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A review by laragomes
Penny for Your Soul by K.A. Ashcomb
3.0
*3,5*
It took me a minute to get into this book. But as soon as I did I manage to really appreciate it! It was funny, the world was beautifully well crafted, incredibly morbid and so well thought through. The characters are amazing - I may not care for everyone and wish for a second death to a couple, but what matters is that Petula is my spirit animal and I love her -. The writing was fun and actually got me laughing out loud in a few precious moments, and the footnotes were just amazing, one of the best things, I loved them!
Ok. Considering all that, one might ask: "Why 3,5 stars and not 5 or 4?"
Well, this book is not my new bible or anything so, it would be a solid 4 star for me. But there was one aspect of this book that annoyed me more than it should, but it'll most likely not be noticed by almost anyone else. Is just that, you see, I'm an accounting student. Therefore, i know the abc of economics. And so, i found that the whole economy problem - which is a big theme in this book - wasn't really well constructed. (Plus, being only a student I had to seek validation to appease my states of confusion what led to a less continuous read, once i had to do a bit of researching and consulting with some colleagues).
WARNING - The following section may bore you to death. If you just don't care for the economy, just jump to after the "END OF RAMBLING ABOUT ECONOMICS". Thank you.
The thing is that you are told multiple time throughout this book of how bad the economy is, rather then shown how bad it is. It takes a long time for someone to explain what is the problem here, and i don't think it was that clearly explained neither. At some points, characters would say of how they have been in this crisis for years, without saying what exactly was said crises. And then someone else would say that it would take one bubble bursting to everything go to hell. Although the economy of the period before a bubble bursting does not seem to be going bad, usually there is great surprise because everyone just thinks everything is fine. What contradicts the whole "the economy has been bad for years" discourse that a lot of the characters take. (And also, I'll say that there was a type of debt bubble, but it wasn't really the main problem. The crises wouldn't be classified as a Speculative Bubble, and mentioning this bubble wasn't that necessary and made everything more confusing).
I feel like - in mine not so profound knowledge of economics - what should have gone a little more in consideration, is that a big part of the economy is who knows what, and what people believe in. Such aspect was overlooked, especially in the end of this book. And not being able to tell what information was known to all, and what information were known only to this specific group of people, was really a downside of this book for me. You know. The accountant.
I wont go over all the key points that made, in my opinion, the economic situation a bit of a mess - in the sense of, What type of crises, and in what stage of it are we dealing with here? - Mainly because it would make this review way too long and only an accountant or economist would understand and see if they agree or not. But i'll leave this one observation of this thing that I feel like it was overlooked. It does contain spoilers for the end of the book though.
So at the end of the book. Morris decides to do the "right" thing. And says this to everyone to hear:
"All of us were lying about our assets, giving more money out than there was to be given, and without caring where we gave it or if it was ever going to be paid back"
Now. The thing with the economy is that is really about behavior. And is about who knows what. Again, I won't go over every single aspect that bothered me. But this one I found it worthy to note. After everything is set and done, Petula becomes mayor and people were back living their lives, and the economy was still doing bad, but no specifics. The thing is, Morris just told everyone who wanted to hear, about how they have been giving loans of money they didn't have. Considering that Banks make loans using the money of their customers. And, for what I've gather, the "economy problem" was basically inflation duo to the overheating of the economy by the excess of loans - made with money they didn't have -. After Morris tells everyone how they weren't really controlling the whole loaning situation, there would be a "Bank Run", also known as the collapse everyone was fearing this whole time, the equivalent of the "bubble bursting" if you will, leading to a recession and a Baking crises.
END OF RAMBLING ABOUT ECONOMICS
Regardless of all that. A "Penny for your soul" was an interest book. Even though my entertainment level was diminish by my frustration as an accountant - And that I refuse to believe that Morgan's father had every single loan he’d given paid in full - I do have to recognize that it was really good! I Loved the whole necromantic/dead vibe to it. The world building was smartly done and i'm forever impress with it. I'd love to read another book based on Necropolis, maybe with more vampires and other beings. (What just goes to show how enjoyable reading about this world is!). So I'll say that, if you are not an economist, and have a thing for the fantastical, the magical, and the slightly dead. Chances are that you'll like this book!
