Red City

By Marie Lu

DELUXE EDITION--a stunning hardcover edition featuring dark crimson sprayed edges

The Godfather meets The Magicians in the sweeping adult debut from #1 New York Times bestselling author Marie Lu. Perfect for fans of V.E. Schwab, Red City is a dark and deadly contemporary fantasy of magical warfare, star-crossed ambition, and the pursuit of perfection at any cost, set in a glittering alternate Los Angeles.

Alchemy is the hidden art of transformation. An exclusive power wielded by crime syndicates that market it to the world's elites in the form of sand, a drug that enhances those who take it into a more perfect version of themselves: more beautiful, more charismatic, simply more.

Among the gleaming skyscrapers and rolling foothills of Angel City, alchemy is controlled by two rival syndicates. For years, Grand Central and Lumines have been balanced on a razor's edge between polite negotiation and outright violence. But when two childhood friends step into that delicate equation, the city--and the paths of their lives--will be irrevocably transformed.

The daughter of a poor single mother, Sam would do anything to claw her way into the ranks of Grand Central in search of a better life. Plucked away from his family as a boy to become a Lumines apprentice, Ari is one of the syndicates' brightest rising stars. Once, they might have loved each other. But as the two alchemists face off across opposite sides of an ever-escalating conflict, ambition becomes power, loyalty becomes lies, and no transformation may be perfect enough for them both to survive the coming war.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1250885671
• ISBN13: 9781250885678
• Release Date: October 2025
• Publisher: Tor Books
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.4" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

The magic and darkness that is alchemy!

Alchemists have found the philosopher's stone and made it available for the right price as sand that when taken, enhances your strengths (and weaknesses). Definitely worse than the drug epidemic! But it makes for quite the compelling tale of Ari and Sam, youths pulled into the great war of alchemist syndicates on opposite sides after a childhood together. I loved it! Well, except for the fact that I have to wait for the next book to come out! I went into this book not really knowing the plot and I feel it really made the story hit with a bang! It is a dark and glamourous world for those trained or lucky enough to have extra soul to become alchemists. There is a cost and I am not sure it is worth it to shine for a few years. But it is quite believable for me to see how many people would jump at the chance. This may be an alternative world but it really relates well to so much happening now and had me thinking about comparisons as I read this book. I absolutely loved both Sam and Ari! Both are complicated and had so many hard choices to make for their families and a way to survive. I had to root for both, even if one worked for Grand Central and the other Lumines and how despite all the darkness, they still shone so bright for each other. To find a love like that, it was so heartbreaking and I loved it! It does get pretty graphic with the assassinations and what the syndicates do to traitors but even that was fascinating as it goes into alchemical transformations. I was fascinated by the training both Sam and Ari go through too, how it differed but also how they come to the truth of the cost of soul to do the workings. This was a fantastic and definitely adult debut by Marie Lu! I will happily read this again and again, as long as the next book comes out soon! I am glad I got the chance to read this and discover the magic and darkness that is alchemy.