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chantaal's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars
I'm not really sure how I feel about this. One on hand, it was a pretty nice twist on most urban fantasy novels, adding a whole This Is Our Silly Office element to it, but that went way overboard. All the pamphlets, seminars and paperwork being mentioned over and over got really old after the first third.
Also, I'm not sure what Strout was going for when it came to Simon's voice. Half the time his narrative made him sound like a regular guy, then the rest of the time it was all "oh look at how clever I am saying noob and using WTF in my narrative!"
I'm not even going to mention how fumbling the romance subplot was, or how insipid Jane's.
Bottom line, this is an interesting go to for a UF fix and a decent male lead. It just doesn't live up to what it wants to be.
I'm not really sure how I feel about this. One on hand, it was a pretty nice twist on most urban fantasy novels, adding a whole This Is Our Silly Office element to it, but that went way overboard. All the pamphlets, seminars and paperwork being mentioned over and over got really old after the first third.
Also, I'm not sure what Strout was going for when it came to Simon's voice. Half the time his narrative made him sound like a regular guy, then the rest of the time it was all "oh look at how clever I am saying noob and using WTF in my narrative!"
I'm not even going to mention how fumbling the romance subplot was, or how insipid Jane's
Spoiler
diary entries were when Simon took a look in themBottom line, this is an interesting go to for a UF fix and a decent male lead. It just doesn't live up to what it wants to be.
yayforbooks's review against another edition
1.0
This book is Dead to Me.
I really wanted to like it at first, and then I just really wanted it to be done with. The premise of the story, that Simon Canderous is a man who can touch things and come up with a history for the object, is really cool. That was about it.
It really tried to be funny and I can accept the cheesy titles to pamphlets and job titles that abounded in this book. But it didn't work. It just felt much too juvenile of a narration. It's not even that I'm against first person narratives that are told with a lot of character. I actually like that. It just didn't work with Simon's voice because it was trying too hard. And all those cheesy pamphlet titles got old really really quickly.
The characters didn't have much depth. The plot was there, but it wasn't anything remarkable or very memorable. It just seemed like your standard urban fantasy mystery novel, which would have been fine if there had been more depth to the characters or more cohesiveness to the writing. Also, lines like "I shouldn't french with the enemy" just make me sigh. I almost fell asleep during the action scene.
I also felt like the female characters couldn't really stand on their own two feet in this book. I didn't get a sense of strength or independence from them. Which really annoyed me. I don't demand that every female character I read be utterly perfect, developed, or strong. I just ask that they don't randomly have mood swings when presented with balloons, write diary entries about their thongs while on a stake-out, and be interesting.
All in all, I did not like this book at all. Which is sad because I wanted to. If you want something that's also a contemporary urban fantasy with aspects of mystery and humorous narrator that works for some reason, I'd recommend the Dresden Files (starts with [b:Storm Front|47212|Storm Front (The Dresden Files, #1)|Jim Butcher|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1345556917s/47212.jpg|1137060]) by Jim Butcher. Dead to Me really tried to be fun and funny and exciting, but I think it missed the mark.
I really wanted to like it at first, and then I just really wanted it to be done with. The premise of the story, that Simon Canderous is a man who can touch things and come up with a history for the object, is really cool. That was about it.
It really tried to be funny and I can accept the cheesy titles to pamphlets and job titles that abounded in this book. But it didn't work. It just felt much too juvenile of a narration. It's not even that I'm against first person narratives that are told with a lot of character. I actually like that. It just didn't work with Simon's voice because it was trying too hard. And all those cheesy pamphlet titles got old really really quickly.
The characters didn't have much depth. The plot was there, but it wasn't anything remarkable or very memorable. It just seemed like your standard urban fantasy mystery novel, which would have been fine if there had been more depth to the characters or more cohesiveness to the writing. Also, lines like "I shouldn't french with the enemy" just make me sigh. I almost fell asleep during the action scene.
I also felt like the female characters couldn't really stand on their own two feet in this book. I didn't get a sense of strength or independence from them. Which really annoyed me. I don't demand that every female character I read be utterly perfect, developed, or strong. I just ask that they don't randomly have mood swings when presented with balloons, write diary entries about their thongs while on a stake-out, and be interesting.
