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A review by hurrikanekathrina
These Ruthless Deeds by Tarun Shanker, Kelly Zekas
4.0
8 out of 10 stars
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy, Historical
Series: These Viscious Masks
Mild spoilers below!
“You want to help Britain? Then take from Egypt. You want to heal someone? Then you leave someone else in pain, waiting. ”
Woowza, that was so good! I truly regret the long waiting time between reading the first and now the second book, as I couldn't remember everything from These Viscious Masks.
But I'm pretty sure that I like this book even more than the first one! The writing style felt much more improved, the dialogues were witty and the plot more fast-paced and action-packed. And well, X-Men meets 19th century London? Oh boy, call me in!
I'm a sucker for stories featuring people with extraordinary powers, and what I particularly like about this trilogy is that many characters have very uncommon super powers. Whereas in most superhero stories you will get your typical range of superstrenght, inhuman speed, or invulnerability, this series deals with powers like harming everyone around you, or making everyone around you fall in love with you (I find it particularly interesting how that one is actually more a curse than a blessing.)
Also, of course, Mr. Kent's power to force everyone to answer him truthfully to a question. It makes for a lot of funny dialogues, but is also incredibly useful in ways that I wouldn't have thought of.
The characters also grew a lot more on me, especially Mr. Kent. While I do like Sebastian Braddock, I can't understand how anyone could possibly choose him over Mr. Kent (and I say that as a fan of brooding, mysterious characters.) I don't remember a lot of their interactions in the first book, but in the second one I just didn't feel any chemistry between Evelyn or Sebastian during their rare encounters. And though I like Evelyn as a main character, I was mildly annoyed by how she kept stalling Mr. Kent though she knew on the inside that she had no romantic feelings for him. Though she at least came clean with him when he directly confronted her about it. (Side note: Big plus for not making Mr. Kent the never-ending love triangle third wheel, who just doesn't stop being so in love with the main character despite him - and the readers - knowing that he will never be endgame. There is seriously so much of those characters in YA and it always annoyed me how these characters never could move on and find someone else. So I was more than pleasantly surprised when he said that he wouldn't continue to pursue someone who didn't love him back and that he deserved someone who loved him for who he is - you don't find that in many YA books.)
And for the ending. Oh my god, I did not see that coming. I won't spoil too much, but I was shocked by how quickly things turned catastrophic. I can't believe how many important characters died within the matter of half a page. I wish we could have read a bit more about the aftermath, but that's what the third book is for, right? I will definitely continue reading this series and hope that the third book will be just as entertaining and great as the first two.
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy, Historical
Series: These Viscious Masks
Mild spoilers below!
“You want to help Britain? Then take from Egypt. You want to heal someone? Then you leave someone else in pain, waiting. ”
Woowza, that was so good! I truly regret the long waiting time between reading the first and now the second book, as I couldn't remember everything from These Viscious Masks.
But I'm pretty sure that I like this book even more than the first one! The writing style felt much more improved, the dialogues were witty and the plot more fast-paced and action-packed. And well, X-Men meets 19th century London? Oh boy, call me in!
I'm a sucker for stories featuring people with extraordinary powers, and what I particularly like about this trilogy is that many characters have very uncommon super powers. Whereas in most superhero stories you will get your typical range of superstrenght, inhuman speed, or invulnerability, this series deals with powers like harming everyone around you, or making everyone around you fall in love with you (I find it particularly interesting how that one is actually more a curse than a blessing.)
Also, of course, Mr. Kent's power to force everyone to answer him truthfully to a question. It makes for a lot of funny dialogues, but is also incredibly useful in ways that I wouldn't have thought of.
The characters also grew a lot more on me, especially Mr. Kent. While I do like Sebastian Braddock, I can't understand how anyone could possibly choose him over Mr. Kent (and I say that as a fan of brooding, mysterious characters.) I don't remember a lot of their interactions in the first book, but in the second one I just didn't feel any chemistry between Evelyn or Sebastian during their rare encounters. And though I like Evelyn as a main character, I was mildly annoyed by how she kept stalling Mr. Kent though she knew on the inside that she had no romantic feelings for him. Though she at least came clean with him when he directly confronted her about it. (Side note: Big plus for not making Mr. Kent the never-ending love triangle third wheel, who just doesn't stop being so in love with the main character despite him - and the readers - knowing that he will never be endgame. There is seriously so much of those characters in YA and it always annoyed me how these characters never could move on and find someone else. So I was more than pleasantly surprised when he said that he wouldn't continue to pursue someone who didn't love him back and that he deserved someone who loved him for who he is - you don't find that in many YA books.)
And for the ending. Oh my god, I did not see that coming. I won't spoil too much, but I was shocked by how quickly things turned catastrophic. I can't believe how many important characters died within the matter of half a page. I wish we could have read a bit more about the aftermath, but that's what the third book is for, right? I will definitely continue reading this series and hope that the third book will be just as entertaining and great as the first two.