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4.34 AVERAGE
4.34 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The opening to this novel absolutely drew me in. It also confused the hell out of me. The world we are introduced to is definitely not the world Toby has been living in for the last sixteen novels. It's frankly brilliant though and as details start coming to light, it begins to make sense. I really liked the twists that McGuire was able to put on existing characters, who with a different set of memories behave in very different - yet foreseeable - ways. The characterisations of Quentin and Sylvester are particularly disturbing.
However, once the scene setting was out of the way, the novel started to fall apart. It's a lot of running around in circles, having the same discussions multiple times, getting captured and finding a way out, more running around in circles and nobody seems to have the sense of urgency that the events required. Like things need to happen now, why are you all sat around and just talking about it just in time to get captured again. It was... disappointing.
And because so much energy was spent in the middle section of the book with not a vast amount new happening, the ending was badly paced. What could have been a dramatic confrontation was relegated to a couple of pages, then wham, bam, thank you ma'am, we're onto the epilogue. Which also annoyed me. McGuire is usually excellent at showing and not telling, yet the epilogue was the complete opposite. It's very much a 'world is back to normal and let's run quickly through how all the characters now feel about it'. This could have been a heart-breaking and heart warming set of chapters, yet is reduced to what almost amounts to a line by line listing of 'how Quentin feels awful about that now, etc.'.
It doesn't help that the next novel is apparently the same darn timeline but from a different perspective. Nope, I absolutely had enough of the timeline in this perspective, I do not need another entire novel about it. Move on please. I think I'll be holding off on reading the next one until the next actual continuation of events is released. Thankfully, McGuire seems to release quite quickly, so I might not have to wait too long.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my free review copy of this title.
However, once the scene setting was out of the way, the novel started to fall apart. It's a lot of running around in circles, having the same discussions multiple times, getting captured and finding a way out, more running around in circles and nobody seems to have the sense of urgency that the events required. Like things need to happen now, why are you all sat around and just talking about it just in time to get captured again. It was... disappointing.
And because so much energy was spent in the middle section of the book with not a vast amount new happening, the ending was badly paced. What could have been a dramatic confrontation was relegated to a couple of pages, then wham, bam, thank you ma'am, we're onto the epilogue. Which also annoyed me. McGuire is usually excellent at showing and not telling, yet the epilogue was the complete opposite. It's very much a 'world is back to normal and let's run quickly through how all the characters now feel about it'. This could have been a heart-breaking and heart warming set of chapters, yet is reduced to what almost amounts to a line by line listing of 'how Quentin feels awful about that now, etc.'.
It doesn't help that the next novel is apparently the same darn timeline but from a different perspective. Nope, I absolutely had enough of the timeline in this perspective, I do not need another entire novel about it. Move on please. I think I'll be holding off on reading the next one until the next actual continuation of events is released. Thankfully, McGuire seems to release quite quickly, so I might not have to wait too long.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my free review copy of this title.
This was a fun time. It was really interesting to see what could have been, in a sense, even if it was depressingly Tybalt free for a while. Of course, these possibilities were also coupled with Titania's twisted ideal of the world, so it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. It was very compelling to watch that version of Toby deal with the revelations that were being thrown at her and meet all of my favorite characters again. I must admit, this brought back or talked about events from previous books that were rather hazy for me, so I'd like to do a full reread before rereading this next time. I also liked the short story at the end from Raysel's POV; it was interesting to see the world through her eyes and understand Overall, this was an excellent installment in the series and I'm glad that I finally read it (and in a moment where I could focus on it completely). 5 stars. As always, I look forward to the next one!
Spoiler
what happened when she and Dean were in (fake) Blind Michael's lands.
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
medium-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
It’s almost like we never met these characters and actually we haven’t. Queen Titania has rewritten the faerie world and no one can remember any other reality. Toby is the good, obedient, changeling daughter to Simon and Amandine and devoted and loving sister to August. Toby is happy, until she is requested to visit Dreamers Glass. This is where cousin April, part dryad part computer starts to unravel the riddle Titania has created.
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes