Amy

Well, that was something that happened.

First of all, retcon-ing why Nancy and Co. didn't tell Alan they were there sleuthing into Becca demanding absolute secrecy didn't endear any of this to me. Then there was the bandying about of the term ‘red-herring'. Nancy's life is so mired in mystery, of course coincidences don't happen to her - they're all ‘red-herrings'.

Urgh.

Then, Nancy might be investigating a case, but she doesn't even know what the case is. Seriously, she's investigating her ‘red-herrings' and a solved robbery from the previous book - until one of her sort-of suspects asks her if she's investigating something, which turns out to be what the case was.

(But not the ‘red-herrings' because that was the real case we were investigating and Nancy is totally oblivious and not a very good sleuth with how long it took her to solve her case.)

I love Widdershins. I mean, the people are awesome, the place is great, and it's a town that ‘knows its own'. Who wouldn't want to live there?

I don't really recommend starting here though, if you want to read the story of Widdershins (do start with the first book in the Whyborne & Griffin series) as, while I think it's likely accessible enough, there are many, many mentions of things that add a lot to the story if you read about them first hand.

Spoiler below about Vesper's past.
Like how Ves' mother was a member of the cult that wanted to bring in those from Outside in the final book in the Whyborne & Griffin series. I love the way that opens the world up and it just wouldn't be the same if I hadn't already read about those events.

The couple is typically sweet - I expect nothing less from Hawk anymore - and I am super excited to continue the plot!

As I was reading the book, I was attempting to make mental notes for a review, but I kind of don't remember any of them now.

Anyway, I wouldn't recommend starting with this book. Things are explained moderately well, but both Sebastian and Wesley played parts in the Magic in Manhattan series - enough that I really think you'd miss out if you didn't read it first. (Of course, I'm totally biased, because I loved it as well.)

Notes on the guys:
Sebastian is a total marshmallow, much to my surprise. (Please note: Jade's word, not mine.)
And I am not at all surprised Wesley and Arthur couldn't get along. Or that few people get along with Wesley.

About the romance:
One of my favorite things about this book (along with everything else about this book) is how tentative they are in their attraction to each other. There's none of that first meting and my spidy sense is tingling so not only are you attracted to the gender I am, you're attracted to me. This was a lot more gradual and - even though the story itself doesn't take place over a long enough period to truly be slow burn - I appreciated that.

Note on the plot:
... Look, I loved Magic in Manhattan in its entirety. I love the paranormals and the time period (though I do have a slight preference for the stories taking place in America instead of - like this one - mostly England) so do you really expect me to not love this. (Also, it's not dragged out. We have a plot and a rescue mission and it moves. Which is nice.)

I grabbed this audiobook from my library because I wanted a short audiobook to listen to for my last two days of work this month. Something easy to listen to wile working, that I knew wouldn't upset me. (Especially after my last two attempts.) (I had originally thought to try for a romance audiobook, but I'm picky enoough about my romance reads, without trying to limit myself to only those 4-5 hours long.)

Anyway, I've been a fan of Nancy Drew since the days of the yellow hardcovers and have read several iterations. (Girl Detective and the ones where she was in college particularly stick in my mind. Also, there was one where she was younger, but for the life of me, I can't recall the name. Notebooks?) Anyway, this was a pretty standard, typical fare - except for the one singular reason that I dropped the rating from four stars down to three: Bess' boyfriend, Alan.

He is a needless contrivance that only serves to make Nancy have to sneak around even more - because while he knows she's an amateur detective, he doesn't know that she's on a case. And Nancy, Bess and George all seem to be in agreement that keeping him in the dark - and allowing him to invite himself along - is the best course of action. (Even though he and Bess have only been dating a few weeks.)

Possible spoiler speculation on the second book of the series.
Of course, I think the only reason he's there in the first place is to be the culprit of the second book, because there's several strong indications that he's the one that perpetrated the loose ends that Nancy hasn't been able to solve yet and the jewelry heist at the end of this book. If he's not the culprit of the next book, I will officially be shocked.

