Ilmar is a conquered city. Only a few years before Adrian Tchaikovsky’s imaginative novel, City of Lost Chances, opens, it was taken by the Palleseens as part of their quest to “perfect” the world. Tchaikovsky’s cast of characters provide a wonderful selection of vantage points to watch as the city begins to spin out of control, leaving us all to wonder if the long-awaited day of independence might be coming at last. Because there are so many characters, however, I had to reserve judgment about who to root for. Like any other newcomer to Ilmar, I had to wait and watch until everyone’s true colors emerged. (Thankfully, there is a cast of characters at the beginning of the book.)

Our first port of call is one of the humblest. Yasnic is the last priest of a god so reduced from his former power and so bound by doctrine that it’s a wonder this god has any followers at all. Yasnic is barely able to clothe, feed, and shelter himself, let alone his god. The narrative then whisks us away to the tavern of the Anchorwood, a mysterious grove that holds a portal to other words. At this tavern, refugees, rogues, revolutionaries, and other rascals gather to play a game for magical items. Meanwhile, one of the most powerful men in the city, attempts to breach the Anchorwood, only to be killed by the inhabitants.

It’s hard to see how the many characters already introduced will intersect, let alone the additional characters Tchaikovsky brings into the narrative. Before long, we will have met necromancers, ambitious inquisitors, labor leaders, a delightful agent of chaos, idealistic students, a lot of criminals, and a man from the Anchorwood who is searching for his lost wife. As I said earlier, it’s hard to know who to root for because everyone has more or less noble motivations and the means to affect them. That said, I developed soft spots for Yasnic, who has to deal with his cantankerous god; Ruslav, a thug who develops a desire to be more than just an enforcer; and Blackmane, a magician caught between the Palleseen and his wish to preserve as much of his lost culture as possible. I was also very amused by characters like Langrice, ultimately a pragmatist, who really just want everyone to settle down and stop getting people killed in and around her tavern.

The characters and the wonderfully intricate plots had me hooked on this book, but what I think I loved most was the rich lore and history Tchaikovsky created as his setting. City of Lost Chances achieves the rare feat of having a world that feels real rather than just like set-dressing. Some readers might be frustrated by how much work they have to do to understand what things mean but I relished piecing together references to traditions and art and, especially, the virulent curses that can maintain power for centuries. I’ve already got my eye on the sequel to this book; I really can’t get enough of this world.