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pifferdiff's review against another edition
5.0
Simply put, this book was very, very enjoyable (just like the previous one). Truly excellent world-building and great female characters.
thotsauce's review against another edition
2.0
I'm from Northern California, so there's really nothing I love more than to read about adventures in my old stomping ground. That's one of the reasons I loved The Native Star enough for a five-star rating. It had all the things I love in a book: a good setting, action, adventure, wit and devastatingly handsome intellectual types.
The Hidden Goddess barely had any of these things. Hobson completely abandoned the backdrop of California during the gold rush in favor of the East Coast. Every third book takes place in the East Coast. Its so well known that you don't even have to dedicate any words to really describing it.
And Stanton? Hobson does the best job of almost entirely eradicating an interesting character as I've ever seen. He's barely present and when he is he's either distracted or just awful. Would the Dreadnought Stanton of The Native Star lock Emily in a room because of an argument? No. And also suddenly he's the reincarnation of some goddess' consort?!
Also, good lord, the pacing. What should've taken up a good third of the book was unceremoniously shoved into the last 50 pages. I'd expected the book to end on a cliffhanger when Emily got kidnapped (for a second time, jfc) because there just wasn't any space left for that to be resolved. But no, we get some half-assed resolution and, surprise! Emily is now a pseudo-goddess.
No.
Just no.
I'm so disappointed in this book.
The Hidden Goddess barely had any of these things. Hobson completely abandoned the backdrop of California during the gold rush in favor of the East Coast. Every third book takes place in the East Coast. Its so well known that you don't even have to dedicate any words to really describing it.
Spoiler
As for action and adventure, it seems like all of the action in this book was bundled into one or two bursts, leaving me to suffer through descriptions of New York society woes. I don't care about New York society woes! I liked Emily when she was a backwoods witch who kicked ass and took names and did ridiculous, risky things to succeed.And Stanton? Hobson does the best job of almost entirely eradicating an interesting character as I've ever seen. He's barely present and when he is he's either distracted or just awful. Would the Dreadnought Stanton of The Native Star lock Emily in a room because of an argument? No. And also suddenly he's the reincarnation of some goddess' consort?!
Also, good lord, the pacing. What should've taken up a good third of the book was unceremoniously shoved into the last 50 pages. I'd expected the book to end on a cliffhanger when Emily got kidnapped (for a second time, jfc) because there just wasn't any space left for that to be resolved. But no, we get some half-assed resolution and, surprise! Emily is now a pseudo-goddess.
No.
Just no.
I'm so disappointed in this book.
allisonjpmiller's review against another edition
4.0
This is a very different book from its predecessor; darker and more violent, with a lot of heartbreak for both Emily and Stanton. Their relationship is put through a trial by fire, which makes it emerge all the stronger in the end - but wow, the book hurt to read in certain places. I guess that's a testament to how much I love our protagonists. Stanton is stripped of any gloss he still had in [b:The Native Star|7236997|The Native Star (The Native Star, #1)|M.K. Hobson|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51PoPBCAiPL._SL75_.jpg|8154069]. As Emily finds out more about his past and her own, she is put through hell and forced to contend with the very worst in people. Despite the harshness of the main narrative, the book still has the trademark wit and creativity that made the first volume so much fun. It's just tempered with a more mature examination of human nature - our strengths and weaknesses, and what makes a "decent person" in the end.
I was satisfied with the ending, and although I'm sad the next books in this series won't directly involve Emily and Stanton, I'm pretty sure I'll check them out regardless.
I was satisfied with the ending, and although I'm sad the next books in this series won't directly involve Emily and Stanton, I'm pretty sure I'll check them out regardless.
musictcher06's review against another edition
5.0
I found this book equally as un-put-downable as the Native Star. And now that Emily and William (formerly Dreadnought)are off into the west I cannot wait to see what happens in the third book!
kblincoln's review against another edition
4.0
Emily Edwards and Dreadnought Stanton have come a long way from the backwoods of Wild West California and their start in the first book of the series, Native Star.
Now they are the toast of New York, with Stanton's coming investiture of the head of the credomancy institute, and Emily cast as his virginal fiancee.
The problem is, Emily not only isn't quite what the institute, and her minder, Ms. Jeszenka would like to make her into, her long-lost memories of her biological father and mother hold a secret about her very existence that could stop the Black Glass Goddess from destroying the world.
Standing between Emily and Stanton's union are not only his duties, but a spin-doctor out to grab power, a secret Russian Society looking for a magic poison that would keep all people from practicing magic, outbreaks of Black Exunge that cause ordinary animals to become monstrous, and political chicanery of the most entertaining kind.
What makes this book different from the first is that we mostly follow Emily as she tries to deal with the institution's ideas about how she should dress and act, with much less time spent following her adventures and Stanton-relationshipping.
The first half of the book was slow going for me because of this. Once she begins to research her past, unlock her memories, and the jockeying for power between the institute, the Russians, and the devotees of the Black Glass Goddess begin in earnest everything becomes really exciting and fun.
Throughout, Hobson's deft touch with language at the basic level does make for pleasant reading.
I love the character of Ms. Jeszenka, and her machinations, as well as the revelations about the Russians.
I hope the tidy HEA at the end doesn't mean the end for these characters.
This Book's Food Designation Rating: Going back to the buffet for that second helping of lasagna you loved at first bite and finding out they've replaced it with Hungarian Goulash and noodles...and while the noodles are a bit ordinary, the goulash itself is satisfying and spicy.
Now they are the toast of New York, with Stanton's coming investiture of the head of the credomancy institute, and Emily cast as his virginal fiancee.
