Scan barcode
kellswitch's review
3.0
A very interesting book, and I enjoyed the premise. I'm interested in reading the first in the series now and seeing where they take this idea in the future.
It was dark but not overwhelming so and while magic was a huge part of the story, it was used quite subtly and was never overwhelming, it felt quite practical and believable.
However, for a story set in New Orleans, the city itself never felt real, it could almost have been set ANYWHERE and was just labeled New Orleans.
Also the characters were never quite fleshed out, though that isn't necessarily a detraction. They served the story quite well as is and to me it felt as if that was what they were there for, not to be fully fleshed out people, but to simply propel the story forward and give a reason for it to be told.
I'm reading the first of the Hidden City books next, and look forward to future editions. It will be interesting to see what cities they focus on.
It was dark but not overwhelming so and while magic was a huge part of the story, it was used quite subtly and was never overwhelming, it felt quite practical and believable.
However, for a story set in New Orleans, the city itself never felt real, it could almost have been set ANYWHERE and was just labeled New Orleans.
Also the characters were never quite fleshed out, though that isn't necessarily a detraction. They served the story quite well as is and to me it felt as if that was what they were there for, not to be fully fleshed out people, but to simply propel the story forward and give a reason for it to be told.
I'm reading the first of the Hidden City books next, and look forward to future editions. It will be interesting to see what cities they focus on.
expendablemudge's review
3.0
Okay. Here's the deal: You get to go back in time to fix the worst, awfulest thing you've ever experienced. You have to go through some rancid goo to get there, and it will stick to you. But you get to change something that's shredding your insides every day of your life.
Do you do it? Who could resist, right?
After reading this book, I'd say you'd hesitate a good long while before answering. Change comes only at a price. Prices have a way of changing, even though you think you know what they are. Ever bid on something at an auction? Do you honestly think for an instant about the commission, the taxes, the shipping, the added insurance, that winning the auction will entail?
No you don't, and don't lie, it's not nice.
Max the forty-year-old falls in love with Gabrielle the nineteen-year-old. (Ewww, right?) She loves him right back, passionately and completely. Right up until she screws another man and Max walks in on it.
Oh, poor duped oldster. Sniff boo hoo, at least you got some nineteen-year-old...uhhh, well. So what do you do? Run away, go home, leave your job in New Orleans to go back to (grim, unpleasantly stuffy) Boston.
Four months before Katrina. Which kills Gabrielle.
And back comes Max to bury the woman he loves, the woman he'd do anything at all to save, to rescue, to ask "why?" of (and the answer is never, ever one you want to hear, why do people insist on asking it?). He meets Ray, a old man with a proposition: Follow this map of moments, this guided tour of New Orleans's magical history, and you'll land up at a Moment where you can save Gabrielle's life! She'll be alive! Isn't that what you want, Max?
Oh, be careful what you ask for lest the answer be yes...for getting what we ask for isn't always (ever, in my actual experience) for the (personal) best. Max gets a chance to see the hidden magic that sustains New Orleans, and he gets to put right some very basic wrongs, and the price he pays is breathtakingly high.
And I will bet you large sums of money that he'd do it all again. He's that kind of a guy. It's the reason I liked spending my rainy, gloomy Friday with him, and I'll bet you would too.
Do you do it? Who could resist, right?
After reading this book, I'd say you'd hesitate a good long while before answering. Change comes only at a price. Prices have a way of changing, even though you think you know what they are. Ever bid on something at an auction? Do you honestly think for an instant about the commission, the taxes, the shipping, the added insurance, that winning the auction will entail?
No you don't, and don't lie, it's not nice.
Max the forty-year-old falls in love with Gabrielle the nineteen-year-old. (Ewww, right?) She loves him right back, passionately and completely. Right up until she screws another man and Max walks in on it.
Oh, poor duped oldster. Sniff boo hoo, at least you got some nineteen-year-old...uhhh, well. So what do you do? Run away, go home, leave your job in New Orleans to go back to (grim, unpleasantly stuffy) Boston.
Four months before Katrina. Which kills Gabrielle.
And back comes Max to bury the woman he loves, the woman he'd do anything at all to save, to rescue, to ask "why?" of (and the answer is never, ever one you want to hear, why do people insist on asking it?). He meets Ray, a old man with a proposition: Follow this map of moments, this guided tour of New Orleans's magical history, and you'll land up at a Moment where you can save Gabrielle's life! She'll be alive! Isn't that what you want, Max?
Oh, be careful what you ask for lest the answer be yes...for getting what we ask for isn't always (ever, in my actual experience) for the (personal) best. Max gets a chance to see the hidden magic that sustains New Orleans, and he gets to put right some very basic wrongs, and the price he pays is breathtakingly high.
And I will bet you large sums of money that he'd do it all again. He's that kind of a guy. It's the reason I liked spending my rainy, gloomy Friday with him, and I'll bet you would too.
bookswithscrump's review
1.0
This book took me forever to read and really felt like a slog to get through, but if you ask me why it felt that way, I couldn't tell you. The premise was really intriguing and it was a shorter book, but something fell very flat for me and I couldn't wait to finish it (which I only did due to a reading challenge).
More...