Well, that was a surprise! And in a very good way.
I was expecting a MG appropriate historical narrative of the events surrounding the 1906 California earthquake. Horror, fear, people coming together, worry, and, ultimately, a happy ending. I got that.
What I wasn't expecting was the treachery, identity games, treasure, double crosses, and sheer excitement that I ended up also getting.
This rocketed A City Tossed and Broken from the typical "good, but not great" I was expecting to a riveting, edge-of-your-seat experience I can't recommend enough.
ARC from publisher
4 out of 5 stars
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Yikes, Anna! Talk about your family drama. Backstabbing, coups, attempted coups—Anna's family doesn't play around.
Anna is a strong, confident character who is easy to root for (but would probably make an awful sleepover party friend). She reminded me of Isabella in her steadfast determination and "take no prisoners" attitude. This is a good thing and I definitely raged alongside her whenever she was wronged.
Even though there are a few liberties with the historical timeline (probably to make it more MG appropriate) and this tale is definitely told from Anna's extremely biased perspective, this is still a great historical primer. Highly recommended, especially for fans of the Royal Diaries series.
Library
4 out of 5 stars
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Haha, yeah Anna would not be one to have at your sleepover party. Actually, I don't know that any of those characters are really people you want to be hanging out with... more like the kind that you want to keep both eyes carefully trained on so that they don't stab you in the back ;)
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