First and foremost, I found this ARC copy of a gem in a cool book shop along with some other snazzy ARCs. So, this is an ARC. And I like them. I like gritty unfinished books with spelling errors. I don't like finished polished books with spelling errors. Big difference... 
 Anyways, this is the tale of a teenage graffiti artist named Beth who discovers an underground-London and a boy, the Prince of the City, named Fil. She ends up on the streets and tumbles headfirst into the Other side of the City where she joins the fight against Reach. For the TL;DR version (shame on you!) scroll, baby, scroll. 
 THE SETTING 
 So. First let me tell you about the setting: this story takes place in the grime and refuse of London. Every mundane aspect of the city, from the stinking steaming piles of garbage in the dumps to the festering trash bins in the alleys, from the tall light posts lining the streets to the tall glistening skyscrapers, from the dusty construction equipment to the statues in the cemeteries... all of them have souls, have purpose, and are the living breathing core of the Other city. The repulsiveness and putridity of chemical factories harbor deal making oil entities, and statues hide the decrepit bodies of punished human beings. And beautiful light-beings with fragile but lively bodies dance through parks and along street corners blinking to one another. 
 It's really something. It's a beautiful world. And by beautiful I mean disgusting and grimy but alive and full of nasty wonders. 
 THE STORY 
 The story is interesting. Beth ends up with Fil because she was kicked out of school. She bombed the school lot with a graffiti rendering of a rotten teacher to defend her friend's honor, and her friend Pen is forced to spill the beans. And I do mean forced. So Beth abandons her home, and goes to live on the streets, where she meets Fil for the first time. Now for this whole huge chunk, I was darn confused. I had no clue what in Heaven's name was going on with Fil's portions of the book. Eventually I caught on, but he made little sense. 
 To be perfectly honest, the entire book is about recruitment. Fil needs and army, and Beth convinces him of this fact. And so they travel around trying to get people to join their cause. You see, Fil's mother, Mater Viae, vanished, leaving him to fight Reach alone. Reach is a dick who is building tall mirrored buildings and is trying to "be." 
 THE WRITING 
 So. This author has some lovely writing, but it is wasted on Fillius. He's too inexperienced for me to take him seriously when his dialogue comes up in first person. The book is written well, but the start is admittedly a little difficult to get through, due to all the new terms and Fil's vague cryptic speech. Beth's passages are much better, befitting a teenager's speech, is written in third-person, and carries the story through. 
 When the story switches to either Pen or Mr. Bradley, however, is when the author really shines. Both of their passages are so heartfelt and full of drive that the reader wants to follow them, to see them succeed. They are filled with such desperation and pain that I connect more so with both of them than with Fil or Beth. Part of the reason is that Beth does things that sometimes makes me feel like she not taking things seriously. She's constantly being attacked by scaffwolves and rail wraiths, and frequently saying inappropriate things to beings she has no idea about, and yet still shows no real growth to me. 
 Fil is just there as exposition, as far as I was concerned. Pen and Mr. Bradley are shown to be dealing with more real problems in my opinion. Mr. Bradley is coming off of nearly catatonic depression, and in a fit of passion searches desperately for a lost child who he actually lost long before this Son of City business. And Pen is struggling with familial duties, a looming betrothal, and is held captive by a wire mistress in the worst display of body horror I've read in a long time. 
 It should be obvious what kept me going through the book. 
 THE CHARACTERS 
 So. lemme tell you about the characters you need to know: 
 Beth is a somewhat bad-girl. She's a graffiti artist. That lured me in, because I have an unhealthy obsession with graffiti. I was biased going in, and she kind of let me down. There wasn't much getting up in this book, but that's okay. Either way Beth has a loud mouth, doesn't think before she does things, and I can't say she's tactful. Her saving grace is that she's a young girl, so you know. All in all, she was alright, but I didn't like her much. 
 Fillius Viae, or Urchin as he's named on the back of the book, is the prince of the streets. I literally taped over his face on the front of the book, as it was a distraction for my imagination. His appearance in the book, grey skin and oily blood, seemed disconnected from the largely mundane cover version of him. These things matter to me very much. :) Fil is sort of a wild child, but is quite critical of Beth every step of the way. He is a touch more tactful than Beth, but is young and inexperienced. I slightly liked him. 
 Pen, or Parva, was one of my two favorite characters. She is poetic, sweet, strong-willed, and has a lot of issues to deal with. She has layers of intricate issues to deal with all piled on top of each other. And what is done to her in this book was so shocking, and so... so horrifying. And yet her relationship with Beth is complicated and rich. She was a beautiful character, especially at the end (nudgenudgewinkwink). 
 Mr. Bradley was my other favorite character. At first he was paralyzed with grief over the loss of his wife, but when his daughter, Beth, disappears into the streets he's beside himself. His often aimless but incessant search for her was utterly pitiful and strikingly passionate. What a redemption he fulfilled. 
 Gutterglass is like a surrogate parent to Fil. Made of trash, it is immediately clear that old Glas is the source of all Fil's knowledge. She/He/Zhe changes gender, depending on what bits zhe's made of that day. Quite an interesting character... 
 Victor is a delight of a character. He's an old Russian man with a rich backstory and infinite wisdom, experience, drunkeness, and awesomeness. You'll love him. 
 THE BOTTOM LINE (TL;DR) 
 I'm darn glad I pushed on and finished the book. The grimy City is very interesting, reminiscent of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. The main characters keep the story going, but the most interesting and deep characters end up being Parva, or Pen, and Mr. Bradley, Beth's father. 
 All the characters are infinitely interesting, and you should read this book. If you can't get a good grip on it, don't be afraid to skip here and there.