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blackmetalblackheart's review against another edition
4.0
This series has been great. With each new book released, it broadens the world and deepens the characters. I was especially intrigued by the themes presented in this book; the juxtaposition of being a witch and the way real life issues can effect that in immense ways. Paul Cornell has created a truly fantastic series, and it is awesome to see strong, diverse women leading it.
midgardener's review against another edition
2.0
In comparison to the previous two installments, this one felt like an utter mess. The exploration of what the Borders are, how they manifest visually/physically, and what, exactly, Autumn's role is in it all felt slapped together with no regard to guiding the reader along. And while there are worthwhile efforts to bring in racial intricacies and the social effects of Brexit, the antagonistic old man who causes much of the conflict in that area never receives a proper comeuppance. More than once do people just let him rant his apparently horrifically racist words without repercussion. Sure, many such folks are clearly beyond educating, but that does NOT mean we should advocate simply letting their spout their hateful bile, as Cornell depicts here.
On another note that has nothing to do with the writing, I've been listening to this series as eaudiobooks. This entry switched narrators, and it was a choice for the worse. While the new narrator's voice is deeper by nature, the fact that everyone now sounds like an older woman probably could've been avoided. It made scenes of dialogue quite difficult to navigate. Hopefully the next entry will either receive another new narrator, or a return to the perfectly charming previous one.
I'll be reading the sequel and hoping for a simpler, more cohesive plot style, and not another social-justice-acid-trip gone wrong.
On another note that has nothing to do with the writing, I've been listening to this series as eaudiobooks. This entry switched narrators, and it was a choice for the worse. While the new narrator's voice is deeper by nature, the fact that everyone now sounds like an older woman probably could've been avoided. It made scenes of dialogue quite difficult to navigate. Hopefully the next entry will either receive another new narrator, or a return to the perfectly charming previous one.
I'll be reading the sequel and hoping for a simpler, more cohesive plot style, and not another social-justice-acid-trip gone wrong.
shereadstales's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
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? It's complicated
3.75
graff_fuller's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 Stars
I wanted SO much to have loved this, but it really didn't keep my attention.
The idea of the bubbles was interesting, but for some reason the way it was experienced in the story didn't capture me...like the previous two stories.
I still enjoy the three main characters. I'm hoping the library will get the next two books. Finger's crossed.
I wanted SO much to have loved this, but it really didn't keep my attention.
The idea of the bubbles was interesting, but for some reason the way it was experienced in the story didn't capture me...like the previous two stories.
I still enjoy the three main characters. I'm hoping the library will get the next two books. Finger's crossed.
nichola's review against another edition
4.0
So far this is my favourite of the series and I do not even know why.
frogggirl2's review against another edition
3.0
I liked the point about race, the feeling of being the other and how that paralleled with the concept of the otherness of witches. That being said, this was not as scary or as impactful for me as the first two books in the series.
trish204's review against another edition
4.0
The Brexit vote is about to take place in this 3rd volume and tensions are high in Lychford.
Since Autumn herself is one of the "brown people" as some terrible residents are calling it, she feels very uncomfortable and is aghast how little she can talk to otherwise nice people about it. They just don't see anything wrong with their demands that leads to them voting "Leave".
Worst of all, it causes a fall-out between the three witches, too.
But there are other manifestations of a problem (the same perhaps?) such as (but not limited to) several people being led over the magical border and into another world by their navigation apps.
I was surprised that the author managed to get enough humour into this quite dark social topic. Such as Lizzy's name for her fitness tracker / smart watch. *snickers* It was certainly a nice fresh breath of air in between as the overall atmosphere was a bit oppressive.
Consequently, I liked that it wasn't JUST about Brexit and the change in society (worldwide, by the way, not just in Britain) that enabled such a thing to happen in the first place. The magical mystery, the further weakening of the borders, the threat that is not just a problem for us humans ... not to mention Finn's "missteps" and the "music" of the illegal rave getting into faery and disturbing their sleep under the hills. Bwahahahahahaha!
The three witches really have grown on me. Though I have to admit that some reactions from Autumn and her obsession with are borderline annoying and ridiculous. Yes, she was on the edge and I absolutely get why (especially thanks to that terrible man Rory), but some of her notions were just too over the top.
The most heartbreaking, for me, was Judith.
