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elusivity's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 STARS that I cannot justify rounding up to a 4
A typical Liz Williams work: solid world-building with interesting details, and good (even excellent) writing on a sentence-by-sentence, paragraph-by-paragraph basis. However.
She cannot create narrative tension for her life! Nor a real climax with an emotional "wowza!" that leaves you satisfied.
Herein are a myriad of story lines, of various levels of interest, involving a myriad of people. Each story, in and of itself, have the potential to fascinate. And the author chose to constantly inter-cut between them, snip, snip, thereby killing all sense of build-up and suspense. Just as things are STARTING to get good, snip, here comes some other meaningless segment in some other story. Now, if the snip came when things ARE good, that'd make for some fast page-turning... but not here.
Nevertheless, I recommend it for a casual read when you want to also relax your mind and meander off into the pale blue distance...
A typical Liz Williams work: solid world-building with interesting details, and good (even excellent) writing on a sentence-by-sentence, paragraph-by-paragraph basis. However.
She cannot create narrative tension for her life! Nor a real climax with an emotional "wowza!" that leaves you satisfied.
Herein are a myriad of story lines, of various levels of interest, involving a myriad of people. Each story, in and of itself, have the potential to fascinate. And the author chose to constantly inter-cut between them, snip, snip, thereby killing all sense of build-up and suspense. Just as things are STARTING to get good, snip, here comes some other meaningless segment in some other story. Now, if the snip came when things ARE good, that'd make for some fast page-turning... but not here.
Nevertheless, I recommend it for a casual read when you want to also relax your mind and meander off into the pale blue distance...
catbooking's review against another edition
4.0
There were some issues, but nothing really problematic that made me want to quit reading. The setting and the conflicts were pretty unique, not your usual vampires and werewolves. I found the demon character to be much more interesting than the protagonist, but that is OK it doesn't look like he is going anywhere.
I was really pleased to find that the protagonist is married. This would at least limit the sexy widows coming to him to help them find their husband's killer, that seem to be so common in urban fantasy books.
China Singapore being the setting was nice. I cannot speak to the accuracy of representation, but I don't think there was anything problematic. If anyone knows better they can correct me. I fully intend to keep reading the series, at least until I get bored of it.
I was really pleased to find that the protagonist is married. This would at least limit the sexy widows coming to him to help them find their husband's killer, that seem to be so common in urban fantasy books.
cassandrat's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
I really wish that I liked this book more, but the writing style wasn't for me. I liked the bureaucratic Chinese hell (that I recently learned about at the Asian Art Museum), and most of the characters. In general, I am a sucker for a supernatural PI story (and demons). The author has some humor: No Ro Shin ends up kicked out of hell puzzled at the end, which was funny but also puzzling because we were following his story randomly for little return other than this one gag Nevertheless, some dialogue didn't seem to fit the story or character. The world building was a little clunky in exposition, explaining things a bit unevenly, too much here and not enough there. There were a couple points when I felt like the author lost the thread. No Ro Shin just stops hunting demons at the end? Inari I guess just has burning feet. Chen knows Fan is a goddes and recognizes her but then is surprised? and other dropped plot points I forget. The main character is a bit dull, and I was mostly interested in every other characters' chapters. Also, there seemed to be a lot of sex crime in this book. The book is maybe darker than it means to be.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Trafficking
ginnikin's review against another edition
What it does it does well, but what it does does nothing for me. :/
A really fascinating world, though.
A really fascinating world, though.
markmtz's review against another edition
4.0
An intriguing set of characters and a nice setup for a series.
chrispyschaller's review against another edition
3.0
Fun blend of ghost story and detective novel gets a little bogged down in hell.
dlmoldovan's review against another edition
4.0
A spellbinding read from start to finish. Great blend of Chinese mythology and theology. Characters were well developed, and the premise of the story was an interesting spin on a police procedural in a fantasy setting. Will definitely continue with the series.
eak1013's review against another edition
3.0
Such a wonderful, intriguing concept - non-Western SF/mystery blended with non-Christian religious archetypes! - hampered by Williams's weirdly bloodless characters. I felt the same way about the other, non-Detective Inspector Chen novel I read of hers, and there's just nothing for me to grasp with the characters. They slip through my head and disappear into her really fascinating worldbuilding. I almost aggressively don't care about any of them, either like or dislike, and wanting to know more about the world she has constructed is what keeps the page turning for me, not the plot or the characters. Alas.
old_tim's review against another edition
4.0
Great fun, original setting.
http://fedpeaches.blogspot.com/2013/10/hell-isnt-other-people-its-forms-lines.html
http://fedpeaches.blogspot.com/2013/10/hell-isnt-other-people-its-forms-lines.html
bellatora's review against another edition
2.0
A noir detective novel set in a China that's rich with demons and other aspects of Chinese mythology should be right up my alley.
I was bored out of my mind.
Detective Inspector Chen is the typical brilliant but outcast cop. He's getting tired, and his colleagues don't respect him. While on a case investigating the stolen souls of young girls, Detective Chen gets his buddy cop pairing of Zhu Irzh, a demon "infected" with a conscience. There's forces both earthly and supernatural which are trying to halt the investigation (in this world, The Ten Courts of Hell are real places that can be visited and interact with the human world).
Chen is also dealing with the aftermath of his star-crossed love with a demon, Inari. Chen and Inari managed to run away together and get married, but now she's a fugitive and is getting restless hiding in the house. Her family's familiar who keeps her company is the only thing I really loved in the book - the familiar sometimes takes the form of a teakettle, sometimes a badger, and I find that somehow incredibly adorable.
The typical noir tropes in a fantastical Chinese setting really should work. But it was confusing, frustrating, and the plot just dragged.
I was bored out of my mind.
Detective Inspector Chen is the typical brilliant but outcast cop. He's getting tired, and his colleagues don't respect him. While on a case investigating the stolen souls of young girls, Detective Chen gets his buddy cop pairing of Zhu Irzh, a demon "infected" with a conscience. There's forces both earthly and supernatural which are trying to halt the investigation (in this world, The Ten Courts of Hell are real places that can be visited and interact with the human world).
Chen is also dealing with the aftermath of his star-crossed love with a demon, Inari. Chen and Inari managed to run away together and get married, but now she's a fugitive and is getting restless hiding in the house. Her family's familiar who keeps her company is the only thing I really loved in the book - the familiar sometimes takes the form of a teakettle, sometimes a badger, and I find that somehow incredibly adorable.
The typical noir tropes in a fantastical Chinese setting really should work. But it was confusing, frustrating, and the plot just dragged.