A review by thewhitebee
Carter & Lovecraft by Jonathan L. Howard

dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

Having really enjoyed Howard's other books, I was really looking forward to this, but I have to say it was disappointing. The plot dragged, and it seemed like we only got to the crux of the story deep into the second half. The weird/eldritch elements were cool, but were thin on the ground - which is odd for a book that's based on the premise of Lovecraftian horrors being real! Emily Lovecraft was an interesting character, but got surprisingly little pagetime, or real agency when she appeared. Carter's an unappealing protagonist, and I genuinely didn't care if he survived the book. And there was a lot of unnecessary unpleasantness. Like graphic sexual talk - and an assault - that didn't really serve any purpose I could see. It was as if he was trying to write something gritty but kept forgetting that, and would suddenly remember and go "oh yeah, better talk about wanking for a minute so everyone remembers it's a dark gritty detective story". 

Overall, interesting premise and some genuinely good moments, but overall not a good experience reading. It ends in a place that suggests that the second book might be better, but frankly I have no interest in continuing. 
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