A review by egelantier
The Spirit Lens by Carol Berg
4.0
a court fantasy whodunnit mystery, narrated by portier duplais, a distinctly cazaril-like character (instant win) - a humble, inexorably honorable, decent, sharply intelligent man dealing with his inner demons while investigating a most dreadful political-magical conspiracy in a company of two most unlikely confederates, ilario the flighty courtier with a secret and dante the cranky mage with all the
drama.
i've liked it even more than flesh the lighthouse duet, mostly due to portier being more of "my" character than valen, and it's a pageturner at it's finest - i've more or less devoured it under two days.
my only gripe is that most of the plot relies on my most hated plot device ever : people. not. sharing. information. like, i swear the whole mess they're dealing with could be cleared up in one book instead of three if everybody just sat down at the end of every day and pooled their operational information. instead everybody lies, misunderstands, withholds informations, twists information, aaaaaaaaargh - and everybody does it mostly for other people's 'good', and, oh my god.
but other that, it was aaaaaaaaaawesome. good creepy mystery, tasty h/c bits, clearly mapped emotional journey, a+ worldbuilding, clear sweet writing.
drama.
i've liked it even more than flesh the lighthouse duet, mostly due to portier being more of "my" character than valen, and it's a pageturner at it's finest - i've more or less devoured it under two days.
my only gripe is that most of the plot relies on my most hated plot device ever : people. not. sharing. information. like, i swear the whole mess they're dealing with could be cleared up in one book instead of three if everybody just sat down at the end of every day and pooled their operational information. instead everybody lies, misunderstands, withholds informations, twists information, aaaaaaaaargh - and everybody does it mostly for other people's 'good', and, oh my god.
but other that, it was aaaaaaaaaawesome. good creepy mystery, tasty h/c bits, clearly mapped emotional journey, a+ worldbuilding, clear sweet writing.