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vicrine's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
themanfromdelmonte's review against another edition
4.0
A good instalment
My criticisms from the fourth book stand so I’ll not repeat them here. This rattles along at a good pace. There are some good twists and Lydia is nicely conflicted. Some of the supporting cast get fleshed out a bit more and I hope to see a more fully realised dramatis personae in future works
My criticisms from the fourth book stand so I’ll not repeat them here. This rattles along at a good pace. There are some good twists and Lydia is nicely conflicted. Some of the supporting cast get fleshed out a bit more and I hope to see a more fully realised dramatis personae in future works
tanadeet's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
tandemjon's review against another edition
4.0
Slow moving series, interesting and enjoyable. Looking forward to the next one.
rosescottagee's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
linguisticali's review
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
3.5
I may have already forgotten this one in the sense that I just finished it and couldn't say what the main plot of this specific book was (as opposed to the overarching plot of the series). I enjoyed it though.
rapunzeluk's review against another edition
3.0
Up until this book, this series has largely been a series of fun, quick reads.
This one was unexpectedly… super depressing? The story isn’t bad at all, but man, it was so restlessly bleak feeling that I struggled to read it and kept putting it down every 15 minutes just to get away from the whole thing. Lydia is trapped in pretty much every conceivable way, unhappy, even her Dad just like… basically abandons her?
Again, it was well crafted, even wonderfully creepy in a couple spots, but it just wasn’t at all fun. Like AT ALL.
This one was unexpectedly… super depressing? The story isn’t bad at all, but man, it was so restlessly bleak feeling that I struggled to read it and kept putting it down every 15 minutes just to get away from the whole thing. Lydia is trapped in pretty much every conceivable way, unhappy, even her Dad just like… basically abandons her?
Again, it was well crafted, even wonderfully creepy in a couple spots, but it just wasn’t at all fun. Like AT ALL.
tracey_stewart's review against another edition
3.0
I stumbled over this series on Scribd, and was immediately hooked. It's unique - I don't remember another setup like it, despite the fact that I can name three other urban-fantasy-with-detective-protagonist series off the top of my head. (Well, no, one's not so much a detective, but whatever.) Organized crime, which usually makes my eyes roll back into my head with boredom, is an interesting backdrop for a fantasy novel - and why wouldn't families with extra-ordinary powers use them to take control over their area? Unless, you know, they had morals.
What I don't like so much is Lydia's growing power within the Family. I don't like it at all. She worries a bit about people seeing her as not fit for the job, and ... she's not. She just isn't. Her moral code isn't the most rigid I've ever seen in a main character, but she does have one; some of the things her Uncle Charlie did as former head of the Crows made her physically ill. She has a conscience, not to mention a cop boyfriend, and empathy that makes her fully aware of the ramifications of decisions and actions - and she never seems to realize that all of this adds up to one major handicap for her in trying to run the organization. She doesn't take up the mantle of head of the Crows to make it a kinder, gentler entity, or at least she never states this to herself or to the family; she refuses offers to "clean up" certain situations when such a cleaning would result in bodies (or disappearances), but cover-ups are relatively ok. I dread watching her moral center deteriorate further, but I don't see how it won't - unless the series ends with her being eaten alive. Which I dread even more.
And I'm just not sure how free-climbing halfway up the Shard proves you're a good leader, not an idiot. It felt like a wildly uncharacteristic (and stupid) thing for Lydia to do. Honestly, I think that's the main reason I rated this at three stars rather than four: the climb, and the "reasons" for it.
I like Fleet (despite the dissonance that occurs when I remember Ben Aaronovitch's Fleet), and I love Jason of course; I like the Lydia's family and Emma. A lot. (More than I like Lydia, to be honest.) I really enjoy the writing; it's clear and sharp, and the fully intentional synesthesia of "the taste of feathers" or "the scent of pearls" is wonderful. The whole system of magic is pretty great, if a bit vague - and the vagueness can pretty much be put down to Lydia's ignorance her whole life, I suppose. And I'm very intrigued with the auras around other non-Family people like Fleet - I want to know more about that. I want to know what Fleet is capable of. The phalanx of Pearl-Fox-Silver-Crow seems to center solely on London, so it seems reasonable that there are Families based elsewhere in the country and in the world - more, please.
I don't know what to say about the subplot involving Ash, taken by faery and unable to adapt to the mundane world again. It was so heart-rending, so poignant - and then, abruptly, so completely over. I hope there will be more repercussions from it to come, because there need to be in order for the plot line to truly feel resolved, or perhaps if not resolved then ... properly given space? Ash's story could have carried a book on its own, and relegated to almost an afterthought it's ... disappointing.
