Reviews

The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith

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abica12's review against another edition

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mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

lockleson's review against another edition

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2.5

The mystery was simultaneously boring and way too convoluted, character development stalled too much for my taste, but the worst part, for me, were the chapters that were online chat conversations. I recognize that converting this from a physical book to an e-book was a challenge, but they were so terribly difficult to read despite the allowances made and the entire story just stalled out for me when I got to these chapters. It's also why it took me forever to finish this book. My advice, read this one in the series in physical book form.

anne_roschinsky's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.0

gabsabookworm's review against another edition

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adventurous informative mysterious tense medium-paced

4.5

shadybanana's review against another edition

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2.0

Bit of an oddball this.
I wanted to read a murder mystery type novel and realised I hadn't checked in with the Strike series in some years, and to my surprise there wasn't one but two books waiting to be read.
I am not going to spoil this at all, but I do need to clarify the rating.
It could have been three stars maybe if it were a little more concise. Trimmed down. Just too many details. Now, I really appreciate the 'in-game' mod channel conversations and twitter threads. I feel like they did render this book a unique touch. And I understand mystery novels need to deviate and digress and yap about a little more than others because red herrings and diverting attention of the readers for ultimate surprises. I would rather be this done in a way that helps the story be more descriptive than just internal monologues or random tidbits of people's relations with each other.
Speaking of relations...Strike and Robin need to figure it out real fast. As a long time, reader of this series, I can be confident when I say, it is getting old; the tension between them. Always something convenient occurs that just doesn't help them resolve their feelings. I know whenever they do resolve it will probably spell the end of this series.
Why just three stars? Because even though it's been literal years since I read a book from this series, by the end I still found it a little formulaic. I am not saying it wasn't a page turner. You don't read such girthy books in 5 days unless they were decently good. Some of the ideas...yeah about that.
I feel like the thinly veiled author of this book just keeps putting their personal opinions through these books in sometimes covert or other times (Troubled Blood, i think?) overt ways. The so many themes of racism, able-ism, transphobia, homophobia, sadism, keep reoccurring in these novels. And yes, sure all of these are vital conversations that need larger forums to be discussed at but given their own proclivities and run-in with these controversies, it has always also felt like they are trying to make a point. Probably the most evidently in this book, where a creator suffers. There are plot points influenced in the story by people who hold extreme opinions from one or the other side of the political spectrum. There are barely concealed jabs at cancel culture. At stans and fandoms.
The more I write the review, the more I am starting to think maybe 2 is a little too harsh, especially because I did love the parasocial relations shown, and the way they were shown in real life and in game. But just the above points and some specific spoiler-y grievances about the direction of Strike's investigation plus list of suspects just doesn't sit right with me.
Perhaps the best thing to come out of this book at the end was Strike's hopeful? commitment to more self-care and self-love.
Will it last till the next book? Who knows?

mpetruce's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Man, this was a long one (in print anyway), but I think that was mainly because of all the chat transcripts and tweet threads that are part of the story (which made it a little tricky to follow for the audio because the narrator not only read a chat but also had to read usernames, twitter handles and dates, making quick exchanges in these parts of the book a little cluttered). And some of the subplots, like the other cases being handled by the agency, took up space but didn't really add much to the story other than to let the characters say "we're so busy" and they suddenly got resolved once it was time to wrap up the main story. But I enjoyed this one better than the previous two. I will continue on with this series, although likely on audio, as before.