All in all, I did not like this book at all. Which is sad because I wanted to. If you want something that's also a contemporary urban fantasy with aspects of mystery and humorous narrator that works for some reason, I'd recommend the Dresden Files (starts with [b:Storm Front|47212|Storm Front (The Dresden Files, #1)|Jim Butcher|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1345556917s/47212.jpg|1137060]) by Jim Butcher. Dead to Me really tried to be fun and funny and exciting, but I think it missed the mark.
amdame1's review
3.0
Simon used to be a thief, a really good thief because he has skillz! he is a psychometrist, so he can read impressions from objects to discover just how valuable they are, their past history, and the like. Now he has joined the forces of Good, and is quickly entangled in a web of ghosts, cultists, and a stolen fish that keep him floundering (sorry for the bad pun) to control his powers and not lose his job - or his life.
nicaelafox's review
4.0
Concept of psychometry was really cool. Interested to see what the next book is like.
cjrecordvt's review
1.0
I assume the writer was going for a comedic vibe. In places, it felt like a bizarre form of social commentary, but there was too much jokiness to really grab hold and that jokiness got in the way of characters and their relationships.
teancom's review
1.0
Gave up before chapter 6, because ugh. Bad writing, bad dialog, just bad. Like Dresden but with all the wit and humor and characterization and plotting filed off. In fact, I wouldn't be shocked if this started out as Dresden fan fiction and then he changed the names around to make it legal.
Stay away, stay far away.
Stay away, stay far away.
tigerb99's review
2.0
Annoying main character with scattershot thinking processes. And Canderous is also tremendously judgmental as well as instantly falling in love with women he meets (dead or undead).
elsewyse's review
3.0
I wanted to like this more than I did, but something just wasn't clicking. It felt like the author didn't have a good handle on any of the characters; they tended to act irrationally and unpredictably. The plot wasn't bad, but overall, I wasn't really thrilled. Too bad.
wanderinglynn's review
2.0
First, I'll preface this review by saying I do love the urban fantasy genre. But, this story has too many inconsistencies in it. The kinda that make you go "but wait, that doesn't make any sense." I might be able to get past some of the story inconsistencies, but the characters are flat and also inconsistent.
We first meet Simon at his apartment with a woman named Tamara, who doesn't stay in the story but a few pages. But we know the two have been flirting for about 3 weeks. In this scene, we're also introduced to Simon's power - psychometry, the ability to touch an object and see information about its history & its owner. And Simon cannot control this power. So of course, right as he & Tamara are starting to get hot and heavy, he touches her cell phone and sees her screwing someone at Mardi Gras. First, I won't even comment on the odds of a woman's cell phone ending up on the bed where Simon just happens to touch it. My bigger issue, was after he had this vision, instead of blowing off his abrupt departure from the bed and weakness (he falls over) as an illness, he actually says "Fergus" in response to her questioning what happened. She then goes ballistic, accuses him of stalking her and reading her diary (because no one aside from her & Fergus know about their rendavous) and storms out. Okay, so maybe if the stars align right, this is believable.
Within the next scene, after collapsing, because apparently psychometry is similar to a hypoglycemic attack, he catches a cab. He goes to some sort of flea-type market because he needs to find a hidden treasure because he needs money as his fridge is way empty. Wait, what? He apparently can't afford groceries, but just took a taxi and then turns around and spends 20 dollars on an old video game system and old games because his vision showed a bitch mom trashing her sons treasured possession. Then he gets a phone call from work mentor and catches another cab back downtown. Okay, I'm all for setting wrongs right, so I'll overlook the 20 for the game system. My issue is that this guy apparently can't afford cereal, milk, and a loaf of bread, but can afford two taxi rides in NYC? Hmm, something isn't adding up here.
And these problems are within the first 25 pages. Reading further into the story, Conner flips from acting like adolescent, who lashes out at the slightest resistance to him, the then acts like the adult mentor/boss he's supposed to be with sage advice. Simon goes from whiney to cool former thief mode. I would expect someone who previously lived a life of crime to remain a bit more collected, but often Simon acts like he's a 17 year-old fresh faced kid who's never been to the big city.
Overall, the concept was good, but the story and characters failed to deliver. I just couldn't buy into the world the author attempted to create. Needless to say, I won't be reading any more in this series.