And writing that led me to narrow in on what I think the problem with the series is, or is starting to be. Lydia reminds me of the cat in Disney's Cinderella, as I recall it from seeing it eons ago: he's captured a mouse with each paw, and possibly one in his mouth, and then can only watch, spread-eagled on the floor, as yet one more mouse scurries by. And there's nothing he can do about it without losing one of the mice he's already caught. (I feel like that a lot of days too.) With Lydia, she's got her family (mom and dad, small "f" family) in one paw, Fleet in another, Emma in a third, her PI business in the fourth, and is hanging on with her teeth to the Family (capital "F") by the tail - and she can only watch while other issues go scampering under her nose. She's stretched as far as she can stretch - and it seems like events are going to require more elasticity (or more limbs, to follow the Cinderella-cat analogy.) (His name, I find, was Lucifer. Of course it was.) Maybe I'm underestimating the character and the author - but the way the character has been written to this point, I don't have any evidence that the former is true.
I'm still absolutely going to finish the series (or catch up? I don't know if the most recent book is only the most recent, or the last). There's always the possibility of a massive fall onto the Dark Side, followed perhaps by redemption. I just don't look forward to it.
What I don't like so much is Lydia's growing power within the Family. I don't like it at all. She worries a bit about people seeing her as not fit for the job, and ... she's not. She just isn't. Her moral code isn't the most rigid I've ever seen in a main character, but she does have one; some of the things her Uncle Charlie did as former head of the Crows made her physically ill. She has a conscience, not to mention a cop boyfriend, and empathy that makes her fully aware of the ramifications of decisions and actions - and she never seems to realize that all of this adds up to one major handicap for her in trying to run the organization. She doesn't take up the mantle of head of the Crows to make it a kinder, gentler entity, or at least she never states this to herself or to the family; she refuses offers to "clean up" certain situations when such a cleaning would result in bodies (or disappearances), but cover-ups are relatively ok. I dread watching her moral center deteriorate further, but I don't see how it won't - unless the series ends with her being eaten alive. Which I dread even more.
And I'm just not sure how free-climbing halfway up the Shard proves you're a good leader, not an idiot. It felt like a wildly uncharacteristic (and stupid) thing for Lydia to do. Honestly, I think that's the main reason I rated this at three stars rather than four: the climb, and the "reasons" for it.
I like Fleet (despite the dissonance that occurs when I remember Ben Aaronovitch's Fleet), and I love Jason of course; I like the Lydia's family and Emma. A lot. (More than I like Lydia, to be honest.) I really enjoy the writing; it's clear and sharp, and the fully intentional synesthesia of "the taste of feathers" or "the scent of pearls" is wonderful. The whole system of magic is pretty great, if a bit vague - and the vagueness can pretty much be put down to Lydia's ignorance her whole life, I suppose. And I'm very intrigued with the auras around other non-Family people like Fleet - I want to know more about that. I want to know what Fleet is capable of. The phalanx of Pearl-Fox-Silver-Crow seems to center solely on London, so it seems reasonable that there are Families based elsewhere in the country and in the world - more, please.
I don't know what to say about the subplot involving Ash, taken by faery and unable to adapt to the mundane world again. It was so heart-rending, so poignant - and then, abruptly, so completely over. I hope there will be more repercussions from it to come, because there need to be in order for the plot line to truly feel resolved, or perhaps if not resolved then ... properly given space? Ash's story could have carried a book on its own, and relegated to almost an afterthought it's ... disappointing.
And writing that led me to narrow in on what I think the problem with the series is, or is starting to be. Lydia reminds me of the cat in Disney's Cinderella, as I recall it from seeing it eons ago: he's captured a mouse with each paw, and possibly one in his mouth, and then can only watch, spread-eagled on the floor, as yet one more mouse scurries by. And there's nothing he can do about it without losing one of the mice he's already caught. (I feel like that a lot of days too.) With Lydia, she's got her family (mom and dad, small "f" family) in one paw, Fleet in another, Emma in a third, her PI business in the fourth, and is hanging on with her teeth to the Family (capital "F") by the tail - and she can only watch while other issues go scampering under her nose. She's stretched as far as she can stretch - and it seems like events are going to require more elasticity (or more limbs, to follow the Cinderella-cat analogy.) (His name, I find, was Lucifer. Of course it was.) Maybe I'm underestimating the character and the author - but the way the character has been written to this point, I don't have any evidence that the former is true.
I'm still absolutely going to finish the series (or catch up? I don't know if the most recent book is only the most recent, or the last). There's always the possibility of a massive fall onto the Dark Side, followed perhaps by redemption. I just don't look forward to it.
kymzii's review
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-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
4.0
gray5217's review
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75