A review by atlastheninth
Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall

adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

3.5 Stars 
 
Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall is a romance between two young ladies in the 19th century, but wicked men, curses and goddesses are standing in their way. 
 
The story is told from a (sarcastic) hobgoblin who is observing our MCs secretly, which is fun and inventive, especially in the begging. But it did feel tedious after a while. 
The story was fun, the characters were more or less cute (I don’t think I can describe them any differently, really) and the writing was fine. 
But because the story is being told from this (non-human) outsider POV, I just couldn’t connect to the characters at all. I could only really guess what they were thinking, let alone feeling. And from what they were described as doing, they all seemed to be a bit stupid frankly. 
It was all just very shallow. 
 
The book has this kind of 4 part structure where the first half of the book felt like your average book: characters are introduced, things happen, climax, end. And then there is another quarter of just romance and another quarter of again things happen, climax, end. That did irritate me a bit while reading, but looking back I suppose I didn’t really mind it. 
 
In short: Nice read, but nothing more. 

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