We first meet Simon at his apartment with a woman named Tamara, who doesn't stay in the story but a few pages. But we know the two have been flirting for about 3 weeks. In this scene, we're also introduced to Simon's power - psychometry, the ability to touch an object and see information about its history & its owner. And Simon cannot control this power. So of course, right as he & Tamara are starting to get hot and heavy, he touches her cell phone and sees her screwing someone at Mardi Gras. First, I won't even comment on the odds of a woman's cell phone ending up on the bed where Simon just happens to touch it. My bigger issue, was after he had this vision, instead of blowing off his abrupt departure from the bed and weakness (he falls over) as an illness, he actually says "Fergus" in response to her questioning what happened. She then goes ballistic, accuses him of stalking her and reading her diary (because no one aside from her & Fergus know about their rendavous) and storms out. Okay, so maybe if the stars align right, this is believable.
Within the next scene, after collapsing, because apparently psychometry is similar to a hypoglycemic attack, he catches a cab. He goes to some sort of flea-type market because he needs to find a hidden treasure because he needs money as his fridge is way empty. Wait, what? He apparently can't afford groceries, but just took a taxi and then turns around and spends 20 dollars on an old video game system and old games because his vision showed a bitch mom trashing her sons treasured possession. Then he gets a phone call from work mentor and catches another cab back downtown. Okay, I'm all for setting wrongs right, so I'll overlook the 20 for the game system. My issue is that this guy apparently can't afford cereal, milk, and a loaf of bread, but can afford two taxi rides in NYC? Hmm, something isn't adding up here.
And these problems are within the first 25 pages. Reading further into the story, Conner flips from acting like adolescent, who lashes out at the slightest resistance to him, the then acts like the adult mentor/boss he's supposed to be with sage advice. Simon goes from whiney to cool former thief mode. I would expect someone who previously lived a life of crime to remain a bit more collected, but often Simon acts like he's a 17 year-old fresh faced kid who's never been to the big city.
Overall, the concept was good, but the story and characters failed to deliver. I just couldn't buy into the world the author attempted to create. Needless to say, I won't be reading any more in this series.
carol26388's review
2.0
Ghastly, er, ghostly. There are kernels of good ideas here, but for the most part the book is filled with tropes, awkward writing, intrusive explanations and wildly inconsistent characters. I kept putting it down in disgust, but picking it back up because my OCD disorder wanted to know the ending.
Tone and Plot: It's like an adolescent male writer is regurgitating Dresden lite, mixed with the Ministry of Magic courtesy of Harry Potter, sprinkled with every stereotype of the male detective in the genre. Simon is the lead character who wears sassy grunge tees and whose back up coat is a long black trench. His weapon is an extendable bat (calling Harry...). He reads pamphlets published by his office with such titles as "Deadside Manner: Staying Cool in Troubled Times." The head of his Other Division is named Brit named Argyle Quimbley, whom we first meet sipping tea through a handlebar mustache (must all semi-humorous characters have 'Q' names and funny facial hair?)
Female characters: Unfortunately true to the genre, they are stereotyped beyond belief, usually as the perfect, beautiful, helpless damsel-in-distress, but also the crazy jilted girlfriend. Sometimes, they are both. Actually, the females are just as poorly characterized as the males. When Simon is spying on Jane, one of the "evil cultists," he reads her diary entry written while she was spying (because females always keep diaries). Moreover, she complains in the diary about how her thong is uncomfortable: "something this invasive usually buys me a drink first!" Really? Is that the 14 year old male imagining of what's in a female diary? Because I'm having trouble believing a woman who is rising through the tiers of hierarchy in the cultist organization is writing in a diary... about her underwear.
Male characters: Simon, the male character, is inconsistent, sexist and illogical beyond belief. Initial scene in the book, he's about to have sex and flashes on his girlfriend having sex with a random guy. Rather than make a semi-plausible excuse (we've heard them, guys), he let's her think he's been reading her diary. Really? He'd rather be thought a stalker than a psychic freak? Or just a jerk for telling some other lie? Made no sense. Likewise when we go through a detailed passage about bargaining at an antique meet for an Intellivision, we're told this is how he legitimately earns money, by returning meaningful found items to owners. When he finds the owner, instead of just saying "I'm an antiques dealer, and I was hoping to sell it to you for a fair price," he does a weaselly "just happened to find it, no I couldn't take a cent" act and hope for a reward. That's a technique that seems like it would occasionally fall through and result in a loss, while being honest would help establish him as a legitimate businessman doing a legit service. If he wants to be legit, why is he still running his legit business like a con?
