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jelundberg's review
5.0
I give this 18 stars and 200 thumbs up. As with all Tim Pratt's novels, I had an unbelievably fun time (with some real laugh out loud moments). The world is always a better place when a new Marla Mason book is out, and I cannot wait for the next one.
jonmhansen's review
5.0
Ah, I loved this one. Nice to see that Marla hasn't lost her edge, living in a tropical paradise. Also nice to see lots of familiar faces. Am now hoping the next story will have an appearance by her mom.
madgirl's review against another edition
4.0
Once again: Really glad this book exists. I think this was the first one Pratt funded via Kickstarter, and clearly that worked out well!
It took me a while to get into this one, because I found the setting a little jarring, and I had a moment of "oh god not another paranormal detective story..." But by the time the main plot got really going, I was totally on board. The story and characters continue to be original in an overworked genre, and I dug the way it all fit together even if some of the side plots I thought were less interesting.
Also, I'm really glad that the audiobook narrator did the crowdfunded books as well. She's FANTASTIC.
It took me a while to get into this one, because I found the setting a little jarring, and I had a moment of "oh god not another paranormal detective story..." But by the time the main plot got really going, I was totally on board. The story and characters continue to be original in an overworked genre, and I dug the way it all fit together even if some of the side plots I thought were less interesting.
Also, I'm really glad that the audiobook narrator did the crowdfunded books as well. She's FANTASTIC.
wealhtheow's review against another edition
2.0
Marla Mason clawed her way out of a crappy childhood to become the Chief Sorcerer of Felport. But after she rips a hole in reality to resurrect a friend, the other sorcerers finally have enough of her and banish her from the city. Marla has been devoted to Felport for years; without that mission she is completely at sea. And now that she's without many of the powers or allies she's had in the past, all her remaining enemies ally to take her out while she's vulnerable.
I like the idea of this novel, and I like that Marla and her situation has kept changing. Pratt doesn't twist the story or characters to get her back to Felport and her old title, nor does he give her power-ups the way so many other urban fantasy characters get. Rather like John Constantine, Marla mostly relies on a few artifacts, a few alliances with other magical beings, and her own canniness and willpower. It's refreshing, and why I keep coming back to this series. But there was way, way too much talking in this book. Almost every page was someone talking, and all too often they were monologing at someone else. By far the worst offender is Elsie Jarrow. For books now Elsie has basically been the boogeyman--the chaos witch so powerful that just keeping her imprisoned is a full time job. Even gods have avoided freeing her, knowing that to do so would probably spell their doom, and that of the entire world. Well at last she's freed, and she spends about 90% of her time talking like a Malkavian/Harley Quinn RPer. You know, that tired old, "I'm so random and wacky, lol!" in a cutesy voice routine. It was tiring and not fun to read. I liked the way Marla dealt with her:Elsie is too powerful to kill, so Marla uses sympathetic magic to kill her host body and then convinces the ocean worshipers to disperse Elsie's magical self into a billion separate pieces throughout the ocean. It was clever! But I didn't like how little set-up that solution had; I wanted to actually read about Marla strategizing and conniving, not just the end result.
It looks like Marla and Pelham are going to be traveling for the next few books, which could be a nice change of pace.
I like the idea of this novel, and I like that Marla and her situation has kept changing. Pratt doesn't twist the story or characters to get her back to Felport and her old title, nor does he give her power-ups the way so many other urban fantasy characters get. Rather like John Constantine, Marla mostly relies on a few artifacts, a few alliances with other magical beings, and her own canniness and willpower. It's refreshing, and why I keep coming back to this series. But there was way, way too much talking in this book. Almost every page was someone talking, and all too often they were monologing at someone else. By far the worst offender is Elsie Jarrow. For books now Elsie has basically been the boogeyman--the chaos witch so powerful that just keeping her imprisoned is a full time job. Even gods have avoided freeing her, knowing that to do so would probably spell their doom, and that of the entire world. Well at last she's freed, and she spends about 90% of her time talking like a Malkavian/Harley Quinn RPer. You know, that tired old, "I'm so random and wacky, lol!" in a cutesy voice routine. It was tiring and not fun to read. I liked the way Marla dealt with her:
It looks like Marla and Pelham are going to be traveling for the next few books, which could be a nice change of pace.
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