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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Une lecture légère que j'ai beaucoup appréciée. L'histoire est centrée sur Lydia Crow, membre de l'une des quatre familles magiques de Londres. Lydia a grandi loin de l'influence magique du clan criminel des Crow et a travaillé comme détective privé à Aberdeen, mais après une situation délicate, elle retourne à Londres, où son oncle, Charlie Crow, un type mafieux, lui demande de retrouver son cousine disparue. J'ai hâte de lire le prochain tome de la série.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
mysterious
slow-paced
Started well enough - actually made me chuckle aloud - but fizzled. Didn't care about anyone, plot barely existent, mystery not worth the name. The worldbuilding sounds like it should be really cool but is barely touched upon, while the word "family" takes up what feels like a good 25% of the book by volume. Main character is a naive idiot who might be a wee bit psychopathic but not in an interesting way which, frankly, is a feat in itself. The series might get way better but I don't care enough to find out. Disappointing, considering how interesting the blurb sounds.
Not sure about this one, it was OK in that it was an easy read and I wanted to keep reading. It had lots of promising aspects, but a lot never went everywhere. The “mystery” Lydia is trying to solve does not result in anything exciting, the ending is actually really unsatisfactory. The romance is completely out of the blue, no character development whatsoever. I still want to see where this is going, but I have to say that’s mainly because of the ghost, although I am bracing myself for a disappointing ending there too.
A light read; sets up an interesting urban fantasy world (without the all too frequent romance-y tropes of the genre), but doesn't explore it all that much, sadly.
I've seen a lot of reviews criticizing the main character's actions. I definitely see where that's coming from, but given the noir-inspired tone, Lydia made for a fun take on the typical "down on his luck" Chandler-esque detective.
I hope future books in the series flesh out the world more... and that Lydia evolves meaningfully over time - otherwise I'll be forced to agree with those more critical reviews.
I've seen a lot of reviews criticizing the main character's actions. I definitely see where that's coming from, but given the noir-inspired tone, Lydia made for a fun take on the typical "down on his luck" Chandler-esque detective.
I hope future books in the series flesh out the world more... and that Lydia evolves meaningfully over time - otherwise I'll be forced to agree with those more critical reviews.
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I was in the mood for something but I couldn’t figure out what it was, then this book popped up in a ‘for you’ recommendation somewhere and now I’m hooked! I devoured this book!
It’s got all the things I love in my magical realism! It’s fast paced, has characters I want to get to know better and a magic system that has me very intrigued!
Now, this is so fast paced that it does a feel a little like there is more show than tell but there are eight books in this series so I feel like (hope) that we will get more answers and a little more character depth as we continue on!
Lydia is the kind of heroine I enjoy, she is fiercely independent but not too stupid to look for help when she needs it and there is definitely something up with her magic, or the lack of, and I can’t wait to find out all of her mysteries. I feel like her flight from Aberdeen might not be as clear cut as we think! I suspect uncle Charlie might have been plotting from London!
The magic system hasn’t really been explored yet but I love that the magic belongs to what is basically crime families, think The Kray Twins on magic! The Crows, The Foxes, The Pearls, and The Silvers.
Crow magic isn’t clearly stated just yet but Lydia believes them to be the most powerful family in London.
The Foxes: Lydia also doesn’t go into what they can do, she tells us the ‘less said about them the better.’ We later learn about Paul Fox and I’ll hazard a guess as to him being to blame for her reluctance to discuss them. Paul is a bit of a dick and I kind of like him! 🙈
The Pearls: have “a facility for selling. They were the original entrepreneurs and their ancestors had run apple carts and bakeries, and had been the first to sell ice cream in the Victorian era and to make money by cutting their flour with dust. Never mind coals to Newcastle, the Pearls could sell shoes to a duck.”
The Silvers: have “a facility for lying and, unsurprisingly, ran a thriving law firm…”
Lydia has a kind of love interest, DCI Fleet. I think this is where the fast pace of the story lets the book down a little. Lydia and Fleets ‘relationship’ kind of came out of nowhere, I mean sure, sometimes people just connect and have sex without knowing anything about each other but it kind of feels out of character for both of them, maybe it’s because the sex was closed door? I just don’t feel like there was a connection and it was disappointing. Perhaps they aren’t endgame and their sexual relationship isn’t something the reader needs to think about too much though? Having some kind of connection would have been nice though, I had to go back and check that the ‘a woman who had recently had head-banging sex.’ actually meant she had and Fleet had sex. It’s probably too long since I’ve read a closed door though so maybe that’s on me! 😂
I can’t wait to get stuck into the rest of this series though. Very entertaining!
Once I picked this up I couldnt put it down. Lydia is a great character and a unique UF world with four magical Families of Crows, Pearls, Silvers and Foxes in modern London. Left with lots of unanswered questions however has real promise for an amazing addition to the genre.
3.5
i keep picking up supposedly cosy magical mysteries and they just don't hit. this was weirdly paced for me, in that it felt super slow then SO FAST then slow as molasses.
i'm unsure if i'm gonna continue in the series; i've added the sequel to my wishlist so i can keep track, but we'll see.
i keep picking up supposedly cosy magical mysteries and they just don't hit. this was weirdly paced for me, in that it felt super slow then SO FAST then slow as molasses.
i'm unsure if i'm gonna continue in the series; i've added the sequel to my wishlist so i can keep track, but we'll see.