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reka111's review against another edition
challenging
informative
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
1.0
Having never been credited with a sense of humor before, she was delighted to discover he considered hers to be ill-advised.
If I had to use one word for this book to describe it perfectly; mediocre. It just had everything, but absolutely nothing. It told a lot, but showed terribly little.
Bea, by the way, wasn't as lovable a character for me as I expected her to be. She has had her flaws and her moments of glory, but all in all, she was terribly boring. Yes, that's probably the most appropriate word for her. There's nothing outstanding about her, a gray mouse (and though she intentionally is) who can't break out of her cage.
The Duke of Kesgrave (aka Damien) is probably the only character for whom I was able to elicit some affection (at great pain). There were funny lines and I loved that he showed such respect for his surroundings, but I can't give him anything else besides that.
Friendship (if you can call it that, maybe alliance would be a better word) was very much out of the blue for me. There was absolutely no reason for them to seek each other's company so quickly. Regardless, I liked their skirmishes and small moments.
The plot — if there was one, I didn't really see it — was incredibly boring and drawn-out, even despite the investigations. For 90% of the book, absolutely nothing happened except that Aunt Vera was screaming about everything, and we read about the Duke's bright blue eyes (which can't be emphasised enough). The pace, without little action or basic moving elements, was unsurprisingly slow, I had to interrupt several times because I just couldn't go any further. As an individual, the age accurate descriptions are probably the only ones to which I can give a little extra point. And then we come to the wording; Good lord, I don't know whether it's the publisher's fault (or translator's) that it was so horrible, or the author's, but either way, they need to improve a lot in terms of writing because you can only call it mehh even with a good heart. The ending was relatively quickly (but with protracted dialogue). Honestly, I didn't care so much about the book that I didn't even pay attention to what it was about most of the time, and I didn't care about the identity of the killer. Either way, I believe I will let this thing rest for a bit now, but I don't think I will continue.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death and Murder
Minor: Death of parent