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A review by the_book_suite
Small Places by Matthew Samuels
4.0
My two favorite kinds of urban fantasy are any stories that feature faeries or witches. So, it came as no surprise to me that I thoroughly enjoyed Small Places; both of those elements were central to the plot in this book.
I loved Samuels’ interpretation of all the different magical beings in the story. His take on the Seelie and Unseelie Courts was particularly interesting. I liked his descriptions of how one entered those realms, and I liked how he worked classic creatures like the banshee into the book.
As for his presentation of witches, I quite liked it. I normally prefer either soft, cottage-core vibes or dark, dramatic plots when it comes to witch stories, but Small Places had something a little different, which I appreciated. It wasn’t quite in between those two things, but it also was, in a way, so.
Of course, I also enjoyed the general plot of the book. It had a lot of excitement, for sure, but Samuels also spent a good amount of time fleshing out the magical world. The story also had some pretty surprising twists that I didn’t see coming, which I obviously loved.
Plus, I can’t say I disliked any of the characters; they were all relatively well-written and I enjoyed reading about them. Obviously, there were those characters who didn’t have much screen time and therefore had less development, but that’s to be expected in any story. And even those characters intrigued me; I’d give a lot to read a spin-off about any one of them.
So, in the end, I definitely recommend reading this one; fans of urban fantasy will almost certainly enjoy it.
I loved Samuels’ interpretation of all the different magical beings in the story. His take on the Seelie and Unseelie Courts was particularly interesting. I liked his descriptions of how one entered those realms, and I liked how he worked classic creatures like the banshee into the book.
As for his presentation of witches, I quite liked it. I normally prefer either soft, cottage-core vibes or dark, dramatic plots when it comes to witch stories, but Small Places had something a little different, which I appreciated. It wasn’t quite in between those two things, but it also was, in a way, so.
Of course, I also enjoyed the general plot of the book. It had a lot of excitement, for sure, but Samuels also spent a good amount of time fleshing out the magical world. The story also had some pretty surprising twists that I didn’t see coming, which I obviously loved.
Plus, I can’t say I disliked any of the characters; they were all relatively well-written and I enjoyed reading about them. Obviously, there were those characters who didn’t have much screen time and therefore had less development, but that’s to be expected in any story. And even those characters intrigued me; I’d give a lot to read a spin-off about any one of them.
So, in the end, I definitely recommend reading this one; fans of urban fantasy will almost certainly enjoy it.