Admittedly, the culprit of this book was...kind of obvious. As soon as the clue was said, I was wondering how long it would take for Nancy to catch on. At least she didn't constantly go ‘I can't remember something important' like so many other sleuths seem to.

Already got the second book downloaded for work later in May and am actually a little excited for it.

I actually finished this two days ago, but was so involved in my game that I forgot to update this, so bear with me as I try to remember what I wanted to say.

I liked the first 40-50 percent of the book a lot - like I was agreeing with all those four star reviews, but the second half of the book really let me down. It started with the manufactured drama between Skye and Henry (and I'm going to say that it was definitely manufactured because Skye is usually grounded and Henry is really a sweetheart and the only way drama could be found if it was manufactured because, by nature, neither of these are dramatic characters).

Also, coincidentally or not, that was also about the time that the audiobook narration really started to grate in regards to certain characters. (Mostly Skye's two school friends who, from then on, couldn't seem to speak at anything lower than a shout. More than once I found myself wincing at their volume.)

I did (mostly) like Skye and Henry and, even though I wasn't a supporter of their relationship at the beginning, I was at least somewhat by the end. I also liked the message that was being sent. (Even if it felt somewhat truncated and had a somewhat vague and open-feeling slice of life ending.)

I also want to give mad props for a bisexual lead and a bisexual love interest. Not only do I personally appreciate it (especially Skye's admittance that the chances of her ever dating a girl is slim because of family, something I can personally relate to) but it also adds a nice bonding moment for them.

(Side note: Skye's dad is awesome!)

Finally, there were a couple of moments that did not make any sense - both dealing with Henry's ex, Melinda. (That was her name, right?)

First, Skye states early on that if she tries out for both singing and dancing, and fails to get in either one, she will be rejected from both. Melinda later states that she tried to get into the dancing portion and failed, yet she was somehow accepted in the singing part. I have questions.

Then, there was a moment where singers go head-to-head against another singer. One of the pair-ups had enough advance notice of who their partner would be to choose a song (the same song? I don't remember) by the same singer as their opponent. Skye was paired against Melinda, a fact that she apparently didn't know until the moment they were called on stage together. I have even more questions.

All in all, for a book that usually isn't my type, I did enjoy it - but not as much as I thought I would upon first starting it, and I can't help but wish things were just a little tighter plotted.

I really liked this book (as I think my rating indicates) possibly because I didn't really expect to. Look, several of my friends that like Sebastian's work and who are less picky than me, were somewhat disappointed in this book. I wasn't expecting a lot, and I won't know for certain until I reread it, but I think this is in my top three favorite Sebastian romances.

See, I like Percy and I like Kit both as people, and I like them together. They bring out the best in each other, are so supportive and caring towards each other and (something that I value more with each passing year) are delightfully low angst. And the plot itself was such fun and had me putting things together just ahead of our boys.

(Side note: Percy is gay and Kit is bi, but Percy is Kit's first man in many, many ways - which is something I'm discovering a major fondness for.)

Even though the other book I tried by McGuire turned out terribly for me (to the tune of a quick DNF due to the writing style) this book was always at least a little on my radar because it seems like literally everyone has/is read/ing it. So I decided to give it ago.

Honestly, my overriding opinion on it - while reading it (actually, listening to the audio book) and now that I have finished - is ‘meh'. To me, this book is almost perfectly average with nothing to recommend or detract it.

But, I'll give you a quick overview of my personal pros and cons.

Pros
+ Decent ace rep - even if Nancy seems a little confused over the aro/ace thing. (She claims to be ace and not aro, but her words and actions make her sound both. I would be interested in this aspect of her being expounded on.)
+ I sort of like Jack and Kade. (And no one else.)

