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A review by ninjamuse
At the Table of Wolves by Kay Kenyon
2.0
In brief: In an alternate 1930s Britain, Kim Tavistock has the spill, the ability to draw secrets out of people, which she’s anxious to hide. Then she’s asked to get close to a suspected spy to uncover a Nazi mole and suddenly she’s holding more secrets than she can safely handle. First in a series.
Thoughts: I didn’t go into this expecting a spy thriller, but I probably should have. (I’d heard “superpowers” and “World War II” and “fans of Agent Carter and Captain America” and imagined a full-on superheroic battle.*) I liked it though, once my expectations adjusted. Didn’t love, because it could’ve been a bit more thrilling, but definitely liked.
Oh, it’s well-paced and well-written, with interesting characters and tensions and a good spread of espionage set pieces, but it also feels very much like a British drawing room drama. It’s an interesting angle to take a story like this, and proof that you can write a spy novel without constant action and by prioritizing female experiences, but … again, not what I was expecting. I wasn’t expecting multiple POVs either, but they helped keep the tension up, so that’s all right.
I did like Kim, who’s just clever enough to pull things off but naïve enough to get into trouble, and I liked how her subplots ended up meshing at the end. (I always like books that pull that off.) The subplot with Rose, her family’s developmentally delayed maid, is especially sweet and important, and everything between Kim and her father is … intriguing, let’s say. It’ll be interesting seeing how that, and Kim herself, develops as the series continues.
I also found the superpower-related world-building pretty neat, though a bit surface. They come from a unique event, they’re still new enough to the world to be mysterious, they’re not the usual slate of powers, and they’re not all solely good or solely evil, though Kenyon doesn’t shy from pointing out the darker and more disturbing sides all the same.
All the same, nothing really struck me enough about this to make it stand out or get me to rush out in a few months when the sequel drops. I suspect this is more a me problem more than a book problem, and there’s a decent chance I’ll pick the sequel up at some point, when I’m in the mood.
* Which is probably coming at some point in the series, mind you.
Warnings: Nazis, it almost goes without saying. Specifically, Nazi and similarly conservative views of homosexuality and mental disability, including slurs for the latter. One gay character, killed partway through for plot. Slight redemption of main Nazi character.
6.5/10
Thoughts: I didn’t go into this expecting a spy thriller, but I probably should have. (I’d heard “superpowers” and “World War II” and “fans of Agent Carter and Captain America” and imagined a full-on superheroic battle.*) I liked it though, once my expectations adjusted. Didn’t love, because it could’ve been a bit more thrilling, but definitely liked.
Oh, it’s well-paced and well-written, with interesting characters and tensions and a good spread of espionage set pieces, but it also feels very much like a British drawing room drama. It’s an interesting angle to take a story like this, and proof that you can write a spy novel without constant action and by prioritizing female experiences, but … again, not what I was expecting. I wasn’t expecting multiple POVs either, but they helped keep the tension up, so that’s all right.
I did like Kim, who’s just clever enough to pull things off but naïve enough to get into trouble, and I liked how her subplots ended up meshing at the end. (I always like books that pull that off.) The subplot with Rose, her family’s developmentally delayed maid, is especially sweet and important, and everything between Kim and her father is … intriguing, let’s say. It’ll be interesting seeing how that, and Kim herself, develops as the series continues.
I also found the superpower-related world-building pretty neat, though a bit surface. They come from a unique event, they’re still new enough to the world to be mysterious, they’re not the usual slate of powers, and they’re not all solely good or solely evil, though Kenyon doesn’t shy from pointing out the darker and more disturbing sides all the same.
All the same, nothing really struck me enough about this to make it stand out or get me to rush out in a few months when the sequel drops. I suspect this is more a me problem more than a book problem, and there’s a decent chance I’ll pick the sequel up at some point, when I’m in the mood.
* Which is probably coming at some point in the series, mind you.
Warnings: Nazis, it almost goes without saying. Specifically, Nazi and similarly conservative views of homosexuality and mental disability, including slurs for the latter. One gay character, killed partway through for plot. Slight redemption of main Nazi character.
6.5/10