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A review by jwillis81
Between Two Thorns by Emma Newman
2.0
While I love the imagination and world-building that went into creating this story, I was really underwhelmed by this book. I picked it up based on a synopsis that made it seem like a supernatural crime story, and found it instead to be more along the lines of a supernatural Jane Austen tale. So much time was spent discussing and fretting over proper behavior in fey "society" that the crime and other supernatural elements felt more like minor subplots. None of the characters were particularly engaging, and the fey society was so full of misogynistic old-world attitudes that it made me question why anyone would value a place or aspire to have a place in that society at all (which was a central premise of multiple storylines in the narrative).
Most frustrating of all was the fact that the main storyline just abruptly stops at the end of the book despite being unresolved. I know there are other books in the series and the main narrative is meant to carry over, but this book made it feel more like turning off a movie in the middle rather than ending a first installment and promising a continuation in the second.
Overall, I may just not be the intended audience for this book. I was expecting a fantasy crime novel and ended up reading a society drama with some fantasy elements.
Most frustrating of all was the fact that the main storyline just abruptly stops at the end of the book despite being unresolved. I know there are other books in the series and the main narrative is meant to carry over, but this book made it feel more like turning off a movie in the middle rather than ending a first installment and promising a continuation in the second.
Overall, I may just not be the intended audience for this book. I was expecting a fantasy crime novel and ended up reading a society drama with some fantasy elements.