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gabalodon's review against another edition
3.0
Most of this book was pretty good. Really cool premise and foundation. Sometimes the narration got annoyingly introspective or poetically reflective, which I didn't think worked very well for a book that was meant to be more of a spy thriller than anything else. But the writing style moved quickly so it was pretty easy to overlook those moments.
I liked that as an amateur spy, the MC made a lot of mistakes, but I got exhausted by the sheer quantity of mistakes. It seems like everything she did or uncovered had little to no bearing on the ultimate outcome of the book. Her spill ability had very little part to play in this volume (maybe it will have more bearing in the sequels?), she has no control over it anyway, and everything she learned with it was found out by other characters by other means. I also thought her empathy and soft interactions with her Nazi foil got very uncomfortable and problematic and that did not sit well with me at all. Ultimately I ended up far more interested in some of the side characters (Rose, Alice, and Elsa) and did not get nearly as much of them as I wanted.
The quality of the last 40ish pages also went very downhill imo. The final villain monologue was almost cartoonish and all of the final decisions and reveals seemed to all have serious tactical flaws on both sides.
Overall a lot of potential, but iffy execution at times. Glad I read it, but not life-changing, and I see a lot of ways it could have been great.
I liked that as an amateur spy, the MC made a lot of mistakes, but I got exhausted by the sheer quantity of mistakes. It seems like everything she did or uncovered had little to no bearing on the ultimate outcome of the book. Her spill ability had very little part to play in this volume (maybe it will have more bearing in the sequels?), she has no control over it anyway, and everything she learned with it was found out by other characters by other means. I also thought her empathy and soft interactions with her Nazi foil got very uncomfortable and problematic and that did not sit well with me at all. Ultimately I ended up far more interested in some of the side characters (Rose, Alice, and Elsa) and did not get nearly as much of them as I wanted.
The quality of the last 40ish pages also went very downhill imo. The final villain monologue was almost cartoonish and all of the final decisions and reveals seemed to all have serious tactical flaws on both sides.
Overall a lot of potential, but iffy execution at times. Glad I read it, but not life-changing, and I see a lot of ways it could have been great.
morganpk7's review against another edition
3.0
This book was fine, with an interesting premise and setting. However, most of the characters were somewhat flat and many of their actions were not very smart. Though I did enjoy the book, I accidentally read all of A Practical Guide to Evil and Mistborn Era 2 in the middle (that is 11 books, some quite long) without think about this book once. I can't decide if the fact I returned to this book outweighs putting it down in the middle to read two series of far better books.
ashnight's review against another edition
4.0
it was good, there however were more slow parts. am excited for the next book.
cdeane61's review against another edition
4.0
A little bit slow at times, but what's not to like about a story with Nazi invasion plans, ordinary people who all of a sudden have extraordinary powers, novice and pro spies, and all set in England on the cusp of WWII.
I see that it is number #1 in a series and may just have to continue following.
I see that it is number #1 in a series and may just have to continue following.
little_red_dragon's review against another edition
3.0
"All of this, false pretenses, and how that it was truly underway, a bit unnerving. Her mother would certainly be astonished. There had been moments when Kim was as well, but it was not as though she were planning to steal the family jewels. The theft, if it came, would only be secrets."
At the Table of Wolves promises to be a fast, clever thriller; think World War II spies meets X-Men. Unfortunately, it fails to deliver. It's a slow-paced spy novel, with plenty of twists and turns but no tension. Perhaps this is because the author failed to make me care about any of the characters. Or perhaps the stakes simply didn't feel particularly high.
Whatever it was, I was sadly disappointed. The premise seemed to promising, but the execution definitely left me wanting.
At the Table of Wolves promises to be a fast, clever thriller; think World War II spies meets X-Men. Unfortunately, it fails to deliver. It's a slow-paced spy novel, with plenty of twists and turns but no tension. Perhaps this is because the author failed to make me care about any of the characters. Or perhaps the stakes simply didn't feel particularly high.
Whatever it was, I was sadly disappointed. The premise seemed to promising, but the execution definitely left me wanting.
lsoccer12's review against another edition
Too many characters, the story shifted around too fast without explanation.
__ Try it! You’ll probably like it (wasn’t for me, but it’s well-written).
_x_ Meh. If you have nothing else to read, try it.
__ Don’t waste your time with this one!
__ Try it! You’ll probably like it (wasn’t for me, but it’s well-written).
_x_ Meh. If you have nothing else to read, try it.
