Teaser Tuesday: Tarnished City by Vic James

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by Ambrosia of The Purple Booker.
To play along just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Tarnished City by Vic James.

Tarnished City – Pan Books

‘I would say I’ve missed you,’ he said, raising a hand and lightly pushing the blade away from his neck. ‘But Mother instilled in me that a gentleman never lies.’
‘You’re no gentleman.’
— Chapter 6

She used to think ‘courage’ was a reckless, slightly stupid thing. She understood it a little better now. It was doing what was right, even when every shred of self-preservation screamed against it.
— Chapter 10

Be careful what you wish for, it might just come true. I distinctly remember that for the first book I said that I hoped for a more prominent role for a certain string pulling character. (Look here if you don’t believe me.) Well, let’s say I’m now equally happy about said more prominent role and also even more puzzled about what is going on and who has which motives. But in a really good way!
I’m not sure what the twists per page ratio is for other famous series but I’d bet that this one is quite high up among them. It’s probably all going to make sense at the end (or not, depending on where you stand) but I’m quite lost in this twisty labyrinth of allegiances and personal motives. And let’s not forget about debts and other enmeshments.
I was a little – or at one point a lot – thrown by the almost parenthetic death(s) of previously not-unimportant character(s). I understand that this is part of that almost feudal and basically heartless society yet I would have liked for a little more personal impact at least. This felt a little too just touched upon. I could have done without some of the details but that, too, adds to the overall impression of the society in this series. And also shines a spotlight on humanity in general. Or that part of us at least that has a destructive hive mentality because as horrible as it is, the events unfolding don’t seem unplausible if you take away the fantastic aspect.
There is also a host of new characters introduced in this book while others from the previous one take more of a backseat. I usually don’t like this practice too much (getting better at appreciating it though) but in this case, it not only made sense, it elevated the whole narration in my opinion. And I care quite a bit for whom I call the desolate castle thistle. Someone else has so fallen from grace I’m not sure if or how they could ever recover. Almost like they did a 180 while another character proved to live up to a feeling I had about them not being a totally lost cause. As I said: So!many!twists! I love it.
As my wishing worked out so well last time, I’ll attempt it again as I sure hope to a) uncover a certain string pulling character’s motivation and b) find out the story of said stubbornly brave thistle. I found several dates for book three but they seem to converge in summer 2018. Personally, I’m hoping for an early summer this year.

Have you ever had a bookish wish answered in the follow-up novel to an almost spooky degree? What was it and how did it feel for you? Share experiences and your teasers in the comments!