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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
.. I loved the characters in this book! Each character has a lovely defined voice so there’s no having to try and work out who’s speaking or doing anything. The flow of this book was just lovely. I was enchanted by Harley from the get-go. This is definitely a good read
I highly enjoyed this book it is a great start to an interesting series. I really liked the characters especially Harley and Wade they have an interesting relationship that could at some point change to how it is currently. I also really liked how Harley wants to be independent and I like that she is not a high school student. I really liked the plot it starts out with a young woman using her powers to find cheaters in a casino and it moved on to finding out about magic and many other very interesting things along the way. So overall I really liked this book and will continue the series at some point.
Cracking good romp
I thoroughly enjoyed this. Engaging heroine in Harley with an interesting supporting cast. I'm looking forward to reading more. 😃
I thoroughly enjoyed this. Engaging heroine in Harley with an interesting supporting cast. I'm looking forward to reading more. 😃
I enjoyed this book. I really liked it because even though these characters are "magicals", they are super relatable. Which makes it more enjoyable to read.
First 3rd failed to engage as it was too much info dump and set up. I may not have continued had it not been a book club read and that would have been a shame as shortly after that 1/3 way point things became lots more interesting with Harley being part of the team dealing with the gargoyle breakouts and the story flowed more naturally and we were spared the info dump. I did like Harley's sass and how she gave as good as she got and didn't put up with any disrespect. Not sure about Wade yet as his elitist attitude and superiority complex can be a bit annoying yet they are also inconsistent. Will have to wait and see.
Another uneven book from one of those indy authors who push out impossible amounts of books per year (probably through being a shared pen-name or using multiple ghostwriters). This practice generally feels pretty predatory when not done openly, and even when it is, it inflates the number of books sold by a single author and artificially makes them seem more popular than they actually are. Despite that, I decided to give this series a chance. Whoever the actual author of Harley Merlin is, the release frequency is just low enough to make it plausible enough that it's a single author and thus a consistent story with at least somewhat even quality.
Usually, these "publish fast, publish a lot" series suffer from teething issues and do get better from book 2 or 3, once the revisions to the world-building that should've been done for the first book come through as dropped themes and subtle retcons*. For that reason, I'll keep reading the series and give this book a preliminary 3 instead of the 2 I think it deserved on its own merits. If it doesn't pick up I will revise this down though. (EDIT: Yup, revised it down, this is terrible.)
*Then, after a first arc, they tend to go downhill again, but that's a later issue.
Harley isn't my favorite UF heroine, but neither is she close to the worst I've read, basically, she's pretty average as characters go. I like the independent ex-foster kid archetype, though I've recently read a much more interesting interpretation that made Harley seem bland in comparison. She does have a ridiculous non-magical Mary-Sue chapter at the end though, where Spoiler she is the only one to remember, and with 10 seconds thought after just waking up from what was essentially a medically induced coma, that Adley transferred from the LA coven? Basically, anyone should've been able to make that argument before her, and better, and without her extremely disgraced name tied to it.. I like the idea that Harley is both exceptionally versatile in her powers, but also "Mediocre" (though the idea that "Mediocre" would be the official term totally breaks immersion, since it's so unbelievable). I suspect that's going to change and she'll be revealed as uniquely powerful soon, but one can hope.
The story is actually pretty good. I like the threat, the investigation, the mystery of Harley's past, etc. The world-building and how the story is connected to it is pretty ridiculous though, and very juvenile even for YA. Young Adult is still ADULT, but the points system for covens make it feel like middle school. That's in no way helped by the schoolyard antics and the conflict between "the rich kids" and "the misfits". I understand why the author felt the need to repeat numerous times that the coven is not a school because the story definitely makes it seem like a school. The magical authorities felt slapped on and not very fleshed out, but I guess the author is sprinkling story threads to pull on in the future. There were a lot of characters with weird traits and relationships that were probably only there so they can be used further down the line.
Another spoiler here, about the Big Bad Evil Guy and Harley's background: Spoiler I didn't buy the "We all know Katherine Shipton is the BBEG" thing one bit. As far as anyone knows, Hiram Merlin was the true monster, and Katherine Shipton was at worst portrayed as his sidekick. We only have Harley's feelings and a single cryptic comment from Finch saying that she was the true BBEG. We also only have the ramblings of a clearly deranged mommy's boy to indicate she's the BBEG now, but apparently, everyone accepts it as gospel for no reason other than plot convenience. Actually, Leonidas raises an objectively good point when he questions Harley's reliability. As an empath, she would be a perfect manipulator, and the perfect agent for Katherine if she is the BBEG. I suspect that we'll learn that Hiram was basically innocent and that he was magically framed by Katherine in what will be an argument for why the death penalty is even more stupid in a magical world, where evidence- and mind manipulation would be so easy, than it is in the real world. But maybe the author will surprise me?
I must admit that my experience was probably biased by the book starting with one of my pet peeves: Repeating a common myth or misunderstanding as fact and building on that. Like the "you're only using 10% of your brain" BS. In this case, it's talking about Card Counting as synonymous with cheating at gambling and something the cops will arrest you for, during a POKER GAME. Yes, I realize that California is weird and does, uniquely, criminalize Card Counting, in BLACKJACK. I also realize that Harley is looking for all types of cheating, and the actually portrayed instance of cheating is not Card Counting. Card Counting itself is just applying mental math to card-based games of chance and, when called cheating, almost exclusively refers to Blackjack.**
**Playing poker well is about two things, psychology, and mental statistics, i.e. COUNTING CARDS. It's literally a necessary part of the game. It's not cheating. Card Counting supposedly being cheating in any moral sense is a myth reinforced by the casino industry. That some jurisdictions allow casinos to eject and ban gamblers for playing Blackjack too well and cutting into their profits is morally suspect at best, and that California actually and uniquely criminalizes it is insane (just pay the native tribes reparations FFS, instead of creating a weird set of gambling laws that favors tribal casinos). Ironically, the one jurisdiction in the US that has gone in the opposite direction, forbidding casinos from ejecting and banning good players, is Atlantic F***ing City.
