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squirrelsohno's review
3.0
The back of EYES TO SEE promises a lot. A scary, thrilling, dark urban fantasy novel that will leave you wanting the lights on while you sleep. For me, it didn’t quite reach that level. With 275 pages of buildup to a climax that was extremely convenient, EYES TO SEE doesn’t live up to the aspirations I had for it when going in. It’s a decent beginning to a new urban fantasy series for adults, particularly fans of THE DRESDEN FILES and CSI, but it could have been so much better.
EYES TO SEE is the story of a former Harvard classics professor named Jeremiah Hunt whose daughter is kidnapped without a trace. His wife leaves him, he loses himself in the process, and he finally performs a ritual that allows him to gain the ability to see ghosts, among other supernatural beings that inhabit Boston. The goal is simple – he wants to find his daughter. Five years have passed since she went missing, and a string of murders has given him the break he needs to find the killer. Except now he needs help.
The biggest asset of this novel is great world-building. From ghosts to witches to Norse legends, everything is covered, and it’s covered well. Nassise’s imagination is given a chance to flourish here, combining together myths, legends, and real stories well to create a
For the first 275 pages, the story is fine. It moves along at a nice rate, there is plenty of interesting world-building to keep you enticed, and there is nothing particularly wrong about this. Yes, the narrator can be hard to connect with (his daughter’s disappearance made him almost insane), and the POV changes did throw me off a bit. The story switches between first person past in the now and in the past, in addition to third person POVs from the villain and two other characters. If the story had stayed with Hunt, I think the narrative would have been tighter and less spastic. The way it was, I enjoyed it, but it could have been better.
I think one of the problems I had with it was the fact that the beginning was great, but the story went downhill from there. By the time we reached the climax and the big reveals and the conclusion, it felt too contrived, too convenient. When mixed together with plodding pacing during action scenes, where Hunt stopped in the middle of the narrative to suddenly piece together clues in long monologues, it slowed things down and squandered what could have been an amazing ending. Nassise clearly has the ability to craft a great urban fantasy novel, but somehow EYES TO SEE ended up being nowhere near as amazing as it could have been. Yes, it was a good novel. Yes, I would recommend it to fans of Jim Butcher and procedural urban fantasy novels. But I think it could have been a lot better. It was definitely a four star until the climax took the story down a notch.
VERDICT: Amazing world-building and the author's burgeoning imagination are letdown by little emotional connection and a flat climax that seemed too convenient to be plausible. Still, if you like urban fantasy with a male protagonist, it's worth a look.
EYES TO SEE is the story of a former Harvard classics professor named Jeremiah Hunt whose daughter is kidnapped without a trace. His wife leaves him, he loses himself in the process, and he finally performs a ritual that allows him to gain the ability to see ghosts, among other supernatural beings that inhabit Boston. The goal is simple – he wants to find his daughter. Five years have passed since she went missing, and a string of murders has given him the break he needs to find the killer. Except now he needs help.
The biggest asset of this novel is great world-building. From ghosts to witches to Norse legends, everything is covered, and it’s covered well. Nassise’s imagination is given a chance to flourish here, combining together myths, legends, and real stories well to create a
For the first 275 pages, the story is fine. It moves along at a nice rate, there is plenty of interesting world-building to keep you enticed, and there is nothing particularly wrong about this. Yes, the narrator can be hard to connect with (his daughter’s disappearance made him almost insane), and the POV changes did throw me off a bit. The story switches between first person past in the now and in the past, in addition to third person POVs from the villain and two other characters. If the story had stayed with Hunt, I think the narrative would have been tighter and less spastic. The way it was, I enjoyed it, but it could have been better.
I think one of the problems I had with it was the fact that the beginning was great, but the story went downhill from there. By the time we reached the climax and the big reveals and the conclusion, it felt too contrived, too convenient. When mixed together with plodding pacing during action scenes, where Hunt stopped in the middle of the narrative to suddenly piece together clues in long monologues, it slowed things down and squandered what could have been an amazing ending. Nassise clearly has the ability to craft a great urban fantasy novel, but somehow EYES TO SEE ended up being nowhere near as amazing as it could have been. Yes, it was a good novel. Yes, I would recommend it to fans of Jim Butcher and procedural urban fantasy novels. But I think it could have been a lot better. It was definitely a four star until the climax took the story down a notch.
