Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - Das Flammende Phantom

In the penultimate book in Jonathan Stroud’s wonderfully creepy and cozy series, Lockwood & Co, we open on Lucy living a life after leaving Lockwood and Co and finding work as a freelance operative. She seems miserable on all accounts and jumps at the chance to be hired as a freelancer by her previous employer, Lockwood himself. He has come with a request from Penelope Fittes, which results in the group getting back together (with the new addition of former rival Quill Kipps) to fight against still more unsettling ghosts. However, things are not as they seem as they try to discover the secret of a Creeping Shadow that has been seen terrorizing a local sleepy village. Behind all of this lies a still more sinister enemy.

This definitely was an improvement on the last book and I adored getting through this one. The added tension between Lucy and Anthony melted my not-romantic-at-all heart and her reconciliation with both George and Holly made said heart sing for joy. I did find myself on the edge of my seat, especially during the last few chapters and I cannot wait to read the final part of this series!!!

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jackiepreston's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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starlitpage's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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erebus53's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Here I am still dawdling through this book series (now at number 4) and I still don't like the main character. Here's a plot that I find engaging and relationships that are .. dysfunctional and messy.. and a cast that is woefully blonde despite the token brown girl, and all the horror and humour is based on people being fat.

It's woeful.

I really like the problem solving stuff and the world is fun. The survival and the ghost hunting is cool. The title character is swishy.. but it's almost embarrassingly cliché. The animosity and compulsive competition between characters makes it weird because even the buddies hate kinda hate each other... and any closeness between the two main characters is more like sappy girly crush stuff and trauma bonds, rather than any sensible relationship building.

Why am I still here? I really do like the setting. It's atmospheric and I like the spooky. I like the pace and the plot beats.. I like the problem solving and the uncovering of mysteries. I like the secret bad guys and the reversal of fortunes. The dreadful, evil buddy-character is ridiculous, and in this book you get a bit of a reveal about what the ghost might have actually looked like in life. And there is collateral damage! Named characters are starting to drop.. ok not Core characters.. but important ones.

The Co. part of "Lockwood &" is beginning to snowball. In this book yet another character is affiliated with the team.. previously a bit part is now sort of integrating into more of a recurring presence. The team are supposed to hate him, but I have kind of a crush... Lucy may be eyerollingly negative, but I don't have to share her view.

Fine.. there's only one more book left.. I might as well finish the series.. not just yet, but soon.

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fyre_flies's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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chris_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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