Essentially, the author seems to be using Card Counting as a synonym for cheating, which is wrong on multiple levels. It's especially galling since the less specific word "cheating" works just as well in the context. This isn't as bad as the author who kept using "the Spanish Inquisition" as synonymous with "Witch Hunts" throughout a whole book, but it still irritates me and I had to get it off my chest somewhere.
Usually, these "publish fast, publish a lot" series suffer from teething issues and do get better from book 2 or 3, once the revisions to the world-building that should've been done for the first book come through as dropped themes and subtle retcons*. For that reason, I'll keep reading the series and give this book a preliminary 3 instead of the 2 I think it deserved on its own merits. If it doesn't pick up I will revise this down though. (EDIT: Yup, revised it down, this is terrible.)
*Then, after a first arc, they tend to go downhill again, but that's a later issue.
Harley isn't my favorite UF heroine, but neither is she close to the worst I've read, basically, she's pretty average as characters go. I like the independent ex-foster kid archetype, though I've recently read a much more interesting interpretation that made Harley seem bland in comparison. She does have a ridiculous non-magical Mary-Sue chapter at the end though, where Spoiler she is the only one to remember, and with 10 seconds thought after just waking up from what was essentially a medically induced coma, that Adley transferred from the LA coven? Basically, anyone should've been able to make that argument before her, and better, and without her extremely disgraced name tied to it.. I like the idea that Harley is both exceptionally versatile in her powers, but also "Mediocre" (though the idea that "Mediocre" would be the official term totally breaks immersion, since it's so unbelievable). I suspect that's going to change and she'll be revealed as uniquely powerful soon, but one can hope.
The story is actually pretty good. I like the threat, the investigation, the mystery of Harley's past, etc. The world-building and how the story is connected to it is pretty ridiculous though, and very juvenile even for YA. Young Adult is still ADULT, but the points system for covens make it feel like middle school. That's in no way helped by the schoolyard antics and the conflict between "the rich kids" and "the misfits". I understand why the author felt the need to repeat numerous times that the coven is not a school because the story definitely makes it seem like a school. The magical authorities felt slapped on and not very fleshed out, but I guess the author is sprinkling story threads to pull on in the future. There were a lot of characters with weird traits and relationships that were probably only there so they can be used further down the line.
Another spoiler here, about the Big Bad Evil Guy and Harley's background: Spoiler I didn't buy the "We all know Katherine Shipton is the BBEG" thing one bit. As far as anyone knows, Hiram Merlin was the true monster, and Katherine Shipton was at worst portrayed as his sidekick. We only have Harley's feelings and a single cryptic comment from Finch saying that she was the true BBEG. We also only have the ramblings of a clearly deranged mommy's boy to indicate she's the BBEG now, but apparently, everyone accepts it as gospel for no reason other than plot convenience. Actually, Leonidas raises an objectively good point when he questions Harley's reliability. As an empath, she would be a perfect manipulator, and the perfect agent for Katherine if she is the BBEG. I suspect that we'll learn that Hiram was basically innocent and that he was magically framed by Katherine in what will be an argument for why the death penalty is even more stupid in a magical world, where evidence- and mind manipulation would be so easy, than it is in the real world. But maybe the author will surprise me?
I must admit that my experience was probably biased by the book starting with one of my pet peeves: Repeating a common myth or misunderstanding as fact and building on that. Like the "you're only using 10% of your brain" BS. In this case, it's talking about Card Counting as synonymous with cheating at gambling and something the cops will arrest you for, during a POKER GAME. Yes, I realize that California is weird and does, uniquely, criminalize Card Counting, in BLACKJACK. I also realize that Harley is looking for all types of cheating, and the actually portrayed instance of cheating is not Card Counting. Card Counting itself is just applying mental math to card-based games of chance and, when called cheating, almost exclusively refers to Blackjack.**
**Playing poker well is about two things, psychology, and mental statistics, i.e. COUNTING CARDS. It's literally a necessary part of the game. It's not cheating. Card Counting supposedly being cheating in any moral sense is a myth reinforced by the casino industry. That some jurisdictions allow casinos to eject and ban gamblers for playing Blackjack too well and cutting into their profits is morally suspect at best, and that California actually and uniquely criminalizes it is insane (just pay the native tribes reparations FFS, instead of creating a weird set of gambling laws that favors tribal casinos). Ironically, the one jurisdiction in the US that has gone in the opposite direction, forbidding casinos from ejecting and banning good players, is Atlantic F***ing City.
Essentially, the author seems to be using Card Counting as a synonym for cheating, which is wrong on multiple levels. It's especially galling since the less specific word "cheating" works just as well in the context. This isn't as bad as the author who kept using "the Spanish Inquisition" as synonymous with "Witch Hunts" throughout a whole book, but it still irritates me and I had to get it off my chest somewhere.
I was really disappointed that I couldn't finish this book because it was recommend to me by someone who loved it and usually enjoys the same books as me - but I just felt too much second-hand embarrassment from the main character and didn't love the world building. I felt like it was dragging and I kept putting it down and trying to pick it back up again, but each time it was like I was forcing myself so I finally had to give up.