Cons
- Kind of shockingly graphically gory which was unexpected (and reduced my rating by about a half star).
- Inasmuch as this surprisingly short book can be said to have a plot, it's a mystery. A very obvious, not at all surprising mystery.
- Eleanor's idea to send students through her door was stupid and made no sense because the murderer could have been sent through without the only halfway adult halfway trying to protect them and she would have basically unleashed a killer on an unsuspecting world with no one to stop them. That definitely tried to lower my rating again, but I do not believe this was a one star book.

Over all, meh.

Thoughts? It took me crazy long to read it and I'm glad I finally made it.

About it specifically:

I didn't like it as much as the first one. I'm not the biggest fan of the writing style, but even more than that, I'm getting well and truly sick of Tyler and Auri. And Zila and Finian are terribly underutilized (and quite likely my favorites). Kal is... of an archetype I usually like, but his constant thing with Auri drops my liking of him a few degrees. Scarlet is okay, but I really think she just gets the most boring chapters. (And maybe has the most boring character?)

The plot is continuing on and is quite interesting, so no complaints there. (Though I really, really, don't see how they're going to be able to stretch this story on for another full book. So...yeah.)

Will finish the series. Slightly excited to, even, and hoping that this was just mid-book saggy-ness.

(Also, my theory that everyone is at least a little bi seems to be gradually being confirmed.)

I listened to the audiobook. You could likely add a star if you read it, because I really, really couldn't stand the narrator. His ‘yelling' was the most annoying sound I think I've ever heard and he seemed to have two voices besides what I am assuming is HIS voice - used for Ellery and the narration - and one is a strange Mid-Atlantic crossed with a Texas drawl (or something) that is used for a grand total of two (related) characters and a lower attempt at deep and husky that he uses for everyone else from the ‘sexy' love interest to the femme fatale wannabe to the mistaken-for-gay camp straight. (Side note: I had to pause more than once in the middle of conversations and didn't get to come back for a day or more. One such instance made me wonder what I had forgotten because I thought Ellery was talking to the low voiced brooding (well, sort of) love interest. It wasn't. It was the camp straight and the narrator was using exactly the same voice.)

The mystery itself is predictable but okay. There were supposed to be several twists - like our second murder victim and the final reveal. None of it really surprised me because I kind of suspected what was really going on with the murder super early on. That being said, it was serviceable and was not a bad mystery.

What was awful was Ellery. I honestly can't stand the guy. I can't point to anything and say ‘that!' (except for one thing that I will talk about later) but he was just the sort to rub me the wrong way through the entire book. I was actually going to drop an update on here (that I never got around to) asking if the characters in cozy mysteries are always so unlikable. Especially the sleuths.

Now, the problem that I CAN point to with Ellery is thus: (bear with me) We have Ellery and we have Jack. Jack is well liked by thirsty women. Jack is also, per Ellery, very attractive. Ellery has something of a crush on him from before the start of the book. Jack wears a wedding ring and Ellery ponders why - because there was something there between them when they first met. (Ellery's gaydar, if you pardon the term.) So, Ellery is speculating if Jack has a wife, or if he's closeted, or if he's unaware that he's closeted and just super oblivious.

Okay, this is gross enough, but guys, it gets worse.

Ellery finds out from local gossip (singular person whose whole point is to be gossip) that Jack was married - is currently a widower - and was married to his high school sweetheart. Gossip says that the deceased is female (though I don't remember how gossip knew that). So, Ellery is heartbroken that Jack is straight. But there was something there. But he's straight. But... Nope, he's straight.

Until Jack says, literally (and it makes sense like this, but even more sense taken in context) “There's nothing wrong with girls. Nothing wrong with boys, either.” Well, Ellery has this mental block like ‘does not compute' then he proceeds to obsess over what that could possibly mean.