Simon remains erratic throughout the book. In third scene, we have him meeting his mentor at a ghost sighting. Simon freezes numerous times. Later, Anton has the nerve to have Simon describe himself as "the good cop," and "a quiet person." Yet when they go to a business office to inquire the whereabouts of a stolen item, he's yelling and swinging his bat around like he's going to hurt something, accelerating the questioning process into a major incident. When Tamara, the first angry ex-girlfriend, turns up dead as part of an intimidation plot, she's sent off into the sunset with the lines: "They killed her." "Well, they wouldn't be evil if they did nice things, would they?" Really? That's her epitaph? That's how you show sympathy from the "good guys?"
I loved the idea of "psychometry." Plot was semi-interesting, even if we couldn't figure out if the bad guys were corporate businessmen, evil cultists or the Mob. Liked tiny little flashes like the first-aid kit with mummy fingers, the prophet on the subway (wasn't that in Matrix?), and addicts main-lining ghosts. Hate the characters and the characterization. On reflection, I'm wondering if it's supposed to be an urban fantasy farce, along the lines of what Pratchett or Asprin have done with fantasy. Except Pratchett's characters are likeable.
Tone and Plot: It's like an adolescent male writer is regurgitating Dresden lite, mixed with the Ministry of Magic courtesy of Harry Potter, sprinkled with every stereotype of the male detective in the genre. Simon is the lead character who wears sassy grunge tees and whose back up coat is a long black trench. His weapon is an extendable bat (calling Harry...). He reads pamphlets published by his office with such titles as "Deadside Manner: Staying Cool in Troubled Times." The head of his Other Division is named Brit named Argyle Quimbley, whom we first meet sipping tea through a handlebar mustache (must all semi-humorous characters have 'Q' names and funny facial hair?)
Female characters: Unfortunately true to the genre, they are stereotyped beyond belief, usually as the perfect, beautiful, helpless damsel-in-distress, but also the crazy jilted girlfriend. Sometimes, they are both. Actually, the females are just as poorly characterized as the males. When Simon is spying on Jane, one of the "evil cultists," he reads her diary entry written while she was spying (because females always keep diaries). Moreover, she complains in the diary about how her thong is uncomfortable: "something this invasive usually buys me a drink first!" Really? Is that the 14 year old male imagining of what's in a female diary? Because I'm having trouble believing a woman who is rising through the tiers of hierarchy in the cultist organization is writing in a diary... about her underwear.
Male characters: Simon, the male character, is inconsistent, sexist and illogical beyond belief. Initial scene in the book, he's about to have sex and flashes on his girlfriend having sex with a random guy. Rather than make a semi-plausible excuse (we've heard them, guys), he let's her think he's been reading her diary. Really? He'd rather be thought a stalker than a psychic freak? Or just a jerk for telling some other lie? Made no sense. Likewise when we go through a detailed passage about bargaining at an antique meet for an Intellivision, we're told this is how he legitimately earns money, by returning meaningful found items to owners. When he finds the owner, instead of just saying "I'm an antiques dealer, and I was hoping to sell it to you for a fair price," he does a weaselly "just happened to find it, no I couldn't take a cent" act and hope for a reward. That's a technique that seems like it would occasionally fall through and result in a loss, while being honest would help establish him as a legitimate businessman doing a legit service. If he wants to be legit, why is he still running his legit business like a con?
Simon remains erratic throughout the book. In third scene, we have him meeting his mentor at a ghost sighting. Simon freezes numerous times. Later, Anton has the nerve to have Simon describe himself as "the good cop," and "a quiet person." Yet when they go to a business office to inquire the whereabouts of a stolen item, he's yelling and swinging his bat around like he's going to hurt something, accelerating the questioning process into a major incident. When Tamara, the first angry ex-girlfriend,
I loved the idea of "psychometry." Plot was semi-interesting, even if we couldn't figure out if the bad guys were corporate businessmen, evil cultists or the Mob. Liked tiny little flashes like the first-aid kit with mummy fingers, the prophet on the subway (wasn't that in Matrix?), and addicts main-lining ghosts. Hate the characters and the characterization. On reflection, I'm wondering if it's supposed to be an urban fantasy farce, along the lines of what Pratchett or Asprin have done with fantasy. Except Pratchett's characters are likeable.