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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
I got half way through the digital version before I looked to see if it was on audible. I d/l it and listened to the last half. It was good. I liked the world, I liked the characters but it was a bit grim at times but maybe that's what it takes to get parts of your life back. Hopefully now that the character has decided she wants her life to work some things will work out better for her. I hope so. That grimness is the only thing that could keep me from this series if it turns out to be long term.
I do like the narrator. She did a fine job.
I do like the narrator. She did a fine job.
October Daye is a private investigator and a half-fae changeling. Or at least she used to be a PI - right up until her last case went wrong and she spent over a decade trapped as a goldfish in a pond. Now Toby is free from the pond but she's traded in her surveillance gear for a regular job and is trying to leave the fae world behind. However, when a close friend is murdered Toby is dragged into solving this latest mystery. If she fails to find the killer the binding curse her friend put on her will make sure Toby isn't around to take any other cases.
I like a good mystery and I like a good urban fantasy novel so this particular book had a lot of appeal going in. Overall it's not a bad book but uneven in the story telling. The descriptions are good, the characters decent and I like Toby despite a few quibbles. There are a few things that kept this from being a 4 star book for me however - for one the mystery in the end is too predictable. For another the pacing is wildly uneven and after the third time in a row Toby is almost killed I sorta stopped caring. Despite all of that however, I'll likely read the next in the series because I can see a lot of potential in it and the story telling isn't all bad.
I like a good mystery and I like a good urban fantasy novel so this particular book had a lot of appeal going in. Overall it's not a bad book but uneven in the story telling. The descriptions are good, the characters decent and I like Toby despite a few quibbles. There are a few things that kept this from being a 4 star book for me however - for one the mystery in the end is too predictable. For another the pacing is wildly uneven and after the third time in a row Toby is almost killed I sorta stopped caring. Despite all of that however, I'll likely read the next in the series because I can see a lot of potential in it and the story telling isn't all bad.
LOVED this book!! I don't dare write more because I'll end up sending up spoilers, but I'm going to reread it soon because we just got the most recent book.
Enjoyable urban fantasy with a focus on faerie in San Francisco. Toby is a Changeling PI who loses 14 years of her life in the prologue and finds herself back in her world but outside of everything she knew before, and quite quickly thrust into a murder investigation.
It's an interesting premise and I like the characters that were introduced over the course of the book. Its very much action orientated, moving fairly rapidly across the course of several days, fairly typical of the genre. I've read a lot of urban fantasy, Patricia Briggs, Ilona Andrews, Kelley Armstrong, Kim Harrison etc. I wouldn't rate this as highly but fully aware this is the first book in a series which exists more often to give you a starting point in a new universe before exploring it more fully in future books.
Based on this book I am planning to continue the series but there is something lacking in terms of the depth of the world and the snappiness of the dialogue, but it is an older book and styles have evolved. I will continue with the series and see how it goes.
It's an interesting premise and I like the characters that were introduced over the course of the book. Its very much action orientated, moving fairly rapidly across the course of several days, fairly typical of the genre. I've read a lot of urban fantasy, Patricia Briggs, Ilona Andrews, Kelley Armstrong, Kim Harrison etc. I wouldn't rate this as highly but fully aware this is the first book in a series which exists more often to give you a starting point in a new universe before exploring it more fully in future books.
Based on this book I am planning to continue the series but there is something lacking in terms of the depth of the world and the snappiness of the dialogue, but it is an older book and styles have evolved. I will continue with the series and see how it goes.
I've read a lot of books that are This Sort Of Thing - the adult urban fantasy tough female main character murder plot overarching fantasy politics sort of thing - and this is a very good take.
I appreciate there wasn't a big romance, and that Toby was very believable and not just Tough Unlike Other Girls, and the world was pretty fun. I actually like that some bits of the mythos were underexplained, even though the MC understood them; feels very established, and I could go look details up if I cared to.
It threw a looooot of stuff out and sometimes it was Too Much New and sometimes it managed to be repetitive despite all the distraction, and clearly there are meant to be a bunch of sequels. I might pick one of them up, see if it works better when it's established?
Good stuff, anyway.
I appreciate there wasn't a big romance, and that Toby was very believable and not just Tough Unlike Other Girls, and the world was pretty fun. I actually like that some bits of the mythos were underexplained, even though the MC understood them; feels very established, and I could go look details up if I cared to.
It threw a looooot of stuff out and sometimes it was Too Much New and sometimes it managed to be repetitive despite all the distraction, and clearly there are meant to be a bunch of sequels. I might pick one of them up, see if it works better when it's established?
Good stuff, anyway.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Decent urban fantasy mystery. Appropriate pacing and tension. Worldbuilding feels a little scattered, a lot of stuff gets thrown at the reader at odd times and in an odd order.
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
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
Although not a new concept, I like what McGuire has incorporated the fae into modern life.
I felt bad for Toby being injured for most part of the book, but in a way, I felt she was kind of slow on the uptake. Thought that being a PI would entail her putting things together quicker.
In any case, I heart Tybalt (for some strange reason) and Spike (for an obvious cute reason).
I felt bad for Toby being injured for most part of the book, but in a way, I felt she was kind of slow on the uptake. Thought that being a PI would entail her putting things together quicker.
In any case, I heart Tybalt (for some strange reason) and Spike (for an obvious cute reason).
Als erster Band stabil, mir hat es ganz gut gefallen, es gibt aber auch Punkte, die ich bisschen anstrengend fand: das ständige erraten/beschreiben, welches magische Wesen im Gegenüber ist; oder dass generell auch viel Worldbuilding über erklären kommt.
Ich kann mir aber gut vorstellen, dass das in den kommenden Bänden besser wird. Band 2 ist ja schon auf dem SuB und ich freue mich darauf, mehr zu entdecken!
Ich kann mir aber gut vorstellen, dass das in den kommenden Bänden besser wird. Band 2 ist ja schon auf dem SuB und ich freue mich darauf, mehr zu entdecken!