What ever could he mean. I mean, sure, Ellery's from NYC but, oh, surely, he's never met anyone bisexual. I mean, we just don't exist. Not even in NYC.

blows raspberry

Anyway, not interested in the next book in the series because, per Goodreads synopsis, Ellery's ex shows up, argues with Ellery and promptly disappears, prompting Ellery to be Jack's main suspect. When he bent over freaking backwards in this book to avoid making Ellery a suspect much less the main one.

First I want to say that I listened to the audiobook and it was a solid, decently narrated book.

Now, I don't know how to rate this thing.

For the most part, I did sort of enjoy the book. I was originally intending on 2 1/5 stars rounded up to 3. But, when I didn't enjoy the book, I really, really disliked it.

For example, the resolution to the case was...really stupid. I mean, Posie was a decent sleuth - she investigated, things didn't fall in her lap (though she always had a thought/memory just out of reach, it seemed) and she does have a decent head on her shoulders. The resolution however did fall in her lap, along with several big ‘reveals' that took away from the mystery I thought we were investigating.

Which, admittedly, the mystery itself was lackluster. So, we have two murders and a theft and...we know who killed one of the people immediately and the other murder and the theft were...not the best handled, in my opinion. Really, this case seemed to want to be more historical thriller than the cozy mystery I was personally wanting.

All this wasn't awful - wasn't great either, but I could handle it. What I couldn't handle so well was the characters.

Posie is an okay detective. Unless she's around her employee or her business partner. Her employee is a woman that, right from the start she seemed to hate and be jealous of in turns. Her business partner is a handsome young man that she is already in love with. He has a ... girlfriend? Lady friend? I don't know what you want to call it, but there is a woman in his life that means when he and Posie kiss that he is cheating on her. Posie is facilitating the cheating because she knows he's spoken for and she still kisses him. And at the end of the book, Posie seems to think that his ‘friend' is barely a footnote in her and he being together.

Look, I can't abide cheaters. I don't even care anymore what the truth is. Posie thinks he has a girlfriend and she still kisses him and allows him to woo her. This and Posie stamping her foot like a petulant child at the Moriarty (and the book essentially saying that using those very words) made me loose the respect that Posie had actually, surprisingly, kept through the book.

It also made me decide to pass on anymore of the series because I was willing to give the series a second chance in hopes that I would like some of the other cases more than this one.

Sooo... 2 stars minus one for cheating cheaters who cheat. So 1 star.
(Enjoy this stream of consciousness review.)

TL;DR
The romance killed my interest in the plot before the plot even started.


I'm doing a bang-up job this month of reading sequels that I thought were guaranteed for me to like and being horribly, irredeemably disappointed.

This book starts of so painfully slow - and it's not even the good kind of slowly building things up, but the ‘here, have 80 pages of romance building and then another 70 pages of ‘ladadade, we're working, but it feels like a vacation' before the plot even starts' slow.

The two biggest problems I have with the book is 1) the romance. (The romance infuses every cell of this book in such a way that you can never forget that there's something going on between Xandri and Diver. wiggles eyebrows Don't forget, they're having smooch-y feelings. (...Yes, it's also handled with that approximate level of maturity as well.))

And, 2) the fact that Diver becomes a co-narrator. (Look, I'm usually all for more narrators. But the first book worked as well as it did, I think, because we crawled inside Xan's head and never left. In this one, we have rotating first person POV - which is almost universally a terrible idea on it's own - and... Honestly, I sort of loathe Diver by this point. There's too much of his focus on Xandri's physical appearance and I'm a little skived out by him. Though, being 100% fair, most of my problem with him is likely because of his constant harping over putting on his ‘big boy pants' (yes, that is what he calls it) and admitting he likes Xan because of putting on his ‘big boy pants'. Instead of just, I don't know, acting like an adult - which, contrary to appearances - he actually is.)

So...yeah.

There is a plot here. It is good. The romance has been shoved so far down my throat that I don't care.

This book is the fruition of seeds planted in the previous two - and it's glorious. We have allies, likely and unlikely, teaming up to take down the big bad and I love it. Humans and dragons working together and people finding a home and it makes me very happy. This is, unabashedly, my kind of plot.

