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carriethis's review against another edition
3.0
Read this for the "Clear Your Reader" challenge over at Worlds Without End. I wish I'd found more to love in this book. I received my copy as a free ARC from Netgalley.
bookslucyking's review against another edition
2.0
Oh why? Why I havent read the reviews and ratings on this book? I would save myself from such a boring book. I got to the half and was still waiting and waiting for something to happen and well...nothing. One big nothing! And the style of writing was so repetitive and and to many describing of buildings and things. How many times Spire thought about the exact same thing? The same thing over and over again.
In the first half I enjoyed the part with Clara in the USA and I liked Rose in the UK but then even them started to bore me to death. Then I checked GR reviews to see if there is something wrong with me or the book. Well, just look at the ratings and reviews! BORING!!!! I agree with everyone who gave this 2* rating and all their reasons for that. I started to skip parts, I just couldn´t bring myself to read every sentence, trying to get to the point to only find out there is none and somehow got to the end. That end...are you actually kidding? I know understand why people felt like they were missing a chunk in their copy. I felt the same. And honestly I don´t even want to know how this continues. No interest whatsover.
I am quite mad at myself for not checking the reviews and the ratings before starting to read, I don´t understand it, I usually do that. I wasted couple of days with this horrible things instead of reading some super cool book. At the half when I got so bored I though I would stop reading altogether but as I already invested quite a lot of time in it, I decided to finish it with a lot of skipping. Not worth it!
Usually when I don´t like a book that much, it is just because it is not my style and I can find things in it to recommend it to others anyway, pointing out what I don´t like and what others of different reading taste might like. There is literally nothing I can point out here. I am over this book and serie. I learned my lesson. ALWAYS CHECK REVIEWS AND RATING BEFORE STARTING A BOOK! If it looks like here, don´t read it! (note to myself)
And you might ask why not 1* but 2*? Cause I actually liked some of the characters for a while and their back stories. I cared for Clara, Spire and Rose for a while, so at least something good written here, even though it didn´t last. 1* is a complete trash.
In the first half I enjoyed the part with Clara in the USA and I liked Rose in the UK but then even them started to bore me to death. Then I checked GR reviews to see if there is something wrong with me or the book. Well, just look at the ratings and reviews! BORING!!!! I agree with everyone who gave this 2* rating and all their reasons for that. I started to skip parts, I just couldn´t bring myself to read every sentence, trying to get to the point to only find out there is none and somehow got to the end. That end...are you actually kidding? I know understand why people felt like they were missing a chunk in their copy. I felt the same. And honestly I don´t even want to know how this continues. No interest whatsover.
I am quite mad at myself for not checking the reviews and the ratings before starting to read, I don´t understand it, I usually do that. I wasted couple of days with this horrible things instead of reading some super cool book. At the half when I got so bored I though I would stop reading altogether but as I already invested quite a lot of time in it, I decided to finish it with a lot of skipping. Not worth it!
Usually when I don´t like a book that much, it is just because it is not my style and I can find things in it to recommend it to others anyway, pointing out what I don´t like and what others of different reading taste might like. There is literally nothing I can point out here. I am over this book and serie. I learned my lesson. ALWAYS CHECK REVIEWS AND RATING BEFORE STARTING A BOOK! If it looks like here, don´t read it! (note to myself)
And you might ask why not 1* but 2*? Cause I actually liked some of the characters for a while and their back stories. I cared for Clara, Spire and Rose for a while, so at least something good written here, even though it didn´t last. 1* is a complete trash.
aiaviles's review against another edition
3.0
I was very impressed by the intro, but was disappointed with the pacing of this story. Nothing seemed to happen and the end left me with more questions. I kept reading because I wanted to give this book a chance but it ultimately failed me.
zoraidasolo's review against another edition
5.0
I read ETERNA when it was in its first stages. Leanna has a skillful way of taking.you back in time. She is a writer who was born in the wrong century in the best possible way. Complex characters, paranormal hijinx, and superb writing make Leanna Renee Hieber a master at gothic paranormal lit.
alexiachantel's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
5.0
If you're in the mood for a historical paranormal mystery, this is it! Hieber weaves to many elements to gather in The Eternal Files and does it with finesse.
bookfessional's review against another edition
2.0
Reviewed by: Rabid Reads
Do we have any Anne Shirley fans out there? Me, I love Anne Shirley. I loved her when she first arrived at Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert's farm and asked them to call her Cordelia. I loved her when she broke her slate over Gilbert Blythe's head for calling her "carrots." I loved her when she gave that hilariously honest apology to Rachel Lynde . . .
