lauralh05's review against another edition
3.0
It took me awhile to get into Dead to Me. I actually started it, put it down for another book after a chapter, and then picked it up again a few weeks later. Once I picked it up again though I stuck with it and it slowly grew on me. I didn't expect the Harry Potter-ish-ness of the world with bookcases that chase people and try to eat them, but I found it fun. It's no Dresden Files, but I'm interested to see how the series grows & what the next book will bring.
jessartisan's review against another edition
2.0
Having read quite a few very good urban fantasy novels, I have to say this book was a mess in comparison. I think the basic premise was good, but the execution was sloppy.
Repeating that a group is evil doesn't *establish* that it is. By the time we're actually shown how evil the group is (which seemed pretty mild on the evil spectrum), we've already been through chapter after chapter of "they're bad, I swear. Trust me." The characters were unrealistic and the dialog was terrible - it's what snark looks like when stupid people do it. The main character was almost constantly behaviorally inappropriate, for no good reason - like a really bad, dumb actor over-reacting to everything while trying to be clever.
Problems aside, it wasn't so bad that I gave up on it. There is promise there.
Repeating that a group is evil doesn't *establish* that it is. By the time we're actually shown how evil the group is (which seemed pretty mild on the evil spectrum), we've already been through chapter after chapter of "they're bad, I swear. Trust me." The characters were unrealistic and the dialog was terrible - it's what snark looks like when stupid people do it. The main character was almost constantly behaviorally inappropriate, for no good reason - like a really bad, dumb actor over-reacting to everything while trying to be clever.
Problems aside, it wasn't so bad that I gave up on it. There is promise there.
pbro42's review against another edition
2.0
Derivative, formulaic, and cliched. This book brings nothing new to the table in the genre nor gives us a character about whom we should be expected to care.
The story is as rife with the standard tropes of urban fantasy as the painting on the cover, only less lifelike.
The characters are wooden. Simon is inexplicably wet-behind-the-ears (I know it's a plot device for world-building, but it's lazy and illogical) for someone who has been doing the job for a while.
Connor treats him like a wide-eyed babe, but what are we supposed to believe he's been doing on the job up to this point?
I hated this book.
The story is as rife with the standard tropes of urban fantasy as the painting on the cover, only less lifelike.
The characters are wooden. Simon is inexplicably wet-behind-the-ears (I know it's a plot device for world-building, but it's lazy and illogical) for someone who has been doing the job for a while.
Connor treats him like a wide-eyed babe, but what are we supposed to believe he's been doing on the job up to this point?
I hated this book.
ttsncs's review against another edition
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.25
pollyno9's review against another edition
2.0
The pacing of this book felt very off. I was surprised that the ending came when it did, it felt both too soon and like the book was still slogging through the middle.
laurabenson's review against another edition
5.0
This book is fantastic and I highly recommend all scifi people to pick this book up and read it.
funny thing was I found myself more drawn to the secondary character of Connor who I found to be more interesting. Simon Canderous was everything that a woman would want in a man, except that he could never, ever touch her without knowing about some part of her life that he doesn't need to know.
I liked the psychometry aspect of the book. How awesome would it be to pick up an item and understand the journey that item and/or person took.
I'm looking forward to more books by this fantastic young, new author.
funny thing was I found myself more drawn to the secondary character of Connor who I found to be more interesting. Simon Canderous was everything that a woman would want in a man, except that he could never, ever touch her without knowing about some part of her life that he doesn't need to know.
I liked the psychometry aspect of the book. How awesome would it be to pick up an item and understand the journey that item and/or person took.
I'm looking forward to more books by this fantastic young, new author.
chantaal's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars
I'm not really sure how I feel about this. One on hand, it was a pretty nice twist on most urban fantasy novels, adding a whole This Is Our Silly Office element to it, but that went way overboard. All the pamphlets, seminars and paperwork being mentioned over and over got really old after the first third.
Also, I'm not sure what Strout was going for when it came to Simon's voice. Half the time his narrative made him sound like a regular guy, then the rest of the time it was all "oh look at how clever I am saying noob and using WTF in my narrative!"
I'm not even going to mention how fumbling the romance subplot was, or how insipid Jane's.
