City of Nightmares

I picked this one up based on a recommendation and also thought it would be a good book for the autumn/Halloween season, expecting it to give a certain creep factor or at least some spooky vibes. I don't think that is what this book is though. In and of itself, that is not a bad thing. My expectations on that front were disappointing, but that's not the book's fault. I feel this book falls more into macabre superheroes than horror or gothic - which is what I was looking for. It never really creeped me out, even in the atmospheric way, however, it was engaging enough for me to plow through it quite quickly and enjoy the base of the story. The pace certainly kept me turning pages. It really could have used a bit of polishing. The overuse of ‘sighing' at the beginning - she sighed, he sighed, sighed, sighed, sighed grated after awhile and there were a few other places where I felt the writing could have used some refining. It pulled me out of the story a few times, to be honest. Having said that, I do think it is pretty unique. I don't think I've read anything like it and there is some good world-building, even if it's not super fleshed out. I didn't click really well with the characters, especially the main character Ness. While I get that she's a grey character, there were times I almost disliked her more than liked her. I understand her need for growth, and that does happen, but in the end she continues her rather disconcerting selfishness that comes across as more childish and almost egomaniacal. Maybe this is a personal thing on my part, but it did detract from my overall enjoyment of the book because I didn't really care about her. Is it a horrible book? No definitely not, but was it fantastic? No, it wasn't that either. I enjoyed it as a time passer, but I don't think it will stick with me beyond that.