But it wasn't just the early years, I loved Anne's adult years too.
Do you remember when Diana sent Anne's short story (Averil's Atonement) to that (Rollings Reliable) baking powder company?
If Anne Shirley were a real person alive today and had an interest in paranormal alternate history, this is the kind of book she would write:
THE ETERNA FILES was resolutely Victorian, at times being whimsically funny, floridly embellished, and frustratingly redundant on points of feminine equality.
I feel like it's important to say that this book was well-written and entertaining enough that I didn't lose my patience with it until the very end.
What was so dreadful about the end?
*harrumphs* Only that it ended mid-climax. That's all. No big. *shrieks* *gnashes teeth* *glowers*
I kept pushing the arrow button, over and over, half a dozen times, thinking my kindle had chosen an inopportune moment to go wonky, before I realized that, NO, it was over.
The. End.
*flares nostrils*
And ending mid-crisis highlighted how, for more than one reason, it felt like half a book.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Steampunk is not a genre that I've had much success with. There have been a very few exceptions, but mostly I've found it to be tech-heavy and plot-lite, and I assumed that was what prevented me from enjoying it more.
But here's the thing--THE ETERNA FILES is not steampunk. In fact, it's so not steampunk that I had to add "alternate history" to our genre list. But still . . . I found my eyes glazing over in the manner to which I'd become familiar, b/c bored with the flowery descriptions of corsets, petticoats, and fascinators.
And while I am (of course) sympathetic to the plight of women who had yet to be seen as equal and independently worthwhile human beings . . . finding new and creative ways to highlight that point every few pages became tiresome.
There. I said it. All the "woe-is-me, corsets" and "unfair, unfair, unfair" got tiresome, I was tired. *straightens backbone* (b/c no corset).
And b/c of the era's preoccupation with ghosts and communicating with ghosts, nine times out of ten any paranormal elements in this type of book are going to be in relation to that obsession, which in turn lends a gothic feel, neither of which am I very fond. *sighs*
So that's something to take into consideration: if you like Victorians and Victorian things, there's a strong possibility this book will go much better for you. I consider it a lesson well-learned.
Back to the earlier point, two stories are taking place simultaneously, one in New York, the other in London. In both places a team of scientists trying to find "a cure for death" have gone missing. For some reason, the London powers that be believe the Americans have greater and more extensive research on the subject, so they dispatch a spy to recover said information, b/c much like the Space Race of the '60s, both countries are determined that they be the one to succeed, this time in thwarting death, a concept that I found completely ludicrous. I mean, how can you even say, "a cure for death," without Phantom of the Opera-like organ music blaring in the background?
I do not know. Like I said, not for me.
Regardless, the teams are working in tandem, each trying to beat the other, each trying to discover what happened to their scientists, a circumstance that cannot be unrelated, so you know that they will eventually, inevitably overlap . . . but it never happens. Just before the end (mid-crisis, and NO, I will not let that go), plans were finally in place for the English to cross the pond, but this was not a particularly short book, and I can't help but feel that ultimately . . . not much happened.
Overall, not for me, but maybe for you. If you prefer Ann Radcliffe or the sisters Brontë to Jane Austen, I say give it a shot. Likewise, if you like ghosts and melancholy, or you think stealing (or making) corpses for nefarious experiments is deliciously creepy, rather than grotesque, THE ETERNA FILES by Leanne Renee Hieber could very well be your next great read. However, if you are like me, and all of those things are at best "meh" and at worst "ick" then I would move on to less dreary cityscapes. Recommended under a very specific set of circumstances.
Do we have any Anne Shirley fans out there? Me, I love Anne Shirley. I loved her when she first arrived at Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert's farm and asked them to call her Cordelia. I loved her when she broke her slate over Gilbert Blythe's head for calling her "carrots." I loved her when she gave that hilariously honest apology to Rachel Lynde . . .