It has also become clear by now that there is a bigger, overall story behind all the single mysteries we have been witness to so far, which is nice. Can't wait to learn more and get to the climax.
One not so good thing was that we once again got a different narrator and I didn't connect with her performance as much as with the previous two. :/
Since Autumn herself is one of the "brown people" as some terrible residents are calling it, she feels very uncomfortable and is aghast how little she can talk to otherwise nice people about it. They just don't see anything wrong with their demands that leads to them voting "Leave".
Worst of all, it causes a fall-out between the three witches, too.
But there are other manifestations of a problem (the same perhaps?) such as (but not limited to) several people being led over the magical border and into another world by their navigation apps.
I was surprised that the author managed to get enough humour into this quite dark social topic. Such as Lizzy's name for her fitness tracker / smart watch. *snickers* It was certainly a nice fresh breath of air in between as the overall atmosphere was a bit oppressive.
Consequently, I liked that it wasn't JUST about Brexit and the change in society (worldwide, by the way, not just in Britain) that enabled such a thing to happen in the first place. The magical mystery, the further weakening of the borders, the threat that is not just a problem for us humans ... not to mention Finn's "missteps" and the "music" of the illegal rave getting into faery and disturbing their sleep under the hills. Bwahahahahahaha!
The three witches really have grown on me. Though I have to admit that some reactions from Autumn and her obsession with
Spoiler
not calling anything evil "dark magic" because of racial stuffThe most heartbreaking, for me, was Judith
Spoiler
succumbing to dementiaIt has also become clear by now that there is a bigger, overall story behind all the single mysteries we have been witness to so far, which is nice. Can't wait to learn more and get to the climax.
One not so good thing was that we once again got a different narrator and I didn't connect with her performance as much as with the previous two. :/
lillifey's review against another edition
3.0
Too much politics :( I see what Cornell was trying to do but in a book series that to me had felt almoat outside of time, situating it so blatantly in a post-brexit world and having post-brexit angst be the driving force of the conflict felt like a little too much. Still very much looking forward to any more books in the series!!
immovabletype's review against another edition
2.5
2.5 stars
The Lychford series are all short novellas, and a particular strength of the previous two was that they didn't feel short: Cornell packed in a ton of atmosphere and twistiness and understated character development to make them feel rich regardless of length. I've loved how they've built mystery and foreboding, the way the stories present the things that are wrong very tightly from the characters' perspectives, so that we only start to see them as odd when the characters do — whether that's in an instantaneous double-take or several pages after an out of place object makes an appearance. It really pulls you into the narrative while tilting you a bit off-center. And it does this with a heavy dose of charm without eschewing the modernity of the three witches at the center of the series; their worries are grounded in reality with a supernatural twist, such as the way the building of a new supermarket threatens the long established borders keeping the town safe.
This book kind of falls short in all those respects. In the beginning Cornell chooses to unfold the mystery at the center of the plot by having Autumn (each book is written from all three witches' perspectives, but there does always seem to be one the story revolves around a little more, and this is Autumn's turn) recollecting the events of the previous night in the midst of a hangover: an interesting conceit, but it doesn't quite work. Autumn remembers everything in not just a linear fashion, but at a pace to suit the progress of the narrative. I've been drunk and suffered hangovers, but the side effects have always been headaches, nausea, and a spotty memory, not a narratively convenient one. That made it a bit hard not just to suspend disbelief but to gain any real sense of portentous happenings. Things do eventually pick up a bit for about the last third of the book as the witches go about solving and righting the mystery in a way that seems familiar (and unique and magical) from the previous books, but aside from a couple spooky moments, it never really achieves that charming, lowkey spookiness of the previous novellas.
This is particularly disappointing because I felt so much could have been done to meet the established tone of the series. The witches have always dealt with protecting the borders of their town (it's a sort of Hellmouth in the way it's a focal point for these boundaries that supernatural creatures would very much like to breach), and this is suddenly complicated by the recent Brexit vote. Cornell does some really lovely things with linking the task of keeping supernatural outsiders out with the fact that Autumn, a black woman, has in many ways always felt like an outsider in her own town, as well as what this means for her relationship with Judith, the fellow witch (and old crone, you might say) to whom she's apprenticed and who's also dealing with the impact of aging in her life (the fact that many who voted in favor of Brexit were old and white is not irrelevant). Unfortunately, while the story embraces the quarrel between the two characters, it shies away from addressing Judith's beliefs directly. Or from linking the very real dread at the state of the world that's invoked at the beginning of the story to the continuing and escalating threat to the town of Lychford.
