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bella_is_here's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
ammonoids's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I was confused the whole time, but I liked it. Fast-paced, half sci fi, half fantasy, all fun. The kind of book where I had to put it down and pace because I was so upset- and at the end, I still wasn't sure how I felt. McGuire has created a fascinating world, made of alchemists that create their own stories and the poor creatures that have to deal with the consequences. But the real stars are the characters, forced as they are to go through their lives- again, and again, until the stars align. Incredible. Loved it.
keen23's review against another edition
Declining to rate. I was unable to get into this book at all. I mean, Seanan McGuire writes about weird stuff, and usually it's delightfully weird. But this was just clunky weird. The rhythm and pacing of the book was just off.
diazepamreads's review against another edition
5.0
“You can't skip to the end of the story just because you're tired of being in the middle. You'd never survive.” - The overarching theme of my adolescence.
I loved every second of this novel. Flashes of reading The Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket in elementary school and falling in love with reading filled my thoughts as I devoured each page of McGuire's expert prose. It was gorgeously dark, complex, sarcastic, and wickedly witty. I could not put it down and feel empty now that it is done. MAN, this book was fantastic, and I am still in awe, completely consumed by it. This story is unlike most of the popular fiction I typically consume. And yet, I was instantly invested in the characters, magical plot, and writing. What an experience...
I loved every second of this novel. Flashes of reading The Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket in elementary school and falling in love with reading filled my thoughts as I devoured each page of McGuire's expert prose. It was gorgeously dark, complex, sarcastic, and wickedly witty. I could not put it down and feel empty now that it is done. MAN, this book was fantastic, and I am still in awe, completely consumed by it. This story is unlike most of the popular fiction I typically consume. And yet, I was instantly invested in the characters, magical plot, and writing. What an experience...
ebodi8pg's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
ellivdlinde's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
wxlamora's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
timinbc's review against another edition
1.0
Inside back cover: "she also writes darker fiction as Mira Grant". I read this right after the part where Leigh kills a family of five with a knife and some unexplained psychic power. What's darker? Making muffins out of the bodies?
I knew we were in trouble on page 29. The first time a character's eye colour is mentioned, and (fantasy readers, I know you're with me here) are they brown? blue? hazel? nooooo, they are good old gray.
Trouble got worse when I hit page 39 and saw "astrolabe" for what is obviously an orrery, a very different thing. You can't do that when you use the word for a CHAPTER TITLE!
So, we meet Roger and Dodger, and this was OK, except that it all felt quite familiar. I'm not going to look up which one, but it's certainly one of Rob Sawyer's multi-volume stories. It's OK, that can happen, it's not at all hard to imagine the ideas developing completely separately. It just felt odd to me, that's all.
Reed and Leigh. After a while I thought. "I am reading a graphic novel/comic in text format." I didn't notice whether Reed actually HAD mustachios, but he was sure twirling them, bwah-hah-hah! I gues it was important to McGuire's vision to have Reed and his creations be so utterly vicious, but it's not what I read books for. There's too much of that in real life, people wielding power simply because they can and they enjoy it, all the while marching toward an insane vision.
And so we develop, with one alchemist then another doing magical things in a magic system that isn't explained AT ALL, and I'm told there's even time travel later on. We're promised an Improbable Road and all kinds of stuff, and I'm so glad I came on here and learned that if they are ever explained it isn't in THIS book.
When I decided to DNF, it was because it was becoming clear - and I would be happy to be proven wrong on this - that Roger and Dodger are going to be horribly mistreated by this Bad Guy who's even more EEE-villlll than we thought, and it's going to be so unFAIR, and we're going to be told over and over again how powerful and unstoppable Reed is, and there's going to be a showdown, and R&D will finally realize their true power is Together (cue the choir) ....
Don't get me wrong; about half of SF/F uses some form of that plot, and I'm OK with it. But I need it to happen in a world that's been worked out and partly explained. This one leaves it way too open, because McGuire has not at all ruled out that Reed can snap his fingers and make 259 Mr-Smith-Men-in-Black copies of himself that can go invisible, fly and shoot death rays.
I don't care how weird your world is but you have to tell me about it and it has to have limits.
Yes, many people liked this, and good for them. I didn't say it was bad, just that I disliked it quite a lot.
I knew we were in trouble on page 29. The first time a character's eye colour is mentioned, and (fantasy readers, I know you're with me here) are they brown? blue? hazel? nooooo, they are good old gray.
Trouble got worse when I hit page 39 and saw "astrolabe" for what is obviously an orrery, a very different thing. You can't do that when you use the word for a CHAPTER TITLE!
So, we meet Roger and Dodger, and this was OK, except that it all felt quite familiar. I'm not going to look up which one, but it's certainly one of Rob Sawyer's multi-volume stories. It's OK, that can happen, it's not at all hard to imagine the ideas developing completely separately. It just felt odd to me, that's all.
Reed and Leigh. After a while I thought. "I am reading a graphic novel/comic in text format." I didn't notice whether Reed actually HAD mustachios, but he was sure twirling them, bwah-hah-hah! I gues it was important to McGuire's vision to have Reed and his creations be so utterly vicious, but it's not what I read books for. There's too much of that in real life, people wielding power simply because they can and they enjoy it, all the while marching toward an insane vision.
And so we develop, with one alchemist then another doing magical things in a magic system that isn't explained AT ALL, and I'm told there's even time travel later on. We're promised an Improbable Road and all kinds of stuff, and I'm so glad I came on here and learned that if they are ever explained it isn't in THIS book.
When I decided to DNF, it was because it was becoming clear - and I would be happy to be proven wrong on this - that Roger and Dodger are going to be horribly mistreated by this Bad Guy who's even more EEE-villlll than we thought, and it's going to be so unFAIR, and we're going to be told over and over again how powerful and unstoppable Reed is, and there's going to be a showdown, and R&D will finally realize their true power is Together (cue the choir) ....
Don't get me wrong; about half of SF/F uses some form of that plot, and I'm OK with it. But I need it to happen in a world that's been worked out and partly explained. This one leaves it way too open, because McGuire has not at all ruled out that Reed can snap his fingers and make 259 Mr-Smith-Men-in-Black copies of himself that can go invisible, fly and shoot death rays.
I don't care how weird your world is but you have to tell me about it and it has to have limits.
Yes, many people liked this, and good for them. I didn't say it was bad, just that I disliked it quite a lot.
annlouise's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5