VERDICT: Amazing world-building and the author's burgeoning imagination are letdown by little emotional connection and a flat climax that seemed too convenient to be plausible. Still, if you like urban fantasy with a male protagonist, it's worth a look.
johnbreeden's review
4.0
Honestly, I was ready to write this book off at the beginning. The character just didn't suite me and I didn't feel it working for me. I'm glad I didn't give up. The story flowed so well, especially compared to a book I had just finished. Looking forward to seeing more growth of the character.
jocyvondoom's review
3.0
I read this book previously two summers ago and about a year later I bout the sequels and this summer I plan to finish the series so I re read it. The problem with letting yourself not buy books for a while sucks so I re read it and really enjoyed it again, without a doubt continuing the trilogy and will probably enjoy it now a lot more.
greyhart's review
2.0
Urban fantasy mystery detective thing. Overall entertaining affair with not unlikeable characters. But the mystery was easy to see. And the whole police arrest part was a bit like a cringy Benny Hill segment and could've benefited from being dropped altogether. I'll continue reading the series.
thinde's review
3.0
I didn't find Jeremiah to be a particularly sympathetic protagonist. Nor could I understand the financial magic that sustained his obsession and lifestyle.
For urban fantasy, this story ticks most of the boxes. I wasn't persuaded by the lack of realism in both police procedures and Jeremiah's inconsistent level of expertise in supernatural mythology. This is one of those, "all myths have some basis in truth" settings. Thus we can expect a variety of monsters to appear in future books. No clue yet if there is a common thread that holds it all together.
The ending was decent. By promising a team-based sequel it has captured my interest. I won't be rushing to continue, but maybe...
For urban fantasy, this story ticks most of the boxes. I wasn't persuaded by the lack of realism in both police procedures and Jeremiah's inconsistent level of expertise in supernatural mythology. This is one of those, "all myths have some basis in truth" settings. Thus we can expect a variety of monsters to appear in future books. No clue yet if there is a common thread that holds it all together.
The ending was decent. By promising a team-based sequel it has captured my interest. I won't be rushing to continue, but maybe...
stewie's review against another edition
4.0
Joseph Nassise's site promises this the first in a series. I certainly hope so.
You can read my full review at HorrorTalk.com.
You can read my full review at HorrorTalk.com.
patrick6367's review against another edition
2.0
I actually read 66% of this book before I just put it down and wandered off forever. I just never liked or empathized with the protagonist. Frankly he was a jerk and I wasn't feeling the love. The romantic interest felt flat too. Just wasn't anything here that compelled me to finish the book and so I decided to move on to something more enjoyable.
drey72's review against another edition
4.0
drey’s thoughts:
Fans of Harry Dresden will like Jeremiah Hunt. Unlike Harry, Jeremiah is blind, has no magical powers, and can barely function in normal society. What he can do is see ghosts – and make them go away. And like Harry, he helps the police – in Boston – whenever he can. This new series of murders are perplexing though, and the perpetrator leaves plenty of clues to intrigue and confuse Jeremiah.
I like Joseph Nassise’s storytelling in Eyes to See. Jeremiah’s history is told in flashbacks – chapters titled “Then” vs. “Now” – and show us the heartache and loss he faced when his daughter went missing. The plot was suitably intriguing and engrossing. The ending was not quite what I was looking for, but I can’t have everything, can I? Even so, I am looking forward to see where Jeremiah’s journey takes him next.
This is a very well-written dark and gritty urban fantasy. Fans will love this and clamor for more.
drey’s rating: Excellent!
Fans of Harry Dresden will like Jeremiah Hunt. Unlike Harry, Jeremiah is blind, has no magical powers, and can barely function in normal society. What he can do is see ghosts – and make them go away. And like Harry, he helps the police – in Boston – whenever he can. This new series of murders are perplexing though, and the perpetrator leaves plenty of clues to intrigue and confuse Jeremiah.
I like Joseph Nassise’s storytelling in Eyes to See. Jeremiah’s history is told in flashbacks – chapters titled “Then” vs. “Now” – and show us the heartache and loss he faced when his daughter went missing. The plot was suitably intriguing and engrossing. The ending was not quite what I was looking for, but I can’t have everything, can I? Even so, I am looking forward to see where Jeremiah’s journey takes him next.
This is a very well-written dark and gritty urban fantasy. Fans will love this and clamor for more.
drey’s rating: Excellent!
ril_amber's review against another edition
1.0
No. Just no. This was not particularly well-written, painfully boring, inconsistent in terms of use of magic, and the characters did nothing to compensate author's disgustingly condescending approach to the cultures he used in the world-building, as well as blatant victim-blaming and misogyny, AND use of all the worst tropes you could think of in this kind of book. It feels like it was written by a teenage boy and in not in any impressive way, because I heard Eragon at least was good.