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A review by queenofthesouthernsun
The Black Circle by Patrick Carman
4.0
This book definitely wasn't my least favourite of the series so far - that one would have to be The Sword Thief - but it wasn't great either. I didn't like how Amy and Dan were so completely on their own on this one, especially since they were being trailed by three other teams, and I would have liked it if Nellie had come along (at this point Saladin seems pretty useless to the plot). The reveal of NRR was far too quick and the last two or three chapters probably could have been stretched out a bit more.
I did like how more and more hints towards Irina's backstory are being revealed, however the broken English she has seems kind of cheesy, especially since she was a KGB agent. Ian and Natalie were superfluous in this book and could have been kept entirely off-screen (do we honestly to keep re-hashing the sort-of romance between Amy and Ian two books ago?), and Natalie's fuss about her clothes was too childish for her.
Amy and Dan teaming up with Hamilton was a plot twist I didn't see coming, and I like the way the entire Holt family was humanized more. They're still over-competitive and a bit violent, but they're getting deeper as characters and I enjoyed it. I do think there was a bit more potential for the whole Road of Bones scene, especially since not a lot of people know about that part of Russia's history and it is very entertaining.
In the end, this book was fairly interesting and the writing wasn't terrible, however there were issues with characters, inconsequential plot points, and unrealistic storylines. (Do you have to make everyone other than Amy and Dan super-geniuses? Can't you just have Amy and Dan screw up once in a while instead of everyone else having unbelievably good tech or equipment?)
I did like how more and more hints towards Irina's backstory are being revealed, however the broken English she has seems kind of cheesy, especially since she was a KGB agent. Ian and Natalie were superfluous in this book and could have been kept entirely off-screen (do we honestly to keep re-hashing the sort-of romance between Amy and Ian two books ago?), and Natalie's fuss about her clothes was too childish for her.
Amy and Dan teaming up with Hamilton was a plot twist I didn't see coming, and I like the way the entire Holt family was humanized more. They're still over-competitive and a bit violent, but they're getting deeper as characters and I enjoyed it. I do think there was a bit more potential for the whole Road of Bones scene, especially since not a lot of people know about that part of Russia's history and it is very entertaining.
In the end, this book was fairly interesting and the writing wasn't terrible, however there were issues with characters, inconsequential plot points, and unrealistic storylines. (Do you have to make everyone other than Amy and Dan super-geniuses? Can't you just have Amy and Dan screw up once in a while instead of everyone else having unbelievably good tech or equipment?)