Wildsmith: City of Secrets

What’s it about?

The story.

Wildsmith: City of Secrets moves the series from forest to city and shifts its thematic register accordingly: the secondary_world_city setting introduces political_intrigue and the power_and_authority deep theme at 0.6 names something new in the series, who controls the animals and who gets to decide. The fairness_and_justice deep theme at 0.75 is the book's real centre of gravity: Bron isn't just rescuing a pegasus, she's operating in a world where the rules around magical animals are unfair and she has to decide whether to work within them or around them. The trust deep theme at 0.65 (introduced for the first time in the series) reflects the city's moral complexity, the forest had clear antagonists, the city does not. The secret_world core fantasy is at its highest weight in the series here: the hidden layers of the city are as much the draw as the animal-rescue plot. The mystery secondary genre reflects a book that asks Bron to solve something as well as act, the mystery_to_solve plot thread runs alongside the main quest. The absent_parent content warning continues, and the war_or_conflict backdrop remains; overall_sensitivity stays at moderate and sensitive_child_suitability at 3.