But it wasn't just the early years, I loved Anne's adult years too.
Do you remember when Diana sent Anne's short story (Averil's Atonement) to that (Rollings Reliable) baking powder company?
If Anne Shirley were a real person alive today and had an interest in paranormal alternate history, this is the kind of book she would write:
"Is that all, milord? I've left my dear wife anxiously awaiting her surprise: a trip to Paris. She's impossible when she's impatient . . . and she's never patient," he added with a smile that spoke of the throes of young love."
THE ETERNA FILES was resolutely Victorian, at times being whimsically funny, floridly embellished, and frustratingly redundant on points of feminine equality.
I feel like it's important to say that this book was well-written and entertaining enough that I didn't lose my patience with it until the very end.
What was so dreadful about the end?
*harrumphs* Only that it ended mid-climax. That's all. No big. *shrieks* *gnashes teeth* *glowers*
I kept pushing the arrow button, over and over, half a dozen times, thinking my kindle had chosen an inopportune moment to go wonky, before I realized that, NO, it was over.
The. End.
*flares nostrils*
And ending mid-crisis highlighted how, for more than one reason, it felt like half a book.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Steampunk is not a genre that I've had much success with. There have been a very few exceptions, but mostly I've found it to be tech-heavy and plot-lite, and I assumed that was what prevented me from enjoying it more.
But here's the thing--THE ETERNA FILES is not steampunk. In fact, it's so not steampunk that I had to add "alternate history" to our genre list. But still . . . I found my eyes glazing over in the manner to which I'd become familiar, b/c bored with the flowery descriptions of corsets, petticoats, and fascinators.
And while I am (of course) sympathetic to the plight of women who had yet to be seen as equal and independently worthwhile human beings . . . finding new and creative ways to highlight that point every few pages became tiresome.
There. I said it. All the "woe-is-me, corsets" and "unfair, unfair, unfair" got tiresome, I was tired. *straightens backbone* (b/c no corset).
And b/c of the era's preoccupation with ghosts and communicating with ghosts, nine times out of ten any paranormal elements in this type of book are going to be in relation to that obsession, which in turn lends a gothic feel, neither of which am I very fond. *sighs*
So that's something to take into consideration: if you like Victorians and Victorian things, there's a strong possibility this book will go much better for you. I consider it a lesson well-learned.
Back to the earlier point, two stories are taking place simultaneously, one in New York, the other in London. In both places a team of scientists trying to find "a cure for death" have gone missing. For some reason, the London powers that be believe the Americans have greater and more extensive research on the subject, so they dispatch a spy to recover said information, b/c much like the Space Race of the '60s, both countries are determined that they be the one to succeed, this time in thwarting death, a concept that I found completely ludicrous. I mean, how can you even say, "a cure for death," without Phantom of the Opera-like organ music blaring in the background?
I do not know. Like I said, not for me.
Regardless, the teams are working in tandem, each trying to beat the other, each trying to discover what happened to their scientists, a circumstance that cannot be unrelated, so you know that they will eventually, inevitably overlap . . . but it never happens. Just before the end (mid-crisis, and NO, I will not let that go), plans were finally in place for the English to cross the pond, but this was not a particularly short book, and I can't help but feel that ultimately . . . not much happened.
Overall, not for me, but maybe for you. If you prefer Ann Radcliffe or the sisters Brontë to Jane Austen, I say give it a shot. Likewise, if you like ghosts and melancholy, or you think stealing (or making) corpses for nefarious experiments is deliciously creepy, rather than grotesque, THE ETERNA FILES by Leanne Renee Hieber could very well be your next great read. However, if you are like me, and all of those things are at best "meh" and at worst "ick" then I would move on to less dreary cityscapes. Recommended under a very specific set of circumstances.
frogwithbook's review
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
lvndrgms3's review against another edition
4.0
A bit out of my wheelhouse, this is my first time reading gaslamp fantasy. Incredibly imaginative and suspenseful with a multitude of characters and warring sides and several spies so you’re never assured of everyone’s true motives. I love the mystique of it all.