Reviews

Reflecting the Sky by S.J. Rozan

bunnieslikediamonds's review against another edition

3.0

New York private investigators Lydia and Bill are sympathetic characters, and I've enjoyed the previous books in this series. This one takes place in Hong Kong. There's a kidnapping, some smuggling and triad thugs. I didn't care much for the details, since the motives behind the plotting were pretty dull. Still, I'd read another one just for Lydia & Bill.

nocto's review against another edition

I've got a new favourite Lydia Chin book though No Colder Place, narrated by Bill Smith, is still my favourite book in this series. I also think I can't hold on a year to read the next installment and might have to move Rozan onto my "must buy in hardback" list.

I've always liked the setting of New York's Chinatown and setting a book in Hong Kong means that the author can expand the descriptions and make everything so much bigger. The descriptive parts are very well woven into the narrative, it's not like you get pages of scenery in between the action scenes. You really get drawn into the skyscrapers, the alley ways, the apartment blocks, the harbours, the markets and the temples. Hong Kong is a place I'd love to visit.

I'm still thinking about the plot. It all makes sense to me except for quite why Lydia and Bill ended up in Hong Kong to start with. I haven't quite got why their services were chosen sussed yet. One of the things I like about Rozan is that she doesn't go in for the big good versus evil battle. Most of her baddies are acting in the interests of the good. Her characters are mainly trying to help out their families, keep bad news from their friends, that kind of thing, when they get drawn in by currents too strong to escape. The multilayered plots all stand up to analysis and aren't merely puzzles arranged about a central focus of evil.

I really enjoyed the ending of this book. The will they/won't they relationship between Lydia and Bill could become wearing after so many episodes but Rozan is subtly developing her main characters without ruining the series. I'm looking forward to the next book, Winter and Night.

notevenastar's review against another edition

4.0

Holy shit. I had a review drafted in my head about how amazing the mystery was and much I enjoyed the details about Hong Kong's culture. But then the last two pages knocked the thoughts out of me?? Like this wasn't supposed to be a review about how Lydia and Bill's relationship is progressing but hhhhhh. That was sweet and a little sad at the same time, but extremely attention-grabbing.

Overall, Rozan is super good at writing subtlety in her characters' arcs and I think that's why her books as a whole are amazing. Like both the individual plots and the overarching relationships require patience and thoughtfulness. It's too late at night for me to write a comprehensive review but pretty much "book good, ending satisfying on several levels".

(Poor Bill, as usual. Just can't catch a break of any kind.)

trusselltales's review against another edition

4.0

Lydia Chin and Bill Smith, Hong Kong, tradition versus brave new world, duty and family ties meet triads, plenty to like and admire in this novel. I'm delighted that Ebury are bringing out the Rozan books in the UK, though I much prefer the original US titles as more in keeping with the stories and themes.

psalmcat's review against another edition

4.0

Good mystery, told from Lydia's point of view this time.

bob_muller's review against another edition

5.0

A great look at Hong Kong. Well plotted, good characters. Bill Smith definitely needs PI therapy after this one. Getting better and better as I progress through the series.

lauraellis's review

4.0

I love the Lydia Chin/Bill Smith series. I think that Ms. Rozan does a particularly good job of presenting the very different perspectives and voices of Lydia and Bill. I like that she alternates the narrators -- one book Lydia, the next book Bill, and so forth. I can't think of another author, at least not in the mystery genre, that did that before her, and it is very effective. The Lydia books, with their focus on Chinese-American culture, are particularly interesting and even enthralling. I don't understand why the "critics," the so-called "experts" seem to like the Bill books better.

This one is particularly good -- Lydia and Bill go to Hong-Kong to perform a simple seeming errand, but of course nothing is simple. It made me want to go to Hong Kong -- and eat the food!

When I finished this book (which I have read at least twice before), I had that wash of contentment that comes from a really good read.

clambook's review

3.0

Not the best, not the worst. Set in Hong Kong, with a plot a little less probable than others sin the series. With a surprise twist in the approach-avoidance mating dance that is Bill-and-Lydia. I can say no more.

laura_sorensen's review

4.0

They drank so much tea in this novel, I wonder why they didn't all spend the entire time running to the toilet.