Siri Keeton

Can’t remember the last time I was this conflicted.

It was overlong, but I enjoyed most of the exposition and lore. It was repetitive, but I didn’t hate the motif it was building. The characters were the high point, except each of them occasionally broke character or did something uncharacteristically stupid in order for something spooky to be shoehorned into proceedings.

It had the air and style of something that felt quite clever at first blush; but, the more I think about it, the more I think it all adds up to something quite pedestrian and stupid.

I don’t know, man. I do not know. One thing I can say for certain is that it was too damn long and it meandered more than I would have liked. I was glad when it was over, but I was glad to have read it. Ugh.

Just a fun bit of fluff. A bit of a grimdark boys' adventure. 

Brilliant. 

Nah. This was a very bland snack. It served as a palate cleanser for the heavier kak I've been reading, but not much else.

Occasional moments of vivid flavor and maybe one good laugh.

I will read the sequel when I fancy another a morsel to tide me over between larger fare, but I'm in no rush to revisit this character or his schtick.

It served its purpose... and there was that one laugh, which I admittedly enjoyed very much.

A strong opener for a series, but very much just that. It exists to set the scene. Read alone it isn't particularly thrilling, but the setting and ideas are enough to propel one toward the inevitable invitation to read an actual story that will follow it.

I'll be there when it comes out. With bells on. In the meantime I'll read Livesuit, which I'm looking forward to quite a bit.

A rare 5/5.

An excellent adventure told in a fascinating voice and that manages to stick the landing against all odds. A series of digestible vignettes on the road. Eminently readable, delightfully quirky.

All in all, just a damn good ride and -for me- a grand introduction to an author whose work I suspect I will be reading for some time to come.

It lost its way a little in terms of pacing toward the end, but I really liked the characterization of the kids and I found the big bad compellingly creepy and weird.

I'll be reading the sequels, so that's probably all the review you'd need to gauge my feelings about this one.

Just shy of a legitimate classic. An uncanny tragedy somewhat haphazardly built into a setting that will constantly defy your expectations.

It's a little rushed in places. The carefully established authorial voice lapses here and there. Some aspects seem to have been heaped onto the narrative pile because they're just undeniably cool and for no better reason.

Wgaf, really? It was amazing and I recommend it to anyone who feels like they could do with being astonished by something.

Abominable tripe. Derivative. Repetitive. Self-important schlock.

A lazy, lazy attempt at gross and grandiose. Needless to say, this empty little text achieves neither.

In a word: boring.

Not the book I thought it was going to be when I opened it. A surprising bit of light scifi that should be taken on its own merits. It isn't trying to be anything portentous or strange. It's just wants to tell you a tight, occasionally lively little tale about a small cast of characters and some octopuses. Reviews touting it as a masterpiece are overblown. It is very successful at what it's trying to do and I recommend it.

I cannot remember the last time I nearly didn't finish a book because I was irritated by it.

This is an egregious example of bait and switch. The story you're sold in the blurb is only the framing device for a middling story of American immigrants battling an uninteresting supernatural foe. I did not want to read a story about a German family 100 years in the past who just so happen to have had at their head a kind of comic book Van Helsing. That is not the book I was sold.

The worst part of all of this is that this part of the story is supposedly related to the “main characters” in the present day by a man who runs a restaurant they just happened to stop by. But the narrator speaks the way the author writes, if you get my meaning; he knows what people were thinking 100 years ago, and the exact wording of their conversations, and every detail regarding the contents of their pantries (I am not making this up).

It makes no sense for a man in a diner to be speaking this way. It makes no sense for the main characters to ostensibly sit in silence and listen to this monologue for what must have been hours. None of it makes any sense and it was impossible to enjoy any of it.

This is a total failure and, at its heart, a dishonest, lazy book. I do not understand why this is so highly regarded by people on here. Even this makes no sense.

One of my favourite books of all time.

I was not expecting this to be quite as much fun as it was. It was touching, it was gross, it was funny.

The whole thing was weirdly adorable. I'll be picking up more by this author for sure.

Unsatisfying. Somehow still very much worth reading.

Fun premise. Mediocre execution. Failed to stick the landing.

Shocking. Heart breaking. Seriously compelling stuff.

Deliciously dense. A slog in the best of all possible ways.

It started light and frothy. It didn't really grab me, but I was hungry for more Captive's War and this was all there was on the table at the time.

This book went places. It surprised me and it made me want to go back again someday to see if I could have spotted the nightmare inbound. What more could you really ask from a story this brief and streamlined?

Note: Despite any claims to the contrary, you can read this and Mercy of Gods (Captive's War #1) in any order.

Implausible. Pretentious. Just utter twaddle. I was furious with it by the end.