The drug Sand can perfect everything; it is the secret to how Alchemists have been able to run society from the shadows, unnoticed by most normal people. Ari and Sam, however, are not most people, though neither of them knows their potential when they're singled out and plucked from obscurity by competing Alchemist factions, Grand Central and Lumines, in Marie Lu's adult fantasy debut, Red City.
Ari is taken from his family in Surat, India, as a child, with no idea what the Lumines plan for him. Sam, however, finds her own way to Grand Central as she tries to make life better for herself and for her mother, who raised her alone after a tragic accident. Though they were friends at school, when Sam and Ari reconnect in adulthood, each with distinctly different Alchemist skills, they find themselves on opposite sides. Angel City is primed for war, with no end in sight to the escalating skirmishes between the syndicates to control the Sand market. Lu's captivating worldbuilding taps into the questions she had while being raised by immigrant parents of what can be lost to ambition.
Red City's alternate Los Angeles becomes the perfect backdrop for this twisted world to unfold, picking at the monstrousness and cruelty that underlies one's brightest possibilities. Lu essentially offers readers the chance to contemplate what they themselves might do for power, if they knew the costs--and whether they would ever decide to walk away. Red City is an enthralling first installment of the New Alchemists series, sure to leave readers clamoring for more. --Michelle Anya Anjirbag, freelance reviewer