The Golden City

Written by Jaleigh Johnson

Narrated by Ramiz Monsef

A young emperor’s life hangs in the balance and only the Brotherhood can save him …

Constantinople, 867—A murderous plot is afoot. Assisted by the Order of the Ancients, the emperor schemes to assassinate his son and throw the city into chaos. In response, the Hidden Ones have dispatched Assassin acolyte Hytham to join his mentor, Basim Ibn Ishaq, to infiltrate the palace and foil the emperor’s plan.

But that is not his only mission … Hytham’s brotherhood have entrusted him with uncovering where Basim’s true loyalties lie and whether the master Assassin’s personal obsessions outweigh his sense of duty. For Hytham to succeed, he must tread carefully, for Constantinople is a city of shadows, and danger hides in them all.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: May 2, 2023
• ISBN: 9781705091784

Jaleigh Johnson

JALEIGH JOHNSON is a fantasy author living and writing in the wilds of the Midwest. Her middle grade debut novel The Mark of the Dragonfly is a New York Times bestseller, and her other books from Delacorte Press include The Secrets of Solace, The Quest to the Uncharted Lands, and The Door to the Lost. In addition to the Marvel novel Triptych for Aconyte books, she has written several novels and short stories for the Dungeons and Dragons Forgotten Realms fiction line published by Wizards of the Coast. Johnson is an avid gamer and lifelong geek.

Reviews for The Golden City

[Bryce Hatfield · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

“Hytham had been in many street fights, and many of those had been knife fights. But it was rare he saw two people make it an art form the way Basim and the wounded man did. Bleeding, but still graceful. Basim’s enemy focused on long, sweeping movements to keep Basim away. The edge of the blade catching the light but always in motion, never still, slashing rather than stabbing. A soft singing sound as the blade cut the air added an odd music to the deadly display.“

Spoilers ahead.

I don’t play much Assassin’s Creed at all, but I love Jaleigh Johnson. I wasn’t quite sure how I would feel about this book at first because I’m so far removed from the source material, but those apprehensions were dashed immediately. I was drawn in instantly by Johnson’s familiar and lyrical prose.

Though, speaking of the lore of the franchise, Johnson never really explains what exactly the Hidden Order does or what their goals and creed are. I think it’s because most people reading this book already has that knowledge from playing the games, but I don’t. Still, I don’t see this as a bad thing. I understand the Hidden Order through Hytham and Basim — their goals and morals reflect the Hidden Order’s in the eyes of the story, and so it forms a very clear idea about the organization without having to spell it out.

Now, the first chapter sets up the tone and themes of the novel perfectly. Through the lyrical fight with our two main characters, we get the impression that there going to be a good amount of action in the story to come; and through the shifting and careful nature of the fight, we can tell that there will be a lot of intrigue.

That first scene also did an absolutely fantastic job of introducing and giving us a taste of who these characters are and what their goals are. They don’t fully trust each other, but they have a lot of respect for the other. Jaleigh Johnson is incredible at giving us a feel for a character immediately through descriptive language about their manner. Or, for the case of our POV characters, through the things they observe, think, and say about a situation. For example, when Basim is first introduced, Johnson writes, “Basim walked like a man aged far beyond his years. Not the stooped unsteady gate of infirmity, but the way a man walked when he had trod the same stretch of earth for decades or longer. Basim walked through the world as if he had done all of this before. As if he were a ghost, insubstantial as the mist.”

Speaking of the characters, Hytham is such a brilliant protagonist. He’s a staunch believer in the assassin’s cause, and believes in it with all his heart — so much so that he’s willing to investigate one of their own who may be out of line, and so much so that he lets his emotions cloud his judgement on the job. He gets attached to Leo, which is something the reader understands and sympathizes with, but is at odds with the goal of the story. Along the way, Johnson develops Leo and his relationship to Hytham. Thus, it’s easier to empathize with Hytham and we feel his dilemma on a very personal level.

The friendship and tension between our two main characters was executed so beautifully. Their last duel in the forest was one of the best scenes in the entire book and it really highlighted their shared values of fatherhood and how they manifest in conflicting ways. This was also the culmination of their relationship; it’s what cemented the love they have for each other and the limitations of their trust. The climax of the plot was fantastic, but this scene was particularly brilliant.

On a similar note, the fight scenes are amazing. I usually prefer to physically read fight scenes as opposed to listen to them via an audiobook, but I still kept up well and was very entertained! The choreography is dynamic, but easy to follow. And the stealth approach isn’t something I’m used to reading, so that was fun. And even though I don’t play much Assassin’s Creed, I’ve played enough to know the vibe of the combat and the unique moves and such, and Johnson weaves the combat mechanics and moves of the game perfectly within this novel.

Switching gears a little bit, Johnson has such a way of creating an environment that it’s so easy to imagine the scenery and world of Constantinople and all it’s intricacies. She uses the environment to set the tone in a really clever way as well, for example, when our two main characters are hurrying back to the palace: “Hytham and Basim raced through the city streets. Rain had soaked the world and cast everything in pale liquid-silver. The weather had driven many people inside, so they moved unimpeded, but it still seemed to Hytham like the palace was a hundred miles away.”

This story was so much deeper and had such a richness in environment and character development than I expected. I’m not sure why, Jaleigh Johnson always has fantastic character work — but she outdid herself with this one. If you like tight action-packed plots with beautiful characters and lyrical writing, please read this book. It will not disappoint.