Reviews

The Innocent Sleep by Seanan McGuire

bookworm5732's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

siu_rose's review

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I loved getting the Tybalt side of the story. It was different enough from the Toby side that it held my interest and wasn’t just a rehash, although the end felt a little slow to me, after pieces came back together.  I really felt the pain and frustration but I think the writing about relationships, exploring how they are complicated and messy, was great. 

osheamobile's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful tense 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

4.25

nikkicheyenne's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No

3.5

catsnflags's review against another edition

adventurous challenging tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

effingunicorns's review

slow-paced

3.0

Just realized I've been caught up to this series for a decade now, so that probably accounts for some of my growing distance from it in recent years. I can't say it wasn't nice to see what Tybalt was actually up to over the course of the previous book and finally get a proper bridge between the beginning of that one and the end of the one before it, but my favorite parts were

The Great Costco Heist

and

Tybalt & Company Discover GPS

, both of which were far too brief. The story otherwise felt repetitive even when it wasn't trying to be--with so many characters who had to be brought up to speed, this was a perfect opportunity to experiment with more natural exposition, but instead it felt like we got double the reminders about nearly every person and situation that came up.

I plan to stick with the series for a while longer, but unless the next one really tightens up, I think I'll be less concerned about reading them as soon as they come out.

hexmurphy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

4.5

okevamae's review against another edition

5.0

Getting Tybalt’s perspective in general is really interesting, as it sheds more light on how things like the Shadow Roads and the Court of Cats work, as well as how his mind works, and bits of backstory we’ve never heard before. His perspective on the events before and during Sleep No More provide more context and complexity about Titania’s plan and the world she created, as well as providing the whereabouts of some characters who were conspicuously absent in the other novel. The last chapter felt like less of an abrupt change in this one than in Toby’s novel, and filled in a few of the gaps that had made me dislike it (though not all.) Overall, I really enjoyed it! And I’m happy that this one has a less anxiety-inducing end than last year's installment, haha.

The novella at the end of this book was about Helmi and Dianda, their relationship and their origins. It was good, though slightly less interesting to me than the Rayseline one at the end of the other book.

I received an advance copy of this ebook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

katieinca's review against another edition

1.0

I knew this book covered the same general time frame as the previous one, but I didn't know it would end at the exact same spot. I also didn't know how many of the same events would be covered, or how tedious I would find Tybalt as a narrator. I usually love Tybalt! Li Qin accuses him of using "twenty words where two would do," and that was a big part of it, but the rest was the choice of those words.
I found this entry in the series entirely skippable.

carrot_cake's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0