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A review by alpho
Storm in a Teacup by Emmie Mears
2.0
I'm going to be honest: I almost put it down when it revealed that Mediators are Mediators because they're born with violet eyes. And I probably should have.
I like urban fantasy when it's done well, but done well is kind of the key part of that. And for the most part this book is pretty much generic extruded urban fantasy product. Not terribly incompetent generic extruded fantasy product, and it managed to get me at least mildly interested when it finally hit the central conflict about halfway through of the organization Ayala is loyal unto death to is doing something she knows is morally unethical but can't convince them of that. But mild interest in a conflict like that is pretty damning praise.
For urban fantasy to work for me, it has to have at least two of these: An interesting protagonist, a good ensemble cast, and/or an interesting world. (A good romance rarely does much for me, but I'm not sure it would have saved this book if I had been interested, so whatever.)
Protagonist:
Ayala starts off as thoroughly generic tough girl, but gets a little more interesting when she starts having to deal with shades being capable of being people by her own standards. There were I never quite became interested in her but I could see potential, at least.
Ensemble:
Weak. Ayala isn't interested in other people and generally doesn't make strong connections with them. The most well-developed character who isn't Ayala is the sexually harassing coworker, and that's not a good sign.
Worldbuilding:
Just bad. It's a normal world with witches and demons and Mediators, but there's no real thought in changing the real world to adapt to the addition of magic. If the witches and demons and Mediators were secret, that would be fine. Since they're not, the real world mostly existing unchanged is unrealistic and lazy, and makes the whole book feel weirdly shallow. Which can be overlooked for other good qualities, but I'm not seeing a lot of those.
I like urban fantasy when it's done well, but done well is kind of the key part of that. And for the most part this book is pretty much generic extruded urban fantasy product. Not terribly incompetent generic extruded fantasy product, and it managed to get me at least mildly interested when it finally hit the central conflict about halfway through of the organization Ayala is loyal unto death to is doing something she knows is morally unethical but can't convince them of that. But mild interest in a conflict like that is pretty damning praise.
For urban fantasy to work for me, it has to have at least two of these: An interesting protagonist, a good ensemble cast, and/or an interesting world. (A good romance rarely does much for me, but I'm not sure it would have saved this book if I had been interested, so whatever.)
Protagonist:
Ayala starts off as thoroughly generic tough girl, but gets a little more interesting when she starts having to deal with shades being capable of being people by her own standards. There were I never quite became interested in her but I could see potential, at least.
Ensemble:
Weak. Ayala isn't interested in other people and generally doesn't make strong connections with them. The most well-developed character who isn't Ayala is the sexually harassing coworker, and that's not a good sign.
Worldbuilding:
Just bad. It's a normal world with witches and demons and Mediators, but there's no real thought in changing the real world to adapt to the addition of magic. If the witches and demons and Mediators were secret, that would be fine. Since they're not, the real world mostly existing unchanged is unrealistic and lazy, and makes the whole book feel weirdly shallow. Which can be overlooked for other good qualities, but I'm not seeing a lot of those.