**I received an eARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This has had no bearing on this review. 
 A loose retelling of Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, Sarah Rees Brennan's Tell the Wind and Fire follows Lucie Manette a girl born in the Dark half of this fantastical version of New York City, and manages to escape to the Light. With her escape, she becomes a celebrity in both the Light and the Dark, for two different reasons, but Lucie just wants to live a normal life. But her boyfriend has a dark secret of his own that pulls her back into the center of a deep power struggle between the Dark and the Light where she may not be able to save everyone. 
 Unfortunately, Tell the Wind and Fire was mildly underwhelming for me. It wasn't a bad read, however it wasn't as enjoyable as I expected it to be based on past works of Brennan's that I've read. I always love stories about divided cities, but this one just didn't capture me. The plot, like the city, was divided. There were aspects that were rich and well developed - Lucie's past, for example - while others, some even pivotal to the progression of the story, were not. This just made the entire novel seem disjointed, rushed, and jumpy all the way to the end. 
 The characters themselves also suffered from this underdevelopment. While Lucie's former life is a key aspect of both her character and the plot, it seemed as if it was the only thing worth mentioning. This caused her character arc to feel rushed. Brennan's other characters, namely Ethan and Carwyn, also suffered from this underdevelopment. So much so that, when their character arcs "complete," it just simply felt out of character for both. I wanted more development, especially when it came to Carwyn's character who added a bit of personality and comedy to the story. 
 The writing throughout the novel seemed just as disjointed as the plot. At times, it felt like she was trying too hard to imitate Dickens' style, which made the story and flow feel awkward. The worst of it, in my opinion, was chapter three which was an entire chapter dedicated to world building. In essence, a chapter solely dedicated as an info dump. It shattered any kind of pace Brennan was building and, actually, confused me more than it helped. 
 The saving grace of this novel were the last couple of chapters. They were interesting, coherent, and fast paced. If Brennan made the entire book like those few chapters, it would have been a hit. Unfortunately, that just isn't the case and Tell the Wind and Fire is a miss for me.