The problem is, Emily not only isn't quite what the institute, and her minder, Ms. Jeszenka would like to make her into, her long-lost memories of her biological father and mother hold a secret about her very existence that could stop the Black Glass Goddess from destroying the world.
Standing between Emily and Stanton's union are not only his duties, but a spin-doctor out to grab power, a secret Russian Society looking for a magic poison that would keep all people from practicing magic, outbreaks of Black Exunge that cause ordinary animals to become monstrous, and political chicanery of the most entertaining kind.
What makes this book different from the first is that we mostly follow Emily as she tries to deal with the institution's ideas about how she should dress and act, with much less time spent following her adventures and Stanton-relationshipping.
The first half of the book was slow going for me because of this. Once she begins to research her past, unlock her memories, and the jockeying for power between the institute, the Russians, and the devotees of the Black Glass Goddess begin in earnest everything becomes really exciting and fun.
Throughout, Hobson's deft touch with language at the basic level does make for pleasant reading.
I love the character of Ms. Jeszenka, and her machinations, as well as the revelations about the Russians.
I hope the tidy HEA at the end doesn't mean the end for these characters.
This Book's Food Designation Rating: Going back to the buffet for that second helping of lasagna you loved at first bite and finding out they've replaced it with Hungarian Goulash and noodles...and while the noodles are a bit ordinary, the goulash itself is satisfying and spicy.
mjfmjfmjf's review against another edition
3.0
A western steampunk sequel set mostly in New York that I read for the Endeavour Award. I wanted to like this one and wouldn't be surprised by others appreciating it more than I did. But the vaguely Victorian society with its various cliches I just find kind of irritating.
siria's review against another edition
3.0
It's been several years since I read the first book in this series, The Native Star, so the previous adventures of Emily Edwards and Dreadnought Stanton were far from fresh in my mind when I began The Hidden Goddess. Still, this novel almost stood alone and I could pick up the threads again without too much difficulty. M.K. Hobson has a knack for writing page turners, even when as in The Hidden Goddess the pacing is all off and the characters repeatedly fail to talk to one another in a manner that I normally find quite frustrating.
Emily is still a great main character: sympathetic, trying to do the right thing, but sometimes overwhelmed or making poor or selfish choices because she's running on limited information. Her relationship with Dreadnought Stanton was at once realistically drawn (falling in love and getting engaged is not the end point of a relationship) and deeply frustrating (the too-crowded final section of the book brings some revelations about Stanton's past that... well, if I were Emily, I'd have dumped him.)
One of the bigger flaws I remember from the first book is that the Native American characters featured seemed to be there solely to sacrifice themselves for white people. In this book, the big bad is the Aztec goddess Itztlacoliuhqui (who, I discovered when I googled, is actually a god in the Aztec pantheon, and whose gender swap appears to have been in the service of one of the more frustrating reveals at the end of the book), who is all savage blood lust and destructive urges, who is confined to a temple in Mexico that's strewn with dismembered body parts, and who is described as "dumb as a bag of hammers." Everyone who serves this goddess and actually does something to move her plans forward? A white American. Yeesh.
Emily is still a great main character: sympathetic, trying to do the right thing, but sometimes overwhelmed or making poor or selfish choices because she's running on limited information. Her relationship with Dreadnought Stanton was at once realistically drawn (falling in love and getting engaged is not the end point of a relationship) and deeply frustrating (the too-crowded final section of the book brings some revelations about Stanton's past that... well, if I were Emily, I'd have dumped him.)
One of the bigger flaws I remember from the first book is that the Native American characters featured seemed to be there solely to sacrifice themselves for white people. In this book, the big bad is the Aztec goddess Itztlacoliuhqui (who, I discovered when I googled, is actually a god in the Aztec pantheon, and whose gender swap appears to have been in the service of one of the more frustrating reveals at the end of the book), who is all savage blood lust and destructive urges, who is confined to a temple in Mexico that's strewn with dismembered body parts, and who is described as "dumb as a bag of hammers." Everyone who serves this goddess and actually does something to move her plans forward? A white American. Yeesh.
rankkaapina's review
3.0
Well, I liked this, but not quite as much as the first one. This provided some answers that were left out of the first book, but I really missed Emily & Dreadnought together. That really was the appeal and this book was so much more about Emily. Although, I did like her and even more I like Miss Jesczenka.
appalonia's review against another edition
3.0
Emily Edwards and Dreadnought Stanton are preparing both for marriage and the Investment ceremony that will formally make Mr. Stanton the Sophos of the Institute. A quick trip to visit her adopted father in Lost Pine results in Pap's confession that he performed magic on her as a child that removed her memories. He gives her a bottle containing her memories before the age of five, both the good and bad. Throughout the book Emily uncovers not only dark secrets about her fiancée, but also about Emily herself and her parents.
The first half of the novel was a bit disjointed, and I'll admit I missed Dreadnought horribly in this whole book. He hardly appeared, and the banter and relationship between he and Emily was what really made the first book enjoyable. But I have to admit the story flowed fairly well in this book and I really liked how it ended. I understand the author is preparing another in the series that will be set 30 years in the future and feature their children, and I am looking forward to reading the next book. Three and a half stars.
The first half of the novel was a bit disjointed, and I'll admit I missed Dreadnought horribly in this whole book. He hardly appeared, and the banter and relationship between he and Emily was what really made the first book enjoyable. But I have to admit the story flowed fairly well in this book and I really liked how it ended. I understand the author is preparing another in the series that will be set 30 years in the future and feature their children, and I am looking forward to reading the next book. Three and a half stars.