Bottom line, this is an interesting go to for a UF fix and a decent male lead. It just doesn't live up to what it wants to be.
I'm not really sure how I feel about this. One on hand, it was a pretty nice twist on most urban fantasy novels, adding a whole This Is Our Silly Office element to it, but that went way overboard. All the pamphlets, seminars and paperwork being mentioned over and over got really old after the first third.
Also, I'm not sure what Strout was going for when it came to Simon's voice. Half the time his narrative made him sound like a regular guy, then the rest of the time it was all "oh look at how clever I am saying noob and using WTF in my narrative!"
I'm not even going to mention how fumbling the romance subplot was, or how insipid Jane's
Spoiler
diary entries were when Simon took a look in themBottom line, this is an interesting go to for a UF fix and a decent male lead. It just doesn't live up to what it wants to be.
yayforbooks's review against another edition
1.0
This book is Dead to Me.
I really wanted to like it at first, and then I just really wanted it to be done with. The premise of the story, that Simon Canderous is a man who can touch things and come up with a history for the object, is really cool. That was about it.
It really tried to be funny and I can accept the cheesy titles to pamphlets and job titles that abounded in this book. But it didn't work. It just felt much too juvenile of a narration. It's not even that I'm against first person narratives that are told with a lot of character. I actually like that. It just didn't work with Simon's voice because it was trying too hard. And all those cheesy pamphlet titles got old really really quickly.
The characters didn't have much depth. The plot was there, but it wasn't anything remarkable or very memorable. It just seemed like your standard urban fantasy mystery novel, which would have been fine if there had been more depth to the characters or more cohesiveness to the writing. Also, lines like "I shouldn't french with the enemy" just make me sigh. I almost fell asleep during the action scene.
I also felt like the female characters couldn't really stand on their own two feet in this book. I didn't get a sense of strength or independence from them. Which really annoyed me. I don't demand that every female character I read be utterly perfect, developed, or strong. I just ask that they don't randomly have mood swings when presented with balloons, write diary entries about their thongs while on a stake-out, and be interesting.
All in all, I did not like this book at all. Which is sad because I wanted to. If you want something that's also a contemporary urban fantasy with aspects of mystery and humorous narrator that works for some reason, I'd recommend the Dresden Files (starts with [b:Storm Front|47212|Storm Front (The Dresden Files, #1)|Jim Butcher|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1345556917s/47212.jpg|1137060]) by Jim Butcher. Dead to Me really tried to be fun and funny and exciting, but I think it missed the mark.
I really wanted to like it at first, and then I just really wanted it to be done with. The premise of the story, that Simon Canderous is a man who can touch things and come up with a history for the object, is really cool. That was about it.
It really tried to be funny and I can accept the cheesy titles to pamphlets and job titles that abounded in this book. But it didn't work. It just felt much too juvenile of a narration. It's not even that I'm against first person narratives that are told with a lot of character. I actually like that. It just didn't work with Simon's voice because it was trying too hard. And all those cheesy pamphlet titles got old really really quickly.
The characters didn't have much depth. The plot was there, but it wasn't anything remarkable or very memorable. It just seemed like your standard urban fantasy mystery novel, which would have been fine if there had been more depth to the characters or more cohesiveness to the writing. Also, lines like "I shouldn't french with the enemy" just make me sigh. I almost fell asleep during the action scene.
I also felt like the female characters couldn't really stand on their own two feet in this book. I didn't get a sense of strength or independence from them. Which really annoyed me. I don't demand that every female character I read be utterly perfect, developed, or strong. I just ask that they don't randomly have mood swings when presented with balloons, write diary entries about their thongs while on a stake-out, and be interesting.
All in all, I did not like this book at all. Which is sad because I wanted to. If you want something that's also a contemporary urban fantasy with aspects of mystery and humorous narrator that works for some reason, I'd recommend the Dresden Files (starts with [b:Storm Front|47212|Storm Front (The Dresden Files, #1)|Jim Butcher|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1345556917s/47212.jpg|1137060]) by Jim Butcher. Dead to Me really tried to be fun and funny and exciting, but I think it missed the mark.