Which would've probably required a longer novel, or at least a more tightly written one. Cornell writes his female characters beautifully, authentically and distinctly, and that remains true. There's just not a lot of room for the rest of the stumbling that occurred here, so instead of savoring this newest installment I just find myself looking forward to the next one and hoping it's able to recapture the magic the next time we see these characters.
Also, on a more shallow note: The previous books have both had those really beautiful buttery, velvety covers, and I'm actually pretty disappointed that this is just your standard cardstock sort of cover. I was honestly looking forward to the experience of simply holding another one of these books in my hands again. :((((((
The Lychford series are all short novellas, and a particular strength of the previous two was that they didn't feel short: Cornell packed in a ton of atmosphere and twistiness and understated character development to make them feel rich regardless of length. I've loved how they've built mystery and foreboding, the way the stories present the things that are wrong very tightly from the characters' perspectives, so that we only start to see them as odd when the characters do — whether that's in an instantaneous double-take or several pages after an out of place object makes an appearance. It really pulls you into the narrative while tilting you a bit off-center. And it does this with a heavy dose of charm without eschewing the modernity of the three witches at the center of the series; their worries are grounded in reality with a supernatural twist, such as the way the building of a new supermarket threatens the long established borders keeping the town safe.
This book kind of falls short in all those respects. In the beginning Cornell chooses to unfold the mystery at the center of the plot by having Autumn (each book is written from all three witches' perspectives, but there does always seem to be one the story revolves around a little more, and this is Autumn's turn) recollecting the events of the previous night in the midst of a hangover: an interesting conceit, but it doesn't quite work. Autumn remembers everything in not just a linear fashion, but at a pace to suit the progress of the narrative. I've been drunk and suffered hangovers, but the side effects have always been headaches, nausea, and a spotty memory, not a narratively convenient one. That made it a bit hard not just to suspend disbelief but to gain any real sense of portentous happenings. Things do eventually pick up a bit for about the last third of the book as the witches go about solving and righting the mystery in a way that seems familiar (and unique and magical) from the previous books, but aside from a couple spooky moments, it never really achieves that charming, lowkey spookiness of the previous novellas.
This is particularly disappointing because I felt so much could have been done to meet the established tone of the series. The witches have always dealt with protecting the borders of their town (it's a sort of Hellmouth in the way it's a focal point for these boundaries that supernatural creatures would very much like to breach), and this is suddenly complicated by the recent Brexit vote. Cornell does some really lovely things with linking the task of keeping supernatural outsiders out with the fact that Autumn, a black woman, has in many ways always felt like an outsider in her own town, as well as what this means for her relationship with Judith, the fellow witch (and old crone, you might say) to whom she's apprenticed and who's also dealing with the impact of aging in her life (the fact that many who voted in favor of Brexit were old and white is not irrelevant). Unfortunately, while the story embraces the quarrel between the two characters, it shies away from addressing Judith's beliefs directly. Or from linking the very real dread at the state of the world that's invoked at the beginning of the story to the continuing and escalating threat to the town of Lychford.
Which would've probably required a longer novel, or at least a more tightly written one. Cornell writes his female characters beautifully, authentically and distinctly, and that remains true. There's just not a lot of room for the rest of the stumbling that occurred here, so instead of savoring this newest installment I just find myself looking forward to the next one and hoping it's able to recapture the magic the next time we see these characters.
Also, on a more shallow note: The previous books have both had those really beautiful buttery, velvety covers, and I'm actually pretty disappointed that this is just your standard cardstock sort of cover. I was honestly looking forward to the experience of simply holding another one of these books in my hands again. :((((((
aditurbo's review against another edition
1.0
DNF. This series continues to go downhill. While the first book was fun and had some great characters, by the second one the plot was very much the same as in the first book, and the characters began repeating their shticks, but the short novel was still somewhat enjoyable. This third installment is completely unreadable. The plot is again about breaching the magical borders of town, which now have to be recovered. The characters are nothing but a bunch of oddities poorly held together. After just a few chapters I don't care what happens to any of them, and they can all be conquered by the evil spirits for all I care. I think I am done with this series.