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A review by rhodered
Tempting Fate by April White
3.0
I enjoyed it certainly enough to be looking forward to the next books in the series as it comes out. The historic details, especially about the sheer smelliness of 16th century London, were marvelous. I also loved seeing Ringo become a young man very much worthy of respect, as well as seeing Archer and Saira's relationship deepen (especially, delightfully, without the sex that seems to be so prevalent in YA stories now.)
The whole complex plot with everyone dashing about to fight evil using clever homemade explosions and poisons, hidden identities, dashes to and fro across time, hidey holes, etc etc just wore me out after awhile. I couldn't concentrate enough perhaps. And too much hung on the hands of luck and half-remembered science classes.
I also have a pet peeve against authors who bring in major historic figures as secondary characters for their novels. In this case Elizabeth I. For gosh sakes, she was amazing enough in real life, we don't also need to make her paranormal.
However the author's note at the end of the book, complete with a portrait of Elizabeth decked out with her black pearls, was a lot of fun and did quite a bit to win me to the cause.
The whole complex plot with everyone dashing about to fight evil using clever homemade explosions and poisons, hidden identities, dashes to and fro across time, hidey holes, etc etc just wore me out after awhile. I couldn't concentrate enough perhaps. And too much hung on the hands of luck and half-remembered science classes.
I also have a pet peeve against authors who bring in major historic figures as secondary characters for their novels. In this case Elizabeth I. For gosh sakes, she was amazing enough in real life, we don't also need to make her paranormal.
However the author's note at the end of the book, complete with a portrait of Elizabeth decked out with her black pearls, was a lot of fun and did quite a bit to win me to the cause.