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wealie 's review for:
The Diabolical Miss Hyde
by Viola Carr
Two stars 🌟🌟 - A confusing mishmash of styles, underused characters and superfluous sub plots - with occasional flashes of brilliance.
I read this book over the month of June as a buddy read. Had it not been a buddy read, I’ve no doubt it would have gone on my DNR shelf after the first five chapters, which were exceptionally poor. At the end of five chapters I was frustrated with the writing style, with very little to show in terms of the story arc and lots of unanswered plot, world and character questions. The next 10 to 15 chapters got better, but the introduction of too many characters, lack of substantive world building and cohesive plot development plagued the novel throughout, leaving you at times confused, underwhelmed and with more questions than answers. By the time we came to the final act I really didn’t care for the central character and had zero investment in what happens next - So no reading the sequel for me.
It’s obvious the book was written to have a sequel(s), because apart form some key character reveals and the revelation of the ‘Chopper’s’ identity and their apprehension, very little was concluded in any satisfying manner. Now don’t get me wrong, I like a good series (I read PNR and Urban Fantasy for goodness sake), but the blatant character baiting in the final chapters and lack of key thematic resolutions left a bad taste in my mouth.
The principal concept of split personalities (one light, one shadowed) was good, but woefully unexplored and to a certain extent made moot by the way the characters of Eliza and Lizzie developed to by the end - Perhaps this was intentional on the author’s part, but it left me confused and cold, without any attachment or strong feeling other than ‘Meh’ to either character. Considering Lizzie is the titular ‘Diabolical Miss Hyde’ she played a mildly disagreeable second fiddle to Eliza through most of the novel and was not very diabolical at all.
The novel has flashes of brilliance, such as the banter between Eliza and Lafayette, the creepy gentlemanly behaviour of the serial killer Mr Todd and his back history with Eliza, and the steampunk gadgets. These remain flashes though, as for the most part they were not fully explored or realised in the novel. The possibility of of a love triangle between Eliza, Lizzie and Lafayette was there for the taking, but the author never took the bait - perhaps that will be in the sequel 🙄
There were far too many characters, so every character (including the titular Lizzie) was under-used and under-developed with the exception of Eliza, who I went from being non-plused about at the beginning of the novel to really disliking by the end. In the cuminating chapters of the book I really couldn’t care if she lived or died.
So, in conclusion I couldn’t give this a 1 star review as it is not terrible, but it had the potential to be so much more so I can’t reward it with a 3 star review for being mediocre to middle of the road when it had flashes of brilliance, which in the end annoyed me more for showing what this novel could have been with a bit more work and forethought.
I read this book over the month of June as a buddy read. Had it not been a buddy read, I’ve no doubt it would have gone on my DNR shelf after the first five chapters, which were exceptionally poor. At the end of five chapters I was frustrated with the writing style, with very little to show in terms of the story arc and lots of unanswered plot, world and character questions. The next 10 to 15 chapters got better, but the introduction of too many characters, lack of substantive world building and cohesive plot development plagued the novel throughout, leaving you at times confused, underwhelmed and with more questions than answers. By the time we came to the final act I really didn’t care for the central character and had zero investment in what happens next - So no reading the sequel for me.
It’s obvious the book was written to have a sequel(s), because apart form some key character reveals and the revelation of the ‘Chopper’s’ identity and their apprehension, very little was concluded in any satisfying manner. Now don’t get me wrong, I like a good series (I read PNR and Urban Fantasy for goodness sake), but the blatant character baiting in the final chapters and lack of key thematic resolutions left a bad taste in my mouth.
The principal concept of split personalities (one light, one shadowed) was good, but woefully unexplored and to a certain extent made moot by the way the characters of Eliza and Lizzie developed to by the end -
Spoiler
At times it was hard to distinguish between them, both appeared more fully realised human beings in that they could show compassion and love, as well as hatred and anger. Lizzie’s mannerisms became much more generic and at times it wasn’t clear she was in charge. As the novel went on they seemed to come out some kind of sympatico, understanding the need for each other, robbing the reader of any drama a fight for ultimate control of their joined being would bring. Nor did Lizzie’s activities ever seem to have any real threat of coming back negatively on Eliza’s life, which could have added some much needed tensionThe novel has flashes of brilliance, such as the banter between Eliza and Lafayette, the creepy gentlemanly behaviour of the serial killer Mr Todd and his back history with Eliza, and the steampunk gadgets. These remain flashes though, as for the most part they were not fully explored or realised in the novel. The possibility of of a love triangle between Eliza, Lizzie and Lafayette was there for the taking, but the author never took the bait - perhaps that will be in the sequel 🙄
There were far too many characters, so every character (including the titular Lizzie) was under-used and under-developed with the exception of Eliza, who I went from being non-plused about at the beginning of the novel to really disliking by the end. In the cuminating chapters of the book I really couldn’t care if she lived or died.
So, in conclusion I couldn’t give this a 1 star review as it is not terrible, but it had the potential to be so much more so I can’t reward it with a 3 star review for being mediocre to middle of the road when it had flashes of brilliance, which in the end annoyed me more for showing what this novel could have been with a bit more work and forethought.