And, to be fair, my kind of characters because I adore all of them. Seriously, every single POV character is wonderful and delightful and I just love this so much.

This would usually be where I make my complaint - because nearly everyone is involved in a romance. While it's true that I am not usually a fan of that, it's actually good in this book. Each pairing fits together so well and is truly equals and they count on each other and rely on each other and are respectful of each other and...even though they don't all start on the best foot, the romances are some of the healthiest, softest I've ever read. Especially when there's this many. Another reason that the romances are so good for me is that the couples spend time talking together - not just having sex whenever they have a spare moment - but also spend a lot of time around other people so we get to see them as characters and not just part of a couple (and not just part of a couple that is only interested in sex).

Honestly, I cannot say enough good about this series and how much I love it.

This book exhausted me, so this review will not be the pages and pages worth it deserves.

The good
Thaniel

The bad
The plot is one guaranteed to make me hate a story unless it's handled a lot more deftly than this one was.

The ugly
The characterization of females, namely Grace and Pepperharrow herself. They are the same judgmental, horrible people.

The book gets two stars because of Thaniel and the first fifty or so pages, the last fifty or so pages, (except where Grace once again escapes all consequences of her actions like a karma Houdini that needs to be slapped) and about twenty pages in the middle where Thaniel is actually doing his job.

Side note: I would have happily read five hundred pages of Thaniel working as a telegraphist an going home to eat dinner with Mori and Six. That would have been a worthwhile book.

Also, the five years between the first and second books probably helped - as long as you don't reread them in the intervening time - because certain bits of plot were, in turns, suspiciously similar and didn't actually make sense.

A clear and definite improvement over the first two books. Much more of Magnus being his own character and not Percy 2.0. No more of the general ‘isn't it hilarious how much like humans this non human civilization/person is?' and some actually witty/sarcastic remarks.

Magnus' crew gets fleshed out more - with Mallory, HalfBorn and T.J. actually getting time to shine. (Which, regardless of my feels towards their character and characterization, can only be for the best.) (I also do think the blooming relationship between Magnus and Alex is cute and I love that it's not as ... forced as a certain other one was. (Percy/Annabeth.) There's a lot of room for them to grow together without me feeling like I'm supposed to feel that they are destined to be together.)

Also, to the good, is the fact that the ending feels a lot like there's more adventures Magnus and crew will go on, which is something I always love.

What I'm not thrilled with is the fact that this is set in the PJ&tO world. Look, besides my feelings on the characters from the original series, things are starting to feel very claustrophobic. We've got deities from Greek, Roman, Egyptian and now Norse all sharing a world. (A very North America-centric world at that, but I'm not getting into that now.) The Kane Chronicles wasn't as bad because it didn't cameo characters from the original series. I just don't see how these deities aren't tripping all over each other or having Greek/Norse babies. shrug

I like this story both more and less than the first one - which has left me very confused for writing this review.

The Good: The characters are fleshed out even more and given even more opportunities to shine. And we have several new additions that I love.

The not so good: While I love the many, many POV's that we get, and that they switch chapter by chapter, it can be jarring that, after four or five pages, finally getting interested in what this character is doing, it switches to someone else with a different storyline in a different area. Very seldom do we get two chapters in a row from people that occupy the same physical space. Some of these very short chapters are only two pages long. While I love the characters and the story works well for me, the short vignettes made it too easy to put the book down and this contributed to why it took me so long to read it.

Oh, my goodness, I loved this book. So, I first got into it from some thought I had (or I was told) that it was a poly relationship. It's not. It is a blooming sapphic romance and an aro/ace guy all being friends and choosing each other. And, in fact, the acknowledgement that they would not have been able to succeed if they hadn't trusted and chosen each other is there. So, yeah, right up my alley.

