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A review by ria_mhrj
Stranger by Zoe Archer
2.0
I wanted to love this. Warrior and Rebel were fine but I have a huge soft spot for Scoundrel ("Monkeys in hats!"), so I hoped that the Blades of the Rose series was a bit like pre-JJ Star Trek movies: even numbers good, odd numbers... well, subject to fanboy debate.
Catullus Graves is fascinating in theory: nineteenth century inventor, genius, lover of waistcoats and well-spoken Englishman with African roots. Brilliant.
Sadly, his story was underwhelming and I am struggling to pinpoint why exactly. The plot is epic, Gemma is interesting in her own right and the action was non-stop. Yet I found I didn't really care about the characters or what would happen to then. There is a lot of telling in this book and not much showing - the romance seems almost predestined without much cause beyond the fact that they magically 'understand' each other immediately. I was hoping for more complexity for Catullus, given his importance in all previous books.
The hunt for an Indiana Jones-style romp continues.
Catullus Graves is fascinating in theory: nineteenth century inventor, genius, lover of waistcoats and well-spoken Englishman with African roots. Brilliant.
Sadly, his story was underwhelming and I am struggling to pinpoint why exactly. The plot is epic, Gemma is interesting in her own right and the action was non-stop. Yet I found I didn't really care about the characters or what would happen to then. There is a lot of telling in this book and not much showing - the romance seems almost predestined without much cause beyond the fact that they magically 'understand' each other immediately. I was hoping for more complexity for Catullus, given his importance in all previous books.
The hunt for an Indiana Jones-style romp continues.