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jonathanpalfrey's review against another edition
2.0
I have mixed feelings about this novel.
On the one hand, it's exciting and gripping, a page-turner. I like the characters, and I quite like the scenario, which has depth. The plot is complex and ingenious.
On the other hand, there are various aspects of the book that I don't like so much:
1. Maresca has a taste for bizarre and implausible crimes, whereas I'd prefer something more credible. The star criminal of this story is implausible to the point of surrealism, which annoys me.
2. Magic is in use in this story. I have no objection to magic, but I like it to have well-established limitations and rules of operation, and here it seems to have none, except that the use of magic makes mages tired and hungry.
3. The heroes of this series (Welling and Rainey) are like rubber dolls, they keep bouncing back. Every day they have a horrible level of mental and physical stress, often getting knocked about and wounded; but they keep coming back for more, as though nothing had happened. I feel exhausted and battered on their behalf. Humans can put up with a lot if necessary, but in reality I think their mental and physical performance would be degraded, and I see little sign of it.
4. I was shocked to get to the end of this quite long novel (400 pages in paperback) and find everything about the situation unresolved. To find out what happened, we have to buy another book, which isn't available yet. Readers deserve some warning of this, which I'm providing here.
Overall, I think the author has talent, but I wish he'd use it in a way that was more to my taste!
On the one hand, it's exciting and gripping, a page-turner. I like the characters, and I quite like the scenario, which has depth. The plot is complex and ingenious.
On the other hand, there are various aspects of the book that I don't like so much:
1. Maresca has a taste for bizarre and implausible crimes, whereas I'd prefer something more credible. The star criminal of this story is implausible to the point of surrealism, which annoys me.
2. Magic is in use in this story. I have no objection to magic, but I like it to have well-established limitations and rules of operation, and here it seems to have none, except that the use of magic makes mages tired and hungry.
3. The heroes of this series (Welling and Rainey) are like rubber dolls, they keep bouncing back. Every day they have a horrible level of mental and physical stress, often getting knocked about and wounded; but they keep coming back for more, as though nothing had happened. I feel exhausted and battered on their behalf. Humans can put up with a lot if necessary, but in reality I think their mental and physical performance would be degraded, and I see little sign of it.
4. I was shocked to get to the end of this quite long novel (400 pages in paperback) and find everything about the situation unresolved. To find out what happened, we have to buy another book, which isn't available yet. Readers deserve some warning of this, which I'm providing here.
Overall, I think the author has talent, but I wish he'd use it in a way that was more to my taste!
ninglulu's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.5
rachelini's review against another edition
3.0
Going a little too far into taking it personally territory for me, but I did love how characters from other Maradaine series came into the story.
lyndiane's review against another edition
5.0
This is a great deal more creepy than anything else written by Mr Maresca.
The link between Maradaine Constabulary and Maradaine Elite is cleverly and seamlessley effected, and a prominent menber of the Holver Alley crew makes a couple of strategic and vital appearances. The relationship between Satrine Rainey, Minox Welling and those around them (family, friends and colleagues) grows ever more tense, there are plots, counterplots and betrayals aplenty and there is a stink of treacherous politics permeating everything.
As always, a spiffing good read!!
The link between Maradaine Constabulary and Maradaine Elite is cleverly and seamlessley effected, and a prominent menber of the Holver Alley crew makes a couple of strategic and vital appearances. The relationship between Satrine Rainey, Minox Welling and those around them (family, friends and colleagues) grows ever more tense, there are plots, counterplots and betrayals aplenty and there is a stink of treacherous politics permeating everything.
As always, a spiffing good read!!
r_loretta's review against another edition
5.0
I'M SCREAMING!!! WHAT DID I JUST READ!!!! I NEED MORE!!!
I seriously thought I was emotionally invested before but, oh, boy, was I wrong.
Like, without spoiling anything, some many twists. Up until quite literally the last page. What's going to happen with Minox and his hand? What about Corrie? And Satrine and Phillen Hace???
So many things. I can't handle this. I need the next one in my hands.
Shield of the People better alleviate some of my questions but I fear it'll just add more.
I seriously thought I was emotionally invested before but, oh, boy, was I wrong.
Like, without spoiling anything, some many twists. Up until quite literally the last page. What's going to happen with Minox and his hand? What about Corrie? And Satrine and Phillen Hace???
So many things. I can't handle this. I need the next one in my hands.
Shield of the People better alleviate some of my questions but I fear it'll just add more.
depizan's review against another edition
3.0
I'm not keen on serial killers (or fantasy Saw, or whatever you'd call the Gearbox Killer), and the book ends on a bit of a cliff hanger. On the other hand, the weaving together of the different... subseries? continues to be interesting.
And I continue to find the books in general to be more readable than I can really explain.
And I continue to find the books in general to be more readable than I can really explain.
mikhailrekun's review
3.0
Grimmer and gorier than the foregoing books. Got about a fifth in and just did not feel it.
bibliotropic's review
4.0
I love Maresca’s Maradaine novels. There are multiple subseries at this point, tackling different viewpoints of situations (with a little bit of crossover every now and again, which makes things that much more interesting), and as far as fun fantasy novels go, this is one of my favourite series! This latest one is part of the Maradaine Constabulary series, which reads like a fantasy police procedural/mystery, and I’d saw this one in particular has shades of Saw throughout, but honestly, it’s more than just shades. Maresca pulls a lot from Saw and has characters trapped in clockwork/gearbox equivalents of the torture machines found in the Saw franchise, delicate arrangements of terrifying technology, and it’s up to Rainey and Welling to figure out who the Gearbox Killer is and what his motivations are. Preferably before half the government is killed.
I’m not much for the torture-porn aspect of the Saw franchise, to be honest, but Maresca keeps the balance by not eliminating blood and gore but just toning it down so that it fits better with the style established in other books of the series. Instead, the focus is the sense of urgency. How to free people from the Gearbox Killer’s traps before timers run down, how to save as many people as possible. Maresca’s books are page-turners for me anyway, but this just heightened the urgency I felt to keep going, to get to the next development and see where the story would take me. I wouldn’t recommend this as a starting point for breaking into the Maradaine novels (too much essential info about the characters is established in prior novels), but it’s certainly a great fantasy novel, and it made me want to give the whole series a reread.
(Book received in exchange for review.)
I’m not much for the torture-porn aspect of the Saw franchise, to be honest, but Maresca keeps the balance by not eliminating blood and gore but just toning it down so that it fits better with the style established in other books of the series. Instead, the focus is the sense of urgency. How to free people from the Gearbox Killer’s traps before timers run down, how to save as many people as possible. Maresca’s books are page-turners for me anyway, but this just heightened the urgency I felt to keep going, to get to the next development and see where the story would take me. I wouldn’t recommend this as a starting point for breaking into the Maradaine novels (too much essential info about the characters is established in prior novels), but it’s certainly a great fantasy novel, and it made me want to give the whole series a reread.
(Book received in exchange for review.)
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