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jackiehorne's review against another edition
2.0
Incredibly frustrating read, with its female detective half-faerie protagonist not able to make the least bit of headway in finding out who is murdering the employees of a faerie computer company by draining their memories. Several "secrets" were so blindingly telegraphed I wanted to scream when it took so long for our heroine to finally figure them out. And the killer is discovered pretty much by a process of elimination, nearly everyone else having been killed by that point. A big disappointment.
bernatgp's review against another edition
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? Yes
4.0
elllljayyyy's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
memurrell's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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? Yes
4.0
keeneam's review against another edition
3.0
I liked the charater of Toby in the first book of this series, but in this book she was annoying. She missed obvious clues, made stupid decisions, and was just frustrating. The plot moved slowly and seemed dragged out with other characters contributing to the stupidity of the decisions made by all. This book was a struggle to finish, with the outcome obvious while I plodded through to get there.
eastofreality's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
atagarev's review against another edition
1.0
I ended up being pretty disappointed by this book. It has the same strengths and weaknesses as the last one but where I expected some progress and improvement, all I got was just more of the same except even slower and more tedious.
Basically all the setup from book #1 turns out to be irrelevant to this story as we once again spend nearly the entire book setting up side characters that will likely never make another appearance. Meanwhile the central "mystery" is so immediately obvious and straightforward that October might take the gold medal for most bumbling and incompetent investigator in a genre full of them. Figuring out what's happening by less than a hundred pages into the book only to watch the experienced investigator struggle with it for another three hundred pages is just frustrating to read. The only justification for her not immediately solving the mystery is that all the side characters have a suicidal determination to keep all their immediately obvious and critical yet boring secrets as long as possible while they are getting picked off like flies. Honestly, I don't even understand why many of these things are kept secret except to prolong the tedious story- there are clear and immediate benefits to sharing that information and no downside to doing so yet character would rather get murdered than share. There is some red herring subplot about spies but it makes less and less sense the more you think about it.
In the end this is a book that lives and dies on its mystery but the mystery is just too predictable. All that we are left with is to read hundreds of pages of October trudging back and forth down hallways in a confusing building and making the same mistake over and over again. I think I could have easily skipped the middle 80% of the book and not missed any important information or event.
Basically all the setup from book #1 turns out to be irrelevant to this story as we once again spend nearly the entire book setting up side characters that will likely never make another appearance. Meanwhile the central "mystery" is so immediately obvious and straightforward that October might take the gold medal for most bumbling and incompetent investigator in a genre full of them. Figuring out what's happening by less than a hundred pages into the book only to watch the experienced investigator struggle with it for another three hundred pages is just frustrating to read. The only justification for her not immediately solving the mystery is that all the side characters have a suicidal determination to keep all their immediately obvious and critical yet boring secrets as long as possible while they are getting picked off like flies. Honestly, I don't even understand why many of these things are kept secret except to prolong the tedious story- there are clear and immediate benefits to sharing that information and no downside to doing so yet character would rather get murdered than share. There is some red herring subplot about spies but it makes less and less sense the more you think about it.
In the end this is a book that lives and dies on its mystery but the mystery is just too predictable. All that we are left with is to read hundreds of pages of October trudging back and forth down hallways in a confusing building and making the same mistake over and over again. I think I could have easily skipped the middle 80% of the book and not missed any important information or event.
alikatson's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars....
I was pleasantly surprised by this book and enjoyed the mystery and most of the characters. I went into it with low expectations so I think that helped.
For the first few chapters I getting sick of all the weird posturing, etc. by the characters Toby had gone to see. And then the murder happened and things finally get interesting. Of course, all the characters Toby is trying to save keep trying to get themselves killed by being stupid. The Alex thing.... I wasn't sure who the killer was until the end so that was good.
There are some great characters - Quentin, Tybalt, I liked Elliot too. I'm scared of Rayseline so I'm curious to see what comes next with her.
I was pleasantly surprised by this book and enjoyed the mystery and most of the characters. I went into it with low expectations so I think that helped.
For the first few chapters I getting sick of all the weird posturing, etc. by the characters Toby had gone to see. And then the murder happened and things finally get interesting. Of course, all the characters Toby is trying to save keep trying to get themselves killed by being stupid. The Alex thing...
Spoiler
I figured that out pretty much right away, come on Toby is supposed to be super smart, she would have got itThere are some great characters - Quentin, Tybalt, I liked Elliot too. I'm scared of Rayseline so I'm curious to see what comes next with her.
Spoiler
I have to admit I was a bit squeamish about the cups of blood from dead people, ugh.belanna2's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.0