boyhood, written with imagination and a real sense of the

      3 min read

    • Article

      Six Poems

      Feb 28, 2023

      Dear C, At first Virgil’s poem is quite dull; equivocalnames of products at The Container Store: Elfa White Medium Drawer, Mesh NarrowRolling Cart (Medium Solution), Narrow Classic Mesh Box and the number of pirouetting starseach product attained. An

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Periodic Stranger

      Mar 2, 2017

      My roots are in a hilltop village west of Matera, where rabbit and boar run riot in the fields. Figs, apricots, and pears hang in heavy clusters, at eye-level and within easy reach. There, the local girls are famous for their calves, made firm and st

      21 min read

    • Article

      The Periodic Stranger: When exile becomes home.

      Dec 12, 2013

      My roots are in a hilltop village west of Matera, where rabbit and boar run riot in the fields. Figs, apricots, and pears hang in heavy clusters, at eye-level and within easy reach. There, the local girls are famous for their calves, made firm and st

      21 min read

    • Article

      Ready, Set, Let go!

      May 15, 2019

      Ready, Set, Let go!
      11 min read

    • Article

      The Stiperstones

      Jan 26, 2024

      The Stiperstones
      3 min read

    • Article

      Squirrel King

      May 9, 2019

      Squirrel King
      2 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for City of Bastards

    3.5/5

    18 ratings2 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Tilla and her companions Zell, Lyrianna, and Ellarion have made it to the relative safety of Lightspire after fleeing Tilla's rebellious father Lord Elric Kent. However, they suffered losses along the way. Tilla lost her beloved brother Jax and childhood friend Miles decided to throw in his lot with the rebels. She is a ward of the king and should feel safe and happy. That just isn't the case, though. Tilla is somewhat cushioned by being a favorite of the king who feels he owes her for protecting his daughter Lyriana, she nonetheless feels that most people only see her as the daughter of the traitor who is trying to overthrow the king. The king's Chief Inquisitor is especially certain that she is a spy working for her father. Lyriana is having problems too. She is drinking too much to try to mask her grief at Jax's death because she had fallen in love with him. She is also dealing with the loss of her magic. A punishment for using it has cost her her place in an order of magic users and her trial saved her life but a consequence made her promise not to use magic again.Tilla's relationship with Zell is also changing. While Tilla was given a place at the University, Zell was sent to the City Guard. They find it hard to see each other as often as they would like because of Zell's work. When Tilla's roommate, the daughter on one of the powerful Southern barons, is found dead in their room, the Chief Inquisitor wants to write it off as suicide but Tilla is certain that she was murdered. Despite the danger it puts her in, she is determined to find out the truth.As Tilla investigates, she finds that the city has its own rebellion growing as the cultists are determined to overthrow Lyriana's family and go back to the original tenets of their faith. They feel that the Volaris are abusing the magic that they were supposed to guard and took for themselves. Their leader is the Grey Priestess. Tilla has some encounters with her. She also has some encounters that seem to show that the magic that should be confined to people in Lightspire is also showing up in the rebels. The more Tilla and her friends investigate, the more they find conspiracies and secrets and enemies. This is an exciting entry into a series that sees Tilla go from a young woman who wants to find safety, comfort and happiness to a young woman who is pulled into a fight she becomes determined to win. I enjoyed this story. The magical system was interesting. The characters were well-developed. The story was filled with action and was emotionally intense.
    • 2/5
      Tilla spent the first book on the run from her own father after witnessing him commit murder and pit himself and the West against the Volaris King. In this book, Tilla is finally safe and secure, at least on the surface. She and her friends are now in the capital of Lightspire, under the protection of Lyriana's father, the King. However kind the King is towards her, she's well aware that others see her as nothing more than the daughter of a traitor. She at least has her relationship with Zell, but there are times when he's closed off and unhappy. Even Lyriana is having trouble adjusting to "normal" life - the formerly dutiful princess now spends an awful lot of time partying, drinking, and hooking up with random young nobles.When one of Tilla's friends ends up dead, she's one of the only people to suspect that it was murder rather than suicide. As she tries to figure out the truth, she's forced to question who she can trust and how safe her current position really is.I read the first book in this trilogy so that I could finally read this ARC I picked up ages ago at a conference. The first book had great energy and decent pacing. This book, on the other hand, was tedious and annoying. The suicide/murder that I mentioned in my description took ages to happen. Up to that point, it was mostly parties and Tilla, Zell, and Lyriana pretending that nothing was bothering them when clearly that wasn't the case.I wasn't a fan of the way Tilla and Zell were paired up in the first book. It was too fast and too much - they were physically attracted to each other, and they'd bonded over their shared danger and Zell teaching Tilla how to fight, but they knew pretty much nothing about each other when it came to living anything like a normal life. Tilla didn't fight for fun, and once they were no longer in constant danger, she kept finding excuses not to spar with Zell. Zell was clearly struggling to adjust to his new life - a completely different culture, with no other Zitochi around - but Tilla's only response was silent embarrassment, annoyance, or horror whenever he did something inappropriate. Other characters called them a cute couple at least twice that I can recall, and it struck me as forced. They didn't seem particularly cute to me - they liked cuddling and having sex, but other than that they barely spent any time together and didn't seem to have any interests in common.For a while there, I thought Shvarts was actually going to do something with that. Maybe they'd discover that attraction and a period of shared danger was all they had, and that wasn't enough. And then the book's ending happened. I guess Shvarts really does want them to be a "cute" couple that somehow manages to overcome their problems despite everything.The murder and conspiracy stuff took way too long to get going and didn't feel particularly exciting until near the end. I enjoyed the final party scene...right up until it turned incredibly bleak. Tilla summoned up a big speech that somehow renewed everyone else's determination and spirits, but the timing was way too soon - I was honestly surprised no one burst into hysterical laughter, considering that it was, I'm guessing, just a couple hours since they all ended up in an overwhelming and demoralizing mess.I'm one book away from finishing this, and I have no desire to read it. The characters don't interest me, and their reactions don't quite feel natural. I really don't want to see Tilla and Zell cobble together some "our relationship hit a rough patch but will now be stronger than ever" moments. I'm vaguely interested in whatever revelations there might be about the Titans, their origins, and their goals, but not enough to continue on with this.(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)