__ Don’t waste your time with this one!
carolynf's review against another edition
1.0
This is the most annoying book that I ever read all the way through. Some aspects of the story are interesting - an alt 1936, an outbreak of psychic talents, a mysterious Nazi plot against English. But what could have been an enjoyable read was ruined for me by several issues.
1) The constant, constant gushing over England and its marvelous landscapes as symbolic of its marvelous culture and integrity. Especially in the first few chapters you can't get through a scene without someone suddenly becoming overwhelmed by tender feelings about their homeland because they saw some grass with mist on it. I'm all for patriotism but this was so over the top that it came close to camp.
2) The most incompetent spy ever. The main character is Kim (who no one, not even the most stodgy of matrons, refers to by anything other than her nickname) is a fish out of water when it comes to espionage, I get it. But she apparently also never read a spy novel in her life, because she doesn't know how to handle dead drops, handlers, people talking to you out of the side of their mouth in case you are being watched, anything. She has a psychic talent that induces people to tell her their darkest secrets, but is constantly trying it suppress it and it works out maybe twice in the entire book, and then accidentally with lots of shameful feelings. So yes, worst spy ever.
3) The cover art. This is more the publisher's fault than the novelist's but the cover art nevertheless has an effect on the reception of the book. Kim is 33, sensibly attired, with short hair. On the cover we get a 19 year old with flowing cheesecake tresses, who is apparently trying to launch a new "Casablanca" themed line at Spencer's. It is hard to take a book seriously when it seems like even the publishers didn't bother to get a grasp of the main character.
1) The constant, constant gushing over England and its marvelous landscapes as symbolic of its marvelous culture and integrity. Especially in the first few chapters you can't get through a scene without someone suddenly becoming overwhelmed by tender feelings about their homeland because they saw some grass with mist on it. I'm all for patriotism but this was so over the top that it came close to camp.
2) The most incompetent spy ever. The main character is Kim (who no one, not even the most stodgy of matrons, refers to by anything other than her nickname) is a fish out of water when it comes to espionage, I get it. But she apparently also never read a spy novel in her life, because she doesn't know how to handle dead drops, handlers, people talking to you out of the side of their mouth in case you are being watched, anything. She has a psychic talent that induces people to tell her their darkest secrets, but is constantly trying it suppress it and it works out maybe twice in the entire book, and then accidentally with lots of shameful feelings. So yes, worst spy ever.
3) The cover art. This is more the publisher's fault than the novelist's but the cover art nevertheless has an effect on the reception of the book. Kim is 33, sensibly attired, with short hair. On the cover we get a 19 year old with flowing cheesecake tresses, who is apparently trying to launch a new "Casablanca" themed line at Spencer's. It is hard to take a book seriously when it seems like even the publishers didn't bother to get a grasp of the main character.
ida_ree's review against another edition
4.0
Maybe 3 3/4 stars. In this sci-fi version of history, humanity has experienced a bloom of unusual Talents following the Great War. As the spectre of another world war looms on the horizon, both the German and British governments are running secret programs to discover what can be done with these abilities.
Kim Tavistock is a journalist living with her British father after having been raised across the pond by her mother. Kim has been identified with a significant talent -- the Spill. Unbidden, people reveal sensitive information to her in conversation. This makes it hard to keep friends, or even a relationship with her own father, who has secrets he needs to keep. But it comes in handy for journalism and possibly for piecing together German plans for an invasion.
I found the book a page turner, but did get frustrated a couple of times with the protagonist seeming a little overly naive in service of the plot. Good suspense. Well paced.
Kim Tavistock is a journalist living with her British father after having been raised across the pond by her mother. Kim has been identified with a significant talent -- the Spill. Unbidden, people reveal sensitive information to her in conversation. This makes it hard to keep friends, or even a relationship with her own father, who has secrets he needs to keep. But it comes in handy for journalism and possibly for piecing together German plans for an invasion.
I found the book a page turner, but did get frustrated a couple of times with the protagonist seeming a little overly naive in service of the plot. Good suspense. Well paced.
kkm0112's review against another edition
3.0
This book has a SUPER cool concept that I am totally here for, and most of the time I enjoyed reading it. However, I think it could have used another slash from the editor - at over 400 pages, it felt just a little bit bloated. It was also complicated enough that I found it challenging to keep track of characters and how they fit into this spy caper, but also not QUITE interesting enough that I cared to keep track. In all, I enjoyed reading it, but don't really care to read the next one.