I actually started out reading [b:City of Jade|17982994|City of Jade|L.J. LaBarthe|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1369684509s/17982994.jpg|25215317], which contains City of Gold as a prequel to the story. Once I read the prequel, I realized the story was different from what I expected. I liked City of Gold as a charming story between a soldier of Constantinople and a Korean man following a merchant. However, there's a lot more telling in the development of their relationship than showing. Therefore, their proclamation of love seemed to happen pretty suddenly and without conflict. Once again, the story was nice, but by the time I was done, I realized I didn't really feel compelled to read much more.
