Helpful Score: 7
I agree that this is a good take on the magical idea. The characters are great Wren and Sergei. There is just enough romance between them to keep that alive but it's not overheated. I did think there was a few too many secret societies. I felt like I needed a score card to keep up with who was involved with what. Yikes. Hope that smooths out in later books. I will be reading them. This is a great read over all.
Helpful Score: 7
The book starts with Wren beginning a job. The client is missing the cornerstone of their building and Wren has been tasked to find it. The book goes straight into the story as if the reader has had some background from some prequel story. While I liked being considered smart enough to figure it out, and I did figure it out, I still wish that I knew their backstory earlier on in the book. I'm afraid that not knowing for as long as I was made the book boring at first. I thought the first couple of pages started off promising but then not really being filled in after that started to grate on me. It was after I picked the book up again and kept reading and got about 150 pages in that the book finally picked up. By then I understood who I was reading about. To me to me the most interesting part of the book was Wren and Sergei. It reminds me of Moonlighting, Remington Steele and The X-Files. Two people partnered together who you know are both secretly in love with the other but who deny it to themselves the whole time. I don't think I've read a book with a partnership so in tune and comfortable with each other (yet blind) in a really long time.
Helpful Score: 4
I enjoyed this book a lot, especially the interplay between the two main characters. A nice mix of mystery, fantasy and romance!
Helpful Score: 3
I really liked the premise of this book, but I wasn't too crazy about the author's writing style, she kinda had a lot of run-on sentences so I found myself rereading some things. And at another point, when she started off a chapter with one of Wren's dream sequences, which went on for like 3 pages, you didn't know the whole time whose dream it was. So I flipped to the end of the dream sequence to find out... I mean, if it's a character who hasn't been introduced yet, or someone we're not supposed to know, I can see that strategy, but for the main character, it was just unnecessary and kind of a pain in the ass because I like to be able to envision the story in my head while I'm reading.
However, since this was Gilman's first novel, I'm expecting better things in this regard in later books. As a matter of fact, I recall reading a short story from her as part of the Powers of Detection anthology and the writing didn't bug me then, so my point stands.
I liked the characters, Wren and Sergi, and imagined P.B. as a little Gizmo... you know from that Gremlins movie. :D And I'm looking forward to reading more about them in Curse the Dark.
However, since this was Gilman's first novel, I'm expecting better things in this regard in later books. As a matter of fact, I recall reading a short story from her as part of the Powers of Detection anthology and the writing didn't bug me then, so my point stands.
I liked the characters, Wren and Sergi, and imagined P.B. as a little Gizmo... you know from that Gremlins movie. :D And I'm looking forward to reading more about them in Curse the Dark.
Helpful Score: 3
I enjoy urban fantasy, and this series looks likes a good one. The magic system is a sophisticated technology, the romance is just beginning, and enough baddies still lurk to fuel future adventures. I look forward to them.
