City of Last Chances: Shortlisted for the Hugo Award for Best Series 2025 (The Tyrant Philosophers)

Name: City of Last Chances: Shortlisted for the Hugo Award for Best Series 2025 (The Tyrant Philosophers)
Price: 12.99 USD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.4 (3274 reviews)
Author: Adrian Tchaikovsky

by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Literary Fiction Fantasy

4.4 (3,274)

4.4 stars from 3,274 reviews. Top 67% of Literary Fiction books we track.

540 pages~9 hr readPublished by Bloomsbury PublishingPublished 2022-12-08

$12.99At peak price

Last checked: May 1, 2026

Price history: $1.99 – $12.99

Full price — consider adding to your watchlist for a better deal.

Price range: $1.99 – $12.99

Buy on Amazon - $12.99

0 readers are tracking this book's price

Fans of these authors will like this...

N.K. Jemisin
Django Wexler
Patrick Rothfuss

Fans of these books will like this...

The City of Brass
The Lies of Locke Lamora
Piranesi

Perfect for you if...

You love intricate, multi-character narratives with clear political stakes and worldbuilding that rewards close attention.
You want fantasy that treats a city itself as a living, morally grey character rather than just a backdrop.
You enjoyed Tchaikovsky's previous work and are keen to see him return to fantasy after years in science fiction.

Maybe not for you if...

You prefer straightforward hero's journeys with clear-cut good and evil rather than messy, overlapping moral conflicts.
You want a tightly plotted standalone. This is book one of a series and leaves threads deliberately unresolved.
You're looking for escapist comfort reading. The tone is dark and the city's problems are genuinely grim.

About this book

Adrian Tchaikovsky returns to fantasy with a novel set in Ilmar, a city under Palleseen occupation and facing multiple pressures: its criminal underworld, factory owners, poverty, and an ancient curse. The city is home to refugees, wanderers, murderers, madmen, fanatics, and thieves. The story centers on the Anchorwood, a dark grove of ancient trees that serves as a portal to distant places when the moon is full. This grove may be the catalyst for the upheaval building in Ilmar. The novel was a 2024 Locus Award finalist for Best Fantasy Novel and won the 2022 British Science Fiction Association Award for Best Novel. It is shortlisted for the Hugo Award for Best Series 2025.

Get the best deal every time

We track price drops, sale patterns, and predict when this book will go on offer next.

Price History

Kindle price over time. Green zones = periods when the book was free.

$1.99 – $12.99

Price has dropped 8 times over the last 3 years. Goes on sale roughly every 145 days. Typically stays discounted for 4 days.

Sales Rank

Amazon sales rank: lower number = better selling book. #1 is the bestseller.

Currently #2,687 in the Kindle store — a top-10K bestseller. Climbing the charts — 48% improvement recently.

Rating & Reviews

Purple line = star rating over time. Blue area = total review count growth.

Currently 4.4★ from 3,274 reviews

Gaining approximately 77 new reviews per month. Steady word of mouth growth. Rating has remained stable at 4.4 over the tracking period.

Sale Prediction

Actual Predicted

This book goes on sale roughly every 144 days. Next drop estimated in about 15 weeks. Typical discount: 85% off.

Prices shown in USD from Amazon US. We continuously pull new data to improve tracking. If dates look old, it usually means there has been no significant change since the last data point.