Added to that, we have characters that I adore. I love all three of them, and think their character arcs were amazing. The plot was solid and, I will admit, somewhat standard. The world building was...somewhat eyebrow-raising at times. But I always say I'm a character reader and these characters are all wonderful and amazing and I want to scoop them up and run away with them.

(The story puts me a little in mind of Heart of Iron by Ashley Poston and Stitching Snow by C.S. Lewis.)

(Second book in my Agatha Christie reread/read project. I realized I read the book before while reading it, but for some reason, I don't seem to have a copy of it.)

The mystery is a pretty standard, serviceable Christie mystery: a woman is murdered, likely via poison, in her locked bedroom, the chief suspect is her universally disliked new husband, but there's also her two sons and a daughter-in-law and assorted servants/help. Good thing Poirot is on the case.

I did enjoy the mystery - what I didn't enjoy was being inside Arthur Hastings' head. He is insufferable with his condescension towards Poirot (oh, he's such a funny little, old man, I'm sure he's quite lost his touch, good thing I'm here to look after him) and is busy lusting after any young unmarried - or married - woman that he comes across.

I am predisposed to like anything by Martinez as I've had wonderful luck with all her previous books that I've read.

This book has great worldbuilding, amazing characters and an enjoyable plot. Honestly, I could read it for the characters and the worldbuilding and day. I love inventive, alien culture we get to deal with.

However, the romance is not for me. The pair is good together, there's nothing unhealthy about it, it just goes from strangers to attracted to soulmates way too fast for me. And that soulmate thing is the whole basis for their romance. I mean, it does work for the story and the way it's told, but I needed the early lust dialed down and then the ‘can't live without' feelings to not have happened as soon (or, perhaps, at all). But, this is just my own preference and if you like the fated-mates, soulmates, other half of the soul sort of romances, this is a well written one.

I did enjoy this book quite a bit - which was a nice surprise, considering I picked it out randomly, without even looking at it on Goodreads. The fact is, though, that it hit two very major things that I love. The first is the house party that gets snowed in and cut off from the rest of the world. The second is the (pretend) murder weekend that turns into a real murder weekend. Those are two things I love, love, love in mystery books.

There only two reasons that this book isn't getting four stars from me - and they could have been remedied the same way.

My first problem is that no one is described, I don't know anything about these characters and, until past the halfway point, I didn't even know two secondary characters were married. The second problem I had was that the book was already more than half over (also) before the first real murder took place.

Both problems could have been solved by increasing the length of the book. Honestly, with the huge cast of characters, three fake deaths and two real ones, the mystery party seen through ‘til the end and the break from reality at least one (and likely two) characters had, this book could easily have been double the length it was. That would have also allowed the characters and the story - especially the ending which was barely wrapped up in one chapter - to breathe.

I did enjoy this book, but I don't know that I'll be reading any more by this author.

A fairly bog standard historical romance - except where it tries so hard to not be.

Pros

+ Both boys are so likable and awkward and sweet and fumbling and they get an extra star for not being all dark brooding alpha male.

+ Lovely trio (soon to be quartet) of friends. (Possibly a...quintet(?) Whatever the five is.)

+ The boys do not suffer from internalized homophobia.

Cons

- To such a degree that they dance a waltz at a party and kiss hands in public. (While it is possible, I'll admit, it is improbable to such a degree that they would be unaware/indifferent to the danger to them that...it kind of took me out of the story and made me wonder if the author had wanted to write a straight romance.)

- One of the boys was in an abusive relationship at that was the impetus for the late story misunderstanding/separation. It was, however, neatly swept under the rug in favor of wrapping up the romance instead of actually, you know, dealing with it.

- Some information seems contradictory. Miss Bolton says about Mr. Everett: ‘I would be very surprised of it, he has been careful to keep it from the knowledge of his friends.' And then, later the same page, says: ‘Mr. Everett has spoken to us frankly before about his ... inclinations, and that has set us on the watch for any time that such inclinations might be reciprocated.'

