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emilyclaire007's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
cellardoor10's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this, but got a little lost in the mystery/solution setup. Overall, really interesting, and I'll be checking out more of the series at some point.
elfduchess's review against another edition
DNF - PG 22
Why?
Some time back, I bought this interactive fiction text 'game' called Choice of the Deathless. I thought it was pretty fun, even if the world building was crazy and, more often than not, encouraged me to skim anything that wasn't directly related to my choices or the optional romance. (My two major reasons for playing these games instead of just reading a book.)
Time passed and this book was brought back to my mind. I mean, we have a black woman on the cover (of a spec fiction book, no less!) and the world sounds delightfully quirky. So I start reading it and realize, about five pages into it, that this world seems familiar. Beyond that, the writing style sounds familiar. Then I remember that game and look up the author of it and, much to my unsurprise, they are both written by the same author.
That being said, this is definitely not the book for me. If I would have realized who the author was, I probably wouldn't have even tried to read this book because while I love my fantasy and sci-fi and steampunk and all that good stuff, I much prefer light world building to heavy world building, which, as I could have guessed from the game, is the author's thing. (Even better is background world building where the building is definitely there, but the author lets it stand on it's own and doesn't force it down your throat.)
If you played the game and loved it, you'll probably like this book. If you loved this book, you'll probably like the game. Now I'm off to find something, I'm not embarrassed to admit, simpler.
Why?
Some time back, I bought this interactive fiction text 'game' called Choice of the Deathless. I thought it was pretty fun, even if the world building was crazy and, more often than not, encouraged me to skim anything that wasn't directly related to my choices or the optional romance. (My two major reasons for playing these games instead of just reading a book.)
Time passed and this book was brought back to my mind. I mean, we have a black woman on the cover (of a spec fiction book, no less!) and the world sounds delightfully quirky. So I start reading it and realize, about five pages into it, that this world seems familiar. Beyond that, the writing style sounds familiar. Then I remember that game and look up the author of it and, much to my unsurprise, they are both written by the same author.
That being said, this is definitely not the book for me. If I would have realized who the author was, I probably wouldn't have even tried to read this book because while I love my fantasy and sci-fi and steampunk and all that good stuff, I much prefer light world building to heavy world building, which, as I could have guessed from the game, is the author's thing. (Even better is background world building where the building is definitely there, but the author lets it stand on it's own and doesn't force it down your throat.)
If you played the game and loved it, you'll probably like this book. If you loved this book, you'll probably like the game. Now I'm off to find something, I'm not embarrassed to admit, simpler.
v1rtua's review against another edition
3.0
Solid three (not as in "Not bad but not good either" three but the "I'm not exactly sure how to rate this and I might need to read this book again" three)
When I started the book I found myself interested in the world and what it had to offer me, but then I took a break from reading because work life got in the way, so when I came back to this, I found myself confused and a little impatient with the information and story progression. That being said, I'm gonna give it a little placeholder rating for now and come back to reread it another time.
When I started the book I found myself interested in the world and what it had to offer me, but then I took a break from reading because work life got in the way, so when I came back to this, I found myself confused and a little impatient with the information and story progression. That being said, I'm gonna give it a little placeholder rating for now and come back to reread it another time.
veejaya's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
meghaha's review against another edition
4.0
The god’s flesh was black and deep as night. The curvature of his limbs was the subtle and paradoxical curvature of deep space. He swelled in the dark, a pregnancy of form in nothingness.
The body had the usual four limbs, two eyes the size of small moons, a mouth that could swallow a fleet of ships—features that for all their immensity were beautiful, and because of their immensity were terrifying. It was a great and hoary thing ancient of days, a clutch of power that would shatter any mind that tried to grasp it all at once. It was more than man evolved to comprehend, and Tara’s job was to comprehend it.
She bared her teeth in a hungry smile.
“I know Him,” Abelard said, quietly.
“Yes.”
Kos Everburning, Lord of Flame.
His chest was not moving.
Very enjoyable. Can't understand how it took me years to get around to this one, while I wasted my time on a bunch of bad fantasy books on the way. Ms. Kevarian is probably my favorite character (that last scene!). Tara is pretty cool as well. Gladstone's strength isn't emotional bonding with the characters however-- it lies more so in crafting a cool magic and religious system aesthetic.
Gladstone's presentation of the Craft and Craftspeople is really interesting. I love the idea of magic being power that was wrested forcefully from the gods, and the backgrounding of a war between magic users and gods. The descriptions of the magic these characters wield, the showdowns between them, and of the gods manifestations were my favorite parts of the book. Not entirely sure if the world-building held together otherwise for me -- certain elements, such as the vampires and nightclubs, almost seemed like something pasted in from another book.
Already have the sequel on hold at the library.
bobshmob's review against another edition
4.5
Overall I really liked the originality, but found the execution somewhat lacking. I did enjoy it a fair bit though and will probably finish the series
Here were my main issues with it:
- somewhat clunky ending
- writing a magical mystery can feel a bit arbitrary when the reader is figuring out how the magic works as the mystery is unfolding. New magical details always seem to pop up in the “courtroom” sections that change the evidence
- ending was a bit clunky. It’s hard to believe that ms kevarian was some Machiavellian mestermind after how she was written at the dinner, from her pov.
- writing and characterization was ok but not the best.
Here were my main issues with it:
- somewhat clunky ending
- writing a magical mystery can feel a bit arbitrary when the reader is figuring out how the magic works as the mystery is unfolding. New magical details always seem to pop up in the “courtroom” sections that change the evidence
- ending was a bit clunky. It’s hard to believe that ms kevarian was some Machiavellian mestermind after how she was written at the dinner, from her pov.
- writing and characterization was ok but not the best.
eidolonghost's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
epimetheus_b's review against another edition
3.0
An enjoyable read. The plot is murder mystery (except one of the victims is a god), the setting is a fantasy-steampunk alternate universe with some fairly interesting world building, and the characters were interesting. I particularly enjoyed the system of magic ("the Craft"), which had strong aspects of law, economics and steampunk engineering to it, and served similar functions to those disciplines in the world of the book.