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A review by halefa
Double Vision by Shaolin Poe
adventurous
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
TL;DR:
Over all easy to read and fast paced book. The magic concept certainly is new and might be interesting if you're into urban fantasy.
Personally, I found the main character a complete twat and found some of the relationships unlogical and unfounded.
Long version:
My biggest issue with this book is the main character and how the other characters interact with him.
He is a self-centred, egoistic predator. And everyone around him acts as if he is a loveable, funny hero.
He stalked a woman for a while year, believing that he's in love with her based only on seeing her - the book acknowledges that this might be "a bit creepy" and "a little morally sketchy", but to my disappointment never really goes back to this and properly self-analyzes that as incredibly harmful and predatory behaviour.
To my even bigger disappointment, the stalked-upon woman seems to be enamored with him and is jokingly being described as a "jealous vixen" after only knowing him for a day or two.
Most (not all) of the women are described as absolutely gorgeous looking by the (male) main character, who starts to philosophise how a beautiful woman's looks were their own kind of magic upon meeting a woman for the first time (the one that the stalked-upon woman, who met him for the first time one day prior, got jealous about) - wtf is going on??
The plot of the book only spans over few days,but somehow all the strangers he meets immediately bond with him on an absolute trust level. Like this dude is being invited to top-secret police meetings for no reason whatsoever. The police chief even asks him how to run the mission!
My ick is mostly the main character.
Apart from that, I'd say that the language in the book is very colorful and aimed to be casual, funny and lighthearted - once in a while I got a bit annoyed by five metaphors in one paragraph, but overall it was easy to read.
I had the impression the author might have lost track over how much time passed in the book, cause things happen fast and the vibe as well.
The magic concept seems ... ambitious. Having a character being able to see all reflections certainly is a niche superpower that is unheard of - and how do you place that in an urban world, which boundaries and physics do you set for your character? In my eyes, the author managed to write that manageable - even though the magic concept seems more unhinged and uncontained with every new information provided.
There seem to be no boundaries for what kinds of magic there are. Sometimes it feels like the author just made them up on the spot with whatever was convenient. And obviously found a fancy-sounding name for them, always followed up by a "also known as [insert a shorter version of the fancy-sounding name]".
I feel like this book might have benefit from a slower pace. Slow the world building, let the characters develop, let relationships form naturally. Don't loredump everything into the main character (and thus us) in the matter of hours and days.
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Review copy provided by NetGalley
Over all easy to read and fast paced book. The magic concept certainly is new and might be interesting if you're into urban fantasy.
Personally, I found the main character a complete twat and found some of the relationships unlogical and unfounded.
Long version:
My biggest issue with this book is the main character and how the other characters interact with him.
He is a self-centred, egoistic predator. And everyone around him acts as if he is a loveable, funny hero.
He stalked a woman for a while year, believing that he's in love with her based only on seeing her - the book acknowledges that this might be "a bit creepy" and "a little morally sketchy", but to my disappointment never really goes back to this and properly self-analyzes that as incredibly harmful and predatory behaviour.
To my even bigger disappointment, the stalked-upon woman seems to be enamored with him and is jokingly being described as a "jealous vixen" after only knowing him for a day or two.
Most (not all) of the women are described as absolutely gorgeous looking by the (male) main character, who starts to philosophise how a beautiful woman's looks were their own kind of magic upon meeting a woman for the first time (the one that the stalked-upon woman, who met him for the first time one day prior, got jealous about) - wtf is going on??
The plot of the book only spans over few days,but somehow all the strangers he meets immediately bond with him on an absolute trust level. Like this dude is being invited to top-secret police meetings for no reason whatsoever. The police chief even asks him how to run the mission!
My ick is mostly the main character.
Apart from that, I'd say that the language in the book is very colorful and aimed to be casual, funny and lighthearted - once in a while I got a bit annoyed by five metaphors in one paragraph, but overall it was easy to read.
I had the impression the author might have lost track over how much time passed in the book, cause things happen fast and the vibe as well.
The magic concept seems ... ambitious. Having a character being able to see all reflections certainly is a niche superpower that is unheard of - and how do you place that in an urban world, which boundaries and physics do you set for your character? In my eyes, the author managed to write that manageable - even though the magic concept seems more unhinged and uncontained with every new information provided.
There seem to be no boundaries for what kinds of magic there are. Sometimes it feels like the author just made them up on the spot with whatever was convenient. And obviously found a fancy-sounding name for them, always followed up by a "also known as [insert a shorter version of the fancy-sounding name]".
I feel like this book might have benefit from a slower pace. Slow the world building, let the characters develop, let relationships form naturally. Don't loredump everything into the main character (and thus us) in the matter of hours and days.
-------
Review copy provided by NetGalley
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Stalking, and Death of parent
Minor: Fatphobia, Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, and Grief