It took me a minute to get into this book. But as soon as I did I manage to really appreciate it! It was funny, the world was beautifully well crafted, incredibly morbid and so well thought through. The characters are amazing - I may not care for everyone and wish for a second death to a couple, but what matters is that Petula is my spirit animal and I love her -. The writing was fun and actually got me laughing out loud in a few precious moments, and the footnotes were just amazing, one of the best things, I loved them!
Ok. Considering all that, one might ask: "Why 3,5 stars and not 5 or 4?"
Well, this book is not my new bible or anything so, it would be a solid 4 star for me. But there was one aspect of this book that annoyed me more than it should, but it'll most likely not be noticed by almost anyone else. Is just that, you see, I'm an accounting student. Therefore, i know the abc of economics. And so, i found that the whole economy problem - which is a big theme in this book - wasn't really well constructed. (Plus, being only a student I had to seek validation to appease my states of confusion what led to a less continuous read, once i had to do a bit of researching and consulting with some colleagues).
WARNING - The following section may bore you to death. If you just don't care for the economy, just jump to after the "END OF RAMBLING ABOUT ECONOMICS". Thank you.
The thing is that you are told multiple time throughout this book of how bad the economy is, rather then shown how bad it is. It takes a long time for someone to explain what is the problem here, and i don't think it was that clearly explained neither. At some points, characters would say of how they have been in this crisis for years, without saying what exactly was said crises. And then someone else would say that it would take one bubble bursting to everything go to hell. Although the economy of the period before a bubble bursting does not seem to be going bad, usually there is great surprise because everyone just thinks everything is fine. What contradicts the whole "the economy has been bad for years" discourse that a lot of the characters take. (And also, I'll say that there was a type of debt bubble, but it wasn't really the main problem. The crises wouldn't be classified as a Speculative Bubble, and mentioning this bubble wasn't that necessary and made everything more confusing).
I feel like - in mine not so profound knowledge of economics - what should have gone a little more in consideration, is that a big part of the economy is who knows what, and what people believe in. Such aspect was overlooked, especially in the end of this book. And not being able to tell what information was known to all, and what information were known only to this specific group of people, was really a downside of this book for me. You know. The accountant.
I wont go over all the key points that made, in my opinion, the economic situation a bit of a mess - in the sense of, What type of crises, and in what stage of it are we dealing with here? - Mainly because it would make this review way too long and only an accountant or economist would understand and see if they agree or not. But i'll leave this one observation of this thing that I feel like it was overlooked. It does contain spoilers for the end of the book though.
So at the end of the book. Morris decides to do the "right" thing. And says this to everyone to hear:
"All of us were lying about our assets, giving more money out than there was to be given, and without caring where we gave it or if it was ever going to be paid back"
Now. The thing with the economy is that is really about behavior. And is about who knows what. Again, I won't go over every single aspect that bothered me. But this one I found it worthy to note. After everything is set and done, Petula becomes mayor and people were back living their lives, and the economy was still doing bad, but no specifics. The thing is, Morris just told everyone who wanted to hear, about how they have been giving loans of money they didn't have. Considering that Banks make loans using the money of their customers. And, for what I've gather, the "economy problem" was basically inflation duo to the overheating of the economy by the excess of loans - made with money they didn't have -. After Morris tells everyone how they weren't really controlling the whole loaning situation, there would be a "Bank Run", also known as the collapse everyone was fearing this whole time, the equivalent of the "bubble bursting" if you will, leading to a recession and a Baking crises.
END OF RAMBLING ABOUT ECONOMICS
Regardless of all that. A "Penny for your soul" was an interest book. Even though my entertainment level was diminish by my frustration as an accountant - And that I refuse to believe that Morgan's father had every single loan he’d given paid in full - I do have to recognize that it was really good! I Loved the whole necromantic/dead vibe to it. The world building was smartly done and i'm forever impress with it. I'd love to read another book based on Necropolis, maybe with more vampires and other beings. (What just goes to show how enjoyable reading about this world is!). So I'll say that, if you are not an economist, and have a thing for the fantastical, the magical, and the slightly dead. Chances are that you'll like this book!