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A review by colossal
Impostor Syndrome by Mishell Baker
4.0
A return to the multiverse of the Arcadia Project with both the Seelie and Unseelie Courts divided, the Project at war with itself, and Millie and her friends right in the middle of it.
With battle lines drawn between the rebel Arcadia Project in the West Coast of the US and the headquarters in London, Dame Belinda fires the first volley in the war. During a meeting with Fae royalty, Tjuan finds out that he's now wanted for murder, because apparently someone who looked exactly like him killed somebody in an armed holdup. Given Millie was eating pizza with him at the time it happened, she knows it can't be true so she commits her extensive resourcefulness and connections to both freeing Tjuan and resolving the fight with the UK branch.
The first book in this series was tight, inventive and fascinating in its treatment of mental illness and how treatment strategies can actually be strategies for all sorts of things. These next two have a core of the first book and build a wider selection of characters with both diagnosed mental health concerns and quite a few fantastic characters who are often analogues of the same. Unfortunately where they fall down is that they're no longer anywhere near as tight, and end up being rambling and a bit hard to follow, often with dangling plot points.
It's good stuff, but I no longer really hold this series above most other urban fantasy.
One other note for those concerned with dauntingly never-ending series in this genre: this book feels like an end to the series, or at least a good point to get off should it continue.
With battle lines drawn between the rebel Arcadia Project in the West Coast of the US and the headquarters in London, Dame Belinda fires the first volley in the war. During a meeting with Fae royalty, Tjuan finds out that he's now wanted for murder, because apparently someone who looked exactly like him killed somebody in an armed holdup. Given Millie was eating pizza with him at the time it happened, she knows it can't be true so she commits her extensive resourcefulness and connections to both freeing Tjuan and resolving the fight with the UK branch.
The first book in this series was tight, inventive and fascinating in its treatment of mental illness and how treatment strategies can actually be strategies for all sorts of things. These next two have a core of the first book and build a wider selection of characters with both diagnosed mental health concerns and quite a few fantastic characters who are often analogues of the same. Unfortunately where they fall down is that they're no longer anywhere near as tight, and end up being rambling and a bit hard to follow, often with dangling plot points.
It's good stuff, but I no longer really hold this series above most other urban fantasy.
One other note for those concerned with dauntingly never-ending series in this genre: this book feels like an end to the series, or at least a good point to get off should it continue.