- (I would have been happier without the sex scene as it really added nothing to the narrative that couldn't be conveyed with a fade to black.)


Not bad, not great. Honestly, gets worse the more I think about it. Pretty standard romance with an above average couple and several nitpicks for me.

All aboard for the Orchid Drama Express.

I guess one of the best things I can say about this book is that it's a short, quick read.

Though that isn't fair to how much I adore Scarlet, Plum and Mustard. They are wonderful and the whole reason I made it through this book.

Peacock is...still just as irrelevant today as she was at the start of the first book. (Honestly, what is even her point? What does she do?) I don't have any real feelings towards her. I'm just neutral.

Orchid, on the other hand, I kind of hate. I mean, she was my least favorite in the first book, and she basically takes over the storyline. Any storyline, that is, that Green didn't take over. (Or, even some he did, because they are in deep teen love.) (Which means they kissed twice and are obsessed with each other.) Because between the two of them, they are pretty much the whole plot for three books. And I don't like Green much more than I like Orchid.

So this was particularly fun for me.

(Honestly, I never even understood why Orchid was here. I mean, until I looked up the characters for the newest Clue re-do game, I didn't even know we had an Orchid - I'd never even heard of her before. So, she felt out of place the entire time I was reading the first two books, partially because of that, but also because she isn't even Orchid. I mean, there are so many secondary characters that have names that tie into Clue, but one of our main characters doesn't. (Also, I would give that complaint a pass, if Orchid herself did constantly harp on about how she's really Emily. I mean, if it was a real name change and ‘this is who I am' I'd be cool with it. But Orchid thinks that Orchid was a front while really, she's Emily.) (Also, there is a character from Clue itself that's called Rusty Naylor. So...definitely less credit to the author for that pun than I originally gave.))

(And then there's the ending. Or, should I say, endings? The whole this could have happened, but didn't works okay in a visual medium, for me, but is a total failure in print medium, for me.)

(Also, the whole naming the book after how and where of the murder victim only really works when there's a murder victim in that room that was killed by that method. The second book title was a stretch and this one doesn't work at all.)

I do not like this book. It lured me in with promises of clockwork bombings, wooed me with soft stories of clerks, watchmakers and scientists, and then sucker punched me with an emotional roller coaster. This is not healthy and I do not appreciate it.

In all seriousness, though, this book is lovely and amazing and I adore it.

Things I love:

- All the characters. They are all well-developed and while I might personally disagree with some of their choices (coughGracecough) they all make sense and are, in spite of certain things, a lovely, fascinating bunch.

- Thaniel. Yes, he gets his own mention. As our main, leading character, he's so wonderful. He's a calm person and would be just wonderful to have tea with.

- The writing style. I actually took note of the writing this time and it is so great! It's evocative and very deliberate.

- The setting. Look, I love the historical/steampunk stuff, and there is such a sense of time and place in this book that it's glorious.

- Katsu. A clockwork octopus. Enough said.

Now, I'm off to hopefully find if my library has the sequel.

I did like this book more than the previous in the series - and it reads a bit less like Percy Jackson 2.0. I do like the characters, but that was really never in doubt because I generally like Riordan's characters. Even if I don't love them. But...

Look, we travel to other worlds. Other worlds that are distressingly similar to Midgard. I mean...I'm just disappointed that this is what we get. It could be anything and it's, basically, just like ours only with non-humans. I do get that a lot of the humor comes from the absurdity that ‘oh, hey, we've got an all powerful Norse god that dresses just like a frat boy' but that doesn't mean a change wouldn't be super nice. (We get things like cop cars and bowling alleys, I mean.) (And, also, the whole extended series was kind of glaringly US-centric before we added the entry to Yggdrasil in Boston. Now it's like the Greek gods and the Norse gods live practically on top of each other.)

