cathepsut's review
3.0
I was looking forward to this second book in the Rowan Gant Investigations. And it was still good. But I did not find this story as interesting as the first one. Not very in-depth. A lot of fluff and flowery descriptions around a fairly straight forward and brief main story line. Felicity's auburn mane started to go on my nerves, just slightly. And how many times can Ben Storm stroke the back of his neck to indicate deep thought processes? And we still haven't found out, why the killer in the first book did what he did...
annarella's review
3.0
Liked it. Read it at night and I havke to admit that there were a lot of strange noises around :)
adrienner's review
3.0
I read it right after finishing Harm None. I read this book as a part of a bookcrossing bookring. There were several critical comments given by previous readers, which I agreed with. The red-headed descriptions did not bother me in Harm None but they were jarring slaps in the face every single time they came up in NVaW. Every time Felicity appeared, we got a full-blown description that was over-the-top. I hate when authors so obviously have a fetish (for lack of a better term) that is apparent to their readers by the fact that it is brought up so often in their books. Mr. Sellars appears to have a thing for red-heads. I thought it from HN, but it was just possible it was a one novel deal. Nope. He brings up red-heads much too much in the second novel as well, especially considering how many *real* red-heads as opposed to bottle red-heads there are in this world. (I know many more red-headed men than women, btw, and that is counting that the men are natural and most of the women use a bottle.)
Rowan is rather dense in this novel. I wanted to scream at him several times about his stupidity. The first time he attempted to face the killer, I could not understand the reasoning he had for even trying. Why could he not wait for the police who were going to be there in just a few short minutes? The second time was perhaps a bit more understandable.
I am finding more and more often that writers are writing with a movie script in mind and are describing movements that don't need describing and laying out scenes for a movie. Mr Sellars is having that problem in these first two novels. He is not as bad as some novels I have read, but he does have a tendency to do it.
I found myself picturing Rowan like the author photo in the back of the book through NBaW when I had a perfectly satisfactory image from HN previous to seeing the author photo.
Slight spoiler: Both HN and NBaW have open endings. I don't generally mind open-endings as they give an author somewhere to go in future books. However, two for two with nothing wrapped up for either one is a little irritating. I will be really frustrated with this series if this keeps up. I actually could have gotten past the open-ending of the first novel if it had not been brought up several times in the second novel.
Overall, I enjoyed this novel, but I liked the first novel better. I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series. While I have my critical points, I also enjoyed the story. I am not much of a crime novel reader, so this is a fun change of pace. I am left with some questions about witches in real life when reading this novel, which I think is good. I know where to go to get answers, but I hope it leads to non-Pagans learning more about Pagans when they read these books.
Rowan is rather dense in this novel. I wanted to scream at him several times about his stupidity. The first time he attempted to face the killer, I could not understand the reasoning he had for even trying. Why could he not wait for the police who were going to be there in just a few short minutes? The second time was perhaps a bit more understandable.
I am finding more and more often that writers are writing with a movie script in mind and are describing movements that don't need describing and laying out scenes for a movie. Mr Sellars is having that problem in these first two novels. He is not as bad as some novels I have read, but he does have a tendency to do it.
I found myself picturing Rowan like the author photo in the back of the book through NBaW when I had a perfectly satisfactory image from HN previous to seeing the author photo.
Slight spoiler: Both HN and NBaW have open endings. I don't generally mind open-endings as they give an author somewhere to go in future books. However, two for two with nothing wrapped up for either one is a little irritating. I will be really frustrated with this series if this keeps up. I actually could have gotten past the open-ending of the first novel if it had not been brought up several times in the second novel.
Overall, I enjoyed this novel, but I liked the first novel better. I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series. While I have my critical points, I also enjoyed the story. I am not much of a crime novel reader, so this is a fun change of pace. I am left with some questions about witches in real life when reading this novel, which I think is good. I know where to go to get answers, but I hope it leads to non-Pagans learning more about Pagans when they read these books.
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