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amandacole's review against another edition
4.0
Originally posted on Desert Island Book Reviews
I loved this! Between Two Thorns is such a unique and creative urban fantasy, full of interesting characters and stories. The drama unfolds at a great pace within the book, with new tidbits being revealed through each set of characters throughout. It has a little something for everyone, from political intrigue and investigating crimes to magic, faeries, and romance.
Cathy was such a great character. I loved that she was able to find solutions to her problems, even if they didn't always work out the way she might have hoped. She never shied away from a challenge, no matter how big, and I loved that about her. I also loved that she wasn't automatically cast as a beautiful woman, like many urban fantasy heroines.
The idea of parallel worlds is always an exciting one for me. It's great to think about different dimensions of the same place with completely different rules and moralities, and seeing that play out in a book is really fun. I loved that it was possible to travel between dimensions and that each had its own set of ramifications.
I also enjoyed the fact that faeries were the bad guys, but not to everyone. There was enough nuance to make them interesting and the politics of the fae world and the Nether are really fascinating to me. I can't wait to learn more about them and see more drama unfold in future books.
I enjoyed learning about the universe Newman created, and I'm dying to read more about it. I was really excited to discover that books two and three in this series are already available and book four will be out in August. I can't recommend this book highly enough. I gave it four stars because, while I loved the book, it ended in a terrible cliffhanger!
*Review copy from NetGalley
I loved this! Between Two Thorns is such a unique and creative urban fantasy, full of interesting characters and stories. The drama unfolds at a great pace within the book, with new tidbits being revealed through each set of characters throughout. It has a little something for everyone, from political intrigue and investigating crimes to magic, faeries, and romance.
Cathy was such a great character. I loved that she was able to find solutions to her problems, even if they didn't always work out the way she might have hoped. She never shied away from a challenge, no matter how big, and I loved that about her. I also loved that she wasn't automatically cast as a beautiful woman, like many urban fantasy heroines.
The idea of parallel worlds is always an exciting one for me. It's great to think about different dimensions of the same place with completely different rules and moralities, and seeing that play out in a book is really fun. I loved that it was possible to travel between dimensions and that each had its own set of ramifications.
I also enjoyed the fact that faeries were the bad guys, but not to everyone. There was enough nuance to make them interesting and the politics of the fae world and the Nether are really fascinating to me. I can't wait to learn more about them and see more drama unfold in future books.
I enjoyed learning about the universe Newman created, and I'm dying to read more about it. I was really excited to discover that books two and three in this series are already available and book four will be out in August. I can't recommend this book highly enough. I gave it four stars because, while I loved the book, it ended in a terrible cliffhanger!
*Review copy from NetGalley
trinforeman's review against another edition
4.0
This book was quite the read, so many twists and turns. I love Fae stories and am thrilled to have added this to my collection.
pollyno9's review against another edition
3.0
This was pretty good. The main character was a little bit... Unstrategic for my tastes, but her reasons for being so were pretty well explained. I also liked the side characters, and the subplot of the mysterious disappearance was also well done. I will definitely continue to read these.
leticiatoraci's review against another edition
4.0
A very interesting story world, with well developed characters. The plot started a bit slow but it built up to a book I could not put down. I will be continuing this series.
miramanga's review against another edition
3.0
I really really hope that Cathy gets some agency / clout and to save herself and kick some ass in the sequels
kate_in_a_book's review against another edition
4.0
Although Newman has clearly put a lot of thought into world-building, there’s no noticeable chunks of exposition in this novel. You get dropped straight into a funny but sinister incident involving a drunk man desperate for a wee on his way home from the pub and all the details you need to understand what is going on and how that links to the other characters are added gradually and skilfully.
There are quite a few characters but arguably the main one is Cathy, one of the “fae-touched” who is trying to break free from her family and live in the normal world known as Mundanus by – shock, horror – going to university. However, those who inhabit the magical mirror world she is hiding from, the Nether, will not leave her in peace. In the meantime, Max, a sort of policeman of the Split Worlds who is separated from his own soul, has stumbled on a breach of the Split Worlds Treaty so huge that there’s no knowing how high up in society the trouble goes or who he can trust.
While you could read this as a standalone book, I was left wanting more, eager to buy part two and read it soon despite my enormous TBR.
My full review: http://www.noseinabook.co.uk/?p=2774
There are quite a few characters but arguably the main one is Cathy, one of the “fae-touched” who is trying to break free from her family and live in the normal world known as Mundanus by – shock, horror – going to university. However, those who inhabit the magical mirror world she is hiding from, the Nether, will not leave her in peace. In the meantime, Max, a sort of policeman of the Split Worlds who is separated from his own soul, has stumbled on a breach of the Split Worlds Treaty so huge that there’s no knowing how high up in society the trouble goes or who he can trust.
While you could read this as a standalone book, I was left wanting more, eager to buy part two and read it soon despite my enormous TBR.