Also, I would love to have some own voices thoughts on Alex. I've come across a handful of trans characters in fantasy/sci-fi and the one thing they all have in common is that they have shape shifting abilities. Personally, I am vaguely unsettled by this - but I really don't know if that's just a me problem, or if there's something here that isn't the best. As I said, love some own voices thoughts on that.

I mostly enjoyed it - mostly because Addison is so good at making people that you're supposed to like actually likable and those that you're supposed to dislike, very unlikable. And I do like Celehar, though I do, admittedly, find him a little dry and boring at times.

But... A lot of the same problems I had in The Goblin Emperor, I am still having in this book. (A generally homophobic, racist, sexist world. Over-done fantasy names.) Conversely, a lot of what I liked in The Goblin Emperor is relevant to this book, too. (People are generally good and the good guys often win.)

Regardless, this book tried for a four star read for me - and because of Celehar being likable, the book being peaceful (even during the zombie hunt), it almost made it. Ultimately, what made this book a three star read instead of four stars is the plot. The plot being Celehar's daily job being a Witness for the Dead. The fact that the plot is four or five different ‘cases' and dozens of people that I have no prayer keeping straight. The plot being cases that, really, aren't even connected and this could have been four or five short stories of fifty-ish pages each and I probably would have liked the ‘book' better.

(I don't know if I'll read the sequel, whenever it eventually gets published. Probably depending on if I think I remember enough about this and the previous one to get by. Because this book does not have a glossary in it and, really, I think it needs one. It's a good thin I reread The Goblin Emperor a few months ago, otherwise this would have probably been a DNF.)

I am...not pleased with this book. Objectively, there is nothing wrong with it, still good writing and likable characters - but too many choices that were made for the book are ones I personally feel was detrimental to my enjoyment of the story.

First, let's talk about the things I did like.

- I do like the characters - even if that isn't without it caveats.
- The writing is the same easy to read, snappy dialogue that I've gotten used to.
- Basically everyone is bi/pan and there is a poly triad romance here. (And poly marriages are totally a thing!)

Now, the things I didn't like.

- The characters caused me a lot of problems, because the ones this story is about aren't ‘our' iteration's version. The Marty we follow is not Edward's Marty. The main characters in this story share names, but they aren't the same people, so for half the book I was trying to get attached to them, when I really missed the ones we followed for the first three books. I did, eventually get attached to them, but the final book in the series is not the time to be introducing new heroes and new villains. (Because the villains are ones that, save the ‘big bad,' were never even mentioned before.) (I could also talk about not one, but two character glossaries at the beginning of the book, but I won't.)

- The first 30 pages skips 13 years. ... This contributed to me taking so long to actually care about the people because I hate time skips with a passion.

- The only relationship that is worth anything is a romantic relationship. Look, the whole series trended that way, but the way this book refuses for anyone to be without at least one lover/love interest ... Marty and Jake do have moments where they are being brothers, but every single conversation they had was about one or both of their love interests. (Okay, I don't know that's true, but it sure felt that way.) People don't have friendships. They have people they want to have sex with.

- Jennifer? Trevor? Nope. (Which kind of goes back to the issue with introducing basically a whole new cast of characters for the final book. Important players of the previous ones no longer matter.) (Side note: I think we saw Annette once.)

- The whole villain/plot reveal thing-y. Look, I guess you could say something was hinted at in the third book. (Third?) But, in truth, this was something that I never got hints or foreshadowing on and... I don't love it. (I think I could have, with at least hints that it was headed in that direction.) Over all, I miss Gifford as the villain. (At least he wasn't a whole new convoluted society that we had to remember who people were and what their connections were to each other.


Okay, look, I don't regret finishing the series. Maybe someday I'll even want to reread it. (I'd probably stop at the first two books, to be honest.) And, this was not the worst book I read this year. Nor was it the worst series finale I read this year. Nor was it the worst series finale of a sci-fi series with heavy MLM elements that I read this year. (If you want me to get really specific.)