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A review by jessdone
Mosaic by Sarah Fine
2.0
This book caused the most conflict for me in the series. While Sara Fine is still a strong writer, this book is very weak. Her pacing, which has been perfect up to now, stutters in many areas. Her characters start breaking down. Mattie and Asa both start retreading emotional and character themes we've already seen before (and had adequately resolved, please no more of the same). Not to mention Mattie's character has devolved back to the innocent helpless weak-ish little girl we met in the first book. She's actually worse in a lot of ways because her determination to do anything for those close to her no matter what they've done (her most admirable and defining trait) wavers many times in this book. Mattie has so few defining character elements that when she looses this feature, she unravels. Readers have to ask "why am I following this person/invested in any of this?", "Is Mattie even a person anymore or a device to slog through a less than inspired story?"
Again, I did read the whole series and full disclosure: I did go looking for another book, so there is something compelling in this series pages. Though, I wasn't interesting in Mattie at all by the end of this, but curious about what else Asa is doing.
And I think this is where the book/series fails. It's marketed as a romance/fantasy novel with a female lead when really it's a crime/romance novel told from the perspective of the damsel but is about the hardboiled detective Asa. Asa is a sexist demeaning bastard, but he's clever and fun to watch. Reading these books is like watching a Mission Impossible or a Bond flick told from the perspective of one of the many women the leading men sleep with. It forces the reader to face the gross sexism inherent in women's treatment in these worlds and instead of bringing her main female lead up to the skill standards of those around her Fine leaves Mattie weak, vulnerable, and always several steps behind the all male monoliths surrounding her.
Again, I did read the whole series and full disclosure: I did go looking for another book, so there is something compelling in this series pages. Though, I wasn't interesting in Mattie at all by the end of this, but curious about what else Asa is doing.
And I think this is where the book/series fails. It's marketed as a romance/fantasy novel with a female lead when really it's a crime/romance novel told from the perspective of the damsel but is about the hardboiled detective Asa. Asa is a sexist demeaning bastard, but he's clever and fun to watch. Reading these books is like watching a Mission Impossible or a Bond flick told from the perspective of one of the many women the leading men sleep with. It forces the reader to face the gross sexism inherent in women's treatment in these worlds and instead of bringing her main female lead up to the skill standards of those around her Fine leaves Mattie weak, vulnerable, and always several steps behind the all male monoliths surrounding her.