133 reviews for:

Wicked Gentlemen

Ginn Hale

3.8 AVERAGE


3,5 stars!

There were many things I really liked about this, the relationship between the main characters was great and I really enjoyed the story. Ultimately though I had to knock half a star off because I could never really understand or picture the world quite clearly and that bothered me a little, I also found the shift between first and third person narration quite jarring.

hartd's review

5.0

That was fantastic. Maybe I'll be able to write a coherent review of it the next time I read it.

scarletine6's review

3.0

Good plot, good characters, nice world building and well written but I was left wanting with the sex scenes. Bellimai and Harper have so much more to give. I hope there is a book two. I don't feel I'm finished with these guys!
rozarka's profile picture

rozarka's review

5.0

Some time ago, I read the author's other work set in this world, The Counterfeit Viscount. At that time I was fascinated by worldbuilding and wanted to revisit this bleak, dystopian world. Finally, I reached for this book, and man, I was not disappointed. Here, the world is shown in a different light (or rather darkness): there are almost no mentions of a past war but you get a deep intro into its justice (lol) system and day-to-day workings. It was bleak, it was dark, and yet it still managed to build a believable romance and made me care about the characters. Good job.

A combination of detective story and romance between a descendant of demons and a member of the Inquisition sounds like it should be a good story, but Wicked Gentlemen falls down in the execution. It reads like fragments of a longer book, complete with leaps in logic and weird digressions (nearing what should be the climax of the tale, the POV character stops to have a long conversation with a baker for no reason.) The introspection of the characters and lack of decent world-building makes the whole story feel muted and slightly maddening.

yoda_bor's review

5.0

Ce petit livre a été un tel régal que je l’ai dévoré en quelques heures à peine.
Divisé en deux parties, on trouve dans la première la rencontre entre Belimai Sykes, un Prodigal, et William Harper, Capitaine de l’Inquisition de Brighton.
Ces deux personnages, qui n’auraient jamais du se rencontrer ailleurs que dans une salle d’interrogatoire, sont réunis pour élucider la disparition de la sœur du capitaine, anciennement impliquée dans la maison de l’Association de Revendication des Droits pour Tous.
Si tout ça a l’air un peu compliqué au premier abord, j’ai trouvé qu’avec sa jolie écriture, l’auteure réussissait à nous emporter très vite et à expliquer facilement les choses.

Chacune des deux parties traite donc d’une enquête différente, l’une étant écrite du point de vue de Belimai et l’autre d’Harper.
Je ne sais pas trop pourquoi, mais on passe aussi d’une narration à la première personne vers une narration à la troisième personne, qui m’a rappelé L’enfer est complet en cette saison et que j’ai trouvé un peu déroutante.

On est donc rapidement plongé dans un univers étrange, du steampunk mâtiné de fantastique tout à fait captivant qui nous embarque dans une aventure policière qui sait mettre en avant ses personnages.
C’est d’ailleurs là le gros point fort de cette histoire, Belimai et Harper sont vraiment intéressants, que ce soit par leurs différences évidentes mais aussi par leurs points communs.
S’ils ont des bons moments entre eux, ils vivent aussi dans un monde de violence qu’ils sont loin d’oublier et qui a façonné leur personnalité.

Ce livre offre aussi un univers riche et complet, effrayant et diabolique.
Si la technologie ne diffère pas trop de ce que notre monde a pu connaître dans le passé, c’est par la construction sociale opposant le Clergé et les Prodigals que les divergences émergent vraiment.

Et pour ceux qui n’auraient pas envie de quitter si vite l’univers construit par l’auteure, elle a mis en ligne sur son site internet deux petites nouvelles pour retrouver Belimai et Harper.
sarahgayflint's profile picture

sarahgayflint's review

4.5
mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
lena_taco's profile picture

lena_taco's review

4.25
adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Aside from the occasional editing errors, it was really good. This has been on my list since 2013! And I'm just now reading it and I'm glad I did :D

Although when
Joan's identity was revealed to still be alive AND a Prodigal,
I thought Belimai would've reacted a lot more cause I was CERTAINLY surprised. At least a short convo about it afterwards. But definitely gonna look at the author's other books :)
argixian's profile picture

argixian's review

4.5
emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
valtarii's profile picture

valtarii's review

4.5
adventurous emotional mysterious reflective medium-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