#RRSciFiMonth Book Review: Ninth City Burning by J. Patrick Black
Sci-Fi November is a month-long blog event hosted by Rinn Reads and Over The Effing Rainbow this year, created to celebrate everything amazing about science fiction! From TV shows to movies, books to comics, and everything else in between, it is intended to help science fiction lovers share their love and passion for this genre and its many, many fandoms.
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
Ninth City Burning by J. Patrick Black
Mogsy’s Rating: 3 of 5 stars
Genre: Science Fiction
Series: Book 1
Publisher: Ace (September 6, 2016)
Length: 482 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Ninth City Burning is an impressive debut, built upon an array of inventive ideas and wildly original world-building. It may be a science fiction novel at its core, but it also contains plenty of elements that would not be out of place in a fantasy epic. The story, which takes place hundreds of years in the future, is told through no less than half a dozen diverse narratives all woven together to form its brutal premise of war between humanity and an invading alien race. Despite this feast of creativity though, in some respects, Ninth City Burning is also an excellent example of too much not always being a good thing. It is ambitious for sure, but like a lot of debuts, I feel it also stumbles a bit from attempting to accomplish more than it can handle.
Five hundred years ago, Earth was nearly destroyed by the “Valentines”, named for the day they attacked. They brought a seemingly unstoppable weapon, a reality-bending force known as thelemity which they used to raze entire cities to the ground. But in doing so, the aliens also unwittingly “unlocked” the latent ability to use thelemity in a number of humans, thus giving Earth a fighting chance.
However, even though humanity now possesses the same weapon as the enemy, the Valentines are still gaining ground, putting pressure on the various Earth precincts to provide more resources and soldiers for the war. Involuntary drafts are in effect to keep fighters flowing to the front, and those with a talent to manipulate thelemity are swiftly identified by the Legion and sent to military academies to hone their power. Those who refuse to fight are banished to the far realms, forced to live as disassociated wanderers and outcasts.
Pretty much every group involved in the war is represented in this novel, starting with Jax, a 12-year-old boy already with the weight of the world on his shoulders. As a Fontanus, he has been identified by Legion as a source of thelemity, which means his survival on the battlefield is paramount and entire squads are trained on how to keep him safe. But though he is always surrounded, Jax has always felt a sense of loneliness created by the distance between himself and fellow soldiers. Then there is Naomi, a young girl from one of the unincorporated groups who had no idea that humanity was even at war with aliens. Her world turns upside down when she is suddenly identified as one of the rare individuals who can bend thelemity. Naomi’s sister Rae, a woman in her late teens faces a similar shock as she is sent to a military academy to train with students much younger than her. Another key character is Torro, a factory worker in a settlement that churns out soldiers and supplies for the war effort who becomes a reluctant but brave fighter after he is caught in the draft. On the Legion side of things, there’s Vinneas, an officer and a brilliant tactician, as well as Kizabel, an eccentric engineering genius.
There were probably a couple more POVs, but at this point I think I’ve named all the memorable ones. As I had alluded to before, this book could have been improved by cutting back in some areas, and the first thing I would have reduced is the number of perspective characters. The story reached the critical mass of POVs early on and I felt that more actually became unnecessary, distracting, and even ineffectual.
The concept of thelemity could have been introduced earlier as well, and that might have been possible if the introduction had been shorter and less cumbersome. Even so, I actually enjoyed the first half very much; it was the second half that ultimately took away much of my initial excitement by expounding on the details of the war against the Valentines. So, maybe just an overall trimming down of the various plot threads to improve pacing and flow wouldn’t have been such a bad thing either.
Still, there were some great ideas in here, when the story wasn’t struggling under their weight; I loved the concept of thelemity, which in akin to magic in many ways, and there were also numerous examples of fantastic and original world-building. One thing I can say for this book is that it is wholly unique, and it also has genuine wide appeal for audiences across the YA and adult spectrums.
In sum, Ninth City Burning might not be perfect, but it would also be a mistake to dismiss it out of hand. It is a solid, dynamic debut with some strong ideas, and J. Patrick Black is clearly a talented writer with lots of potential. This being the start of a new trilogy I hope that the sequels will move away from “first book” problems as the series matures.
The BiblioSanctum 
I can take many POVS, but with some books, it just does not work. I do think I’d feel the same here then
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I agree, I’m used to many POVs (being an avid reader of epic fantasy and all) but sometimes too many of them can be more distracting than helpful.
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It’s difficult for me when we have many plots and characters. I didn’t know about this one but I’m not sure it’s for me.
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It’s a great story. I just think the author might have tried to do too much at once.
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That sounds like a lot of POVS – nice review but think I might give this one a pass. Thanks for sharing
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It’s not a good sign when I can’t remember the names of all the POVs after finishing the book. I’d like to continue the series though, and I hope the sequel won’t have the same issues.
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I have a copy of this book from SDCC but as it wasn’t a true review book, it’s taken a back seat to other books. Despite some of your misgivings, I’m still tempted to take a crack at it. I love the idea of aliens vs. humans, a favorite trope of mine.
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Do give it a shot! It’s worth reading. I love the story and world-building, there are some great ideas in here. I just think the author needed to practice “less is more” 🙂
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It’s a shame that the story sort of got in it’s own way here but nevertheless this sounds really interesting! I think I’ll check it out, I like the sound of those aliens and the powers that sort of came to be because of them 🙂
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I loved the concept of thelemity! I do enjoy it when sci-fi elements can also feel like fantasy, much like the Force in Star Wars 🙂
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Managing a good number of POVs is not an easy feat, and – I think – it requires great experience, so it’s possible that this author tried to outdo himself and, in that respect, failed. Still, the story sounds interesting (alien invasion is one of my favorite tropes…), and it the author shows promise, it might be worth giving him a chance.
Thanks for sharing!
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I think that’s a very common issue with debuts – I can understand the excitement of a first book and wanting to pour in all your great ideas! But yeah, like I wrote in a reply to another comment, sometimes less is more. If you enjoy alien invasion stories though, this will give you a real treat! Not your typical alien invasion, for sure! 🙂
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I got an ARC of it and didn’t make it through. I felt like I was slogging a lot of the time, and I totally agree about the perspective characters needing to be cut back.
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The intro was really drawn out, I agree. I was surprise how late thelemity was introduced/explained too, considering it is so central to the plot. Seems some cutting down would have helped the book’s flow.
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I actually made it 70% of the way through the book. I was hoping it would get better once plot stuff kicked in… but then I realized I still wasn’t enjoying it.
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Looks like it definitely has too many POV’s, I think that would be a problem for me too. And I’m not so much a fan of invasion stories anymore, although if done right they can be good. Still, this sounds like it has a lot of potential, and great worldbuilding too. Nice review!
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Well, to be fair this isn’t a typical alien invasion story, because it also encompasses a great many other tropes – but perhaps that was part of the problem 🙂
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I did look at this one and consider requesting because I liked the sound of it – but I’m being good at the moment. Hopefully the next in series might pick up some – sounds like too much going on which seems to be something I’m experiencing myself a little at the moment with books – like ‘we’ll throw everything in there’ – doesn’t always work of course.
Lynn 😀
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Yeah, I’ve been experiencing the same with many books lately! And yep, I’m definitely thinking of Chasing Embers here 🙂
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I’ve been so curious about this one! Thanks for the review.
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No problem, hope you get a chance to check it out!
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