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greystory's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
fast-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? It's complicated
5.0
Short, fun, quirky little urban fantasy involving a murder mystery, three unlikely supernatural allies investigating the murder, and a street smart orphan who becomes their "human pet." It was weirdly wholesome despite the murder and gore. Pet is very humorous and lends a lot of lightheartedness to the serious fae and vampire. Already queued up the rest of the series so I'll be ripping through it this week.
UPDATE 02/16/2024
Finished the whole 10 book series. Once I started reading, I burned through the whole series in 11 days. I couldn't put it down!
Here's a non-exhaustive list of some of the things I enjoyed about the series without giving away spoilers:
* Mystery plot specific to each book
* Overarching mysteries and questions that span multiple books or the whole series
* Usually these were paranormal murder mysteries with political machinations
* Found family trope
* Emotional support vampire
* Emotionally stunted character learns to Deal with Feelings (tm)
* Excellent character development
* Excellent worldbuilding
* Unusual use of some common paranormal races (e.g. zombie that doesn't want to eat brains, pouty skeleton, wheelchair-bound techie merman)
* Some surprises I expected all along but had been thrown off a bit
* Some surprises I didn't see coming
* Slowest of slow burn romances, very cute
* Humor threaded in with the gravity of the grisly situations they were often dealing with
* Furiously knitting to avoid problems
I listened to the audiobooks and I really enjoyed the narration by Zehra Jane Naqvi. The way she did the audio for some characters, like Pet and JinYeong, really fed into my appreciation of the characters. Occasionally some minor side characters sounded too similar to others and it would be a tad confusing to hear at first, but I was willing to let it go because it usually made sense in context and this has a decent sized cast (like over a dozen characters) that she voiced herself.
I've never wanted to drink coffee so much in my life as I did while listening to this.
UPDATE 02/16/2024
Finished the whole 10 book series. Once I started reading, I burned through the whole series in 11 days. I couldn't put it down!
Here's a non-exhaustive list of some of the things I enjoyed about the series without giving away spoilers:
* Mystery plot specific to each book
* Overarching mysteries and questions that span multiple books or the whole series
* Usually these were paranormal murder mysteries with political machinations
* Found family trope
* Emotional support vampire
* Emotionally stunted character learns to Deal with Feelings (tm)
* Excellent character development
* Excellent worldbuilding
* Unusual use of some common paranormal races (e.g. zombie that doesn't want to eat brains, pouty skeleton, wheelchair-bound techie merman)
* Some surprises I expected all along but had been thrown off a bit
* Some surprises I didn't see coming
* Slowest of slow burn romances, very cute
* Humor threaded in with the gravity of the grisly situations they were often dealing with
* Furiously knitting to avoid problems
I listened to the audiobooks and I really enjoyed the narration by Zehra Jane Naqvi. The way she did the audio for some characters, like Pet and JinYeong, really fed into my appreciation of the characters. Occasionally some minor side characters sounded too similar to others and it would be a tad confusing to hear at first, but I was willing to let it go because it usually made sense in context and this has a decent sized cast (like over a dozen characters) that she voiced herself.
I've never wanted to drink coffee so much in my life as I did while listening to this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Blood
Moderate: Gore, Murder, Violence, and Vomit
Minor: Gaslighting and Stalking
cacia's review
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
I don't usually go in for vampires, or fae lords, or urban fantasy, or grisly murders, but Gingell's other work (and some City Between one-shots on her blog, which gave me a taste of the personalities of the leather-jacket-clad ice-and-silver fae lord, the elegantly homicidal and perennially amused fae steward, and the Korean vampire with the hauteur, childishness, fashion sense, and pulchritude of a K-drama chaebol) made me confident enough and curious enough to give this a try.
I am delighted by all three of them, fae blood and vampirism notwithstanding, and I love the Pet's moxie and sass and how she can take on each of them in their own way. Athelas may find fascinating the Pet's effect on JinYeong's psychopathy, but <i>I</i> am fascinated by her effect on all three of them. I am also fascinated by how various tropes, such as the Sexy Vampire, are subverted or deconstructed here, and I'm curious to see how these things develop over the course of the series.
Because, yes, I'm going to read the entire series. Before I had even finished this book, I bought the second and third books in the series, and books four through eleven (plus the two side stories) are now on my wishlist. I have a few inklings about the fae politics running under the surface here, and there are several other plot threads that I have my suspicions about too — I can't wait to see where this goes.
I am delighted by all three of them, fae blood and vampirism notwithstanding, and I love the Pet's moxie and sass and how she can take on each of them in their own way. Athelas may find fascinating the Pet's effect on JinYeong's psychopathy, but <i>I</i> am fascinated by her effect on all three of them. I am also fascinated by how various tropes, such as the Sexy Vampire, are subverted or deconstructed here, and I'm curious to see how these things develop over the course of the series.
Because, yes, I'm going to read the entire series. Before I had even finished this book, I bought the second and third books in the series, and books four through eleven (plus the two side stories) are now on my wishlist. I have a few inklings about the fae politics running under the surface here, and there are several other plot threads that I have my suspicions about too — I can't wait to see where this goes.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Death, Gore, and Murder
Minor: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Injury/Injury detail
heapofhay's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, Gore, and Murder
Moderate: Blood and Death of parent
Minor: Injury/Injury detail
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