The City in Glass

Jake Casella Brookins of Locus wrote that the novel explores the use of violence against innocents, comparing the destruction of Azril and its citizens to the use of atomic warfare. Casella Brookins writes that "[Vitrine] spends years clearing the city of human remains, remembering each by name. This atrocity sits, unforgiven, in Vitrine and in the novel." Casella Brookins praised the way in which the novel avoided becoming a "pat story of healing and moving on."^[1] Liz Bourke, also writing for Locus, felt that the novel could be read as "an argument about living with ... the inimical decisions of destructive powers: untouchable powers that are far away until suddenly, unexpectedly, they’re right up close and killing your neighbours."^[2] Bourke further stated the following:

Vitrine comes to Azril first as a refugee from the war that destroyed her previous home and all its inhabitants, save those who fled. The angels’ devastation of Azril strikes with the suddenness of a tidal wave or a nuclear blast, as fatally unreasonable to the inhabitants as a missile strike on a children’s hospital or a refugee encampment. The war that comes to a rebuilt Azril in The City in Glass’s closing pages comes with no more reason than war ever comes, and brings yet more pointless destruction in its wake: the wreckage of an observatory, the ruin of a library, the death of children. In as much as it is a love story, it’s a story about destruction and endurance, and it feels like a commentary on the nature of survival, resilience, grief and love.^[2]

Publishers Weekly named The City in Glass as one of the best science fiction, fantasy, and horror books of 2024.^[3] In a starred review, Publishers Weekly called the book "an astonishing standalone novel of grief, retribution, and love that evokes the best of Italo Calvino and Ursula K. Le Guin." The review praised Vo's "beautiful and evocative" prose, writing that it may be her best novel to date.^[4]

Marlene Harris of Library Journal praised the relationship between Vitrine and the nameless angel, comparing it to the "push-pull duality" of the characters from This is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar. She also compared the angel and demon relationship to the characters from Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, writing that the novel "[tells] a romantic story about two beings on opposite sides of an eternal conflict who find common ground but never peace."^[5] Alex Brown of Reactor praised Vo's beautiful and poetic prose, as well as the characterization of the inhabitants of Azril. Brown stated that "human characters come and go, sometimes making only brief appearances and sometimes living their whole lives in a few pages, but no matter what, they all feel fully realized and realistically complicated." Brown found the story to be "wholly itself," but also compared it positively to This is How You Lose the Time War, Tread of Angels, and The Dead Cat Tail Assassins.^[6] Nileena Sunil of Strange Horizons felt that the worldbuilding had a "dreamlike quality" punctuated by "strong, sharp imagery." Sunil found the book to have an unconventional romance, as Vitrine and the angel "are shown to be otherworldly beings and don’t need to love like humans do."^[7]

Writing for Locus, Gary K. Wolfe praised Vo's "restrained mastery of the novella form." Wolfe wrote that "The City in Glass features some of Vo's most elegant and haunting prose" and praised the "complex and fascinating" character of Vitrine.^[8] Jake Casella Brookins, also writing for Locus, praised the way in which the story handles time, with chapters that "move organically back and forth between Azril-before, its long centuries of development and intrigue, and Azril-after, the new thing that grows after the apocalypse."^[1] In a third review for Locus, Liz Bourke called the novel "less a story in the classic mode than an emotional journey told in crisply beautiful prose."^[2]