My full review: http://www.noseinabook.co.uk/?p=2774
kbook's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
5.0
mackle13's review against another edition
2.0
Upon completing this book I commented to my husband that this is the kind of book which, because of it's non-ending, there's a part of me that wants to go out and get the next book to continue/finish the story... but it's also one of those books which I'm sure I'd pretty much forget about if I leave it sit for a few months.
Well, it's been less than a week and I already almost forgot I'd even read it.
This book, like so many, has so much potential and interesting ideas, but falls flat in the execution. I mean, it could be a cool mash-up of UF and Regency, both of which are genres I read (though I've been digging the Regency more than the UF these days, with a few exceptions). But it never manages to blend very well, leaving it more sort of rough and haphazard than an actual coherent story. (Well, it's not not coherent... it just doesn't flow very well.)
Anyway -
The blurb makes this sound like it's primarily Max's story, but Catherine seems, to me, to actually be the main focus of the story. Catherine is... well, Catherine should be the kind of character that I really sympathize with. Part of one of the "Fae-touched" families who live in the Nether (a realm between Mundanus, our world, and Exilium, where the Fae have been, well, exhiled), she tries to escape to our world to get away from a culture stuck in the past, where woman have no rights and no voice, and where her family is particularly abusive and horrible.
A woman stuck in a backwards society who wants to be more than a socialite and use her mind instead? These are the kind of characters I usually love.
But she made it ever so hard to care about her. She's supposed to be strong and forthright and whatnot, but she mostly comes across as whiney and petulant and useless. (I also found it hard that someone raised in the Nether would so quickly adapt to our culture after what seemed only a year or so, but that was more a background thing.)
Anyway -
My favorite character in the book was Max's gargoyle - a gargoyle brought to life for what was meant to be a short-term thing, but which got stuck with Max's soul inside him. (Max is an Arbiter and they have their souls removed to make them immune to Fae magic.)
The gargoyle was great.
Unfortunately, after Max and Gargy get to the Sorcerer, they all but disappear from the story except for little bits here and there, and a thing at the end, and that's more Max than Gargy, and Max is annoying and kinda a dick.
Pretty much all the men in this story are dicks except Sam. And, well, Will grows on you - and is probably the second most interesting and charming character - though he's one of those people who is all "one step back for every step forward" kinda guys. He's also a bit too perfect, and downright smug about it.
As to the plot - it seems to focus much more on Society and manners and whatnot than it does the actual mystery of the missing person or the stuff that Max encounters in the beginning, which leads us to the non-ending, because it sets up a lot of stuff that's clearly meant to be explored in the next book... I'm just not sure I really care enough about any of these people to bother.
Overall: Interesting ideas, but not great execution. Flat writing, annoying characters, and no one to really care about.
Well, it's been less than a week and I already almost forgot I'd even read it.
This book, like so many, has so much potential and interesting ideas, but falls flat in the execution. I mean, it could be a cool mash-up of UF and Regency, both of which are genres I read (though I've been digging the Regency more than the UF these days, with a few exceptions). But it never manages to blend very well, leaving it more sort of rough and haphazard than an actual coherent story. (Well, it's not not coherent... it just doesn't flow very well.)
Anyway -
The blurb makes this sound like it's primarily Max's story, but Catherine seems, to me, to actually be the main focus of the story. Catherine is... well, Catherine should be the kind of character that I really sympathize with. Part of one of the "Fae-touched" families who live in the Nether (a realm between Mundanus, our world, and Exilium, where the Fae have been, well, exhiled), she tries to escape to our world to get away from a culture stuck in the past, where woman have no rights and no voice, and where her family is particularly abusive and horrible.
A woman stuck in a backwards society who wants to be more than a socialite and use her mind instead? These are the kind of characters I usually love.
But she made it ever so hard to care about her. She's supposed to be strong and forthright and whatnot, but she mostly comes across as whiney and petulant and useless. (I also found it hard that someone raised in the Nether would so quickly adapt to our culture after what seemed only a year or so, but that was more a background thing.)
Anyway -
My favorite character in the book was Max's gargoyle - a gargoyle brought to life for what was meant to be a short-term thing, but which got stuck with Max's soul inside him. (Max is an Arbiter and they have their souls removed to make them immune to Fae magic.)
The gargoyle was great.
Unfortunately, after Max and Gargy get to the Sorcerer, they all but disappear from the story except for little bits here and there, and a thing at the end, and that's more Max than Gargy, and Max is annoying and kinda a dick.
Pretty much all the men in this story are dicks except Sam. And, well, Will grows on you - and is probably the second most interesting and charming character - though he's one of those people who is all "one step back for every step forward" kinda guys. He's also a bit too perfect, and downright smug about it.
As to the plot - it seems to focus much more on Society and manners and whatnot than it does the actual mystery of the missing person or the stuff that Max encounters in the beginning, which leads us to the non-ending, because it sets up a lot of stuff that's clearly meant to be explored in the next book... I'm just not sure I really care enough about any of these people to bother.
Overall: Interesting ideas, but not great execution. Flat writing, annoying characters, and no one to really care about.