blewballoon's Reviews (763)

At first I didn't like this as much as The Girl from the Well because I thought the highlight of that book was being in the perspective of the ghost/spirit, and in this book we're locked into Tark the human teenager's perspective instead. I am, however, always hungry for monster/human loving relationships and I really enjoyed the friendship and devotion between Tark and Okiku. I long for more supernatural stories with relationships like theirs. The plotting also felt a bit more consistent than the previous book, without as many diversions from the main threads of the story. 

The audiobook narrator did well, he was able to mimic the little sanity slips in a way that felt consistent with the previous audiobook that had a female narrator. 

I'm a big fan of ghost stories and stories from the POV of "monsters," so those elements worked really well for me. This is quite dark, though, and the pacing/plotting is a bit strange and erratic. In some ways it almost felt like a series of short stories (or short horror movies) connected by the same POV character, with diversions from the main plot that never seemed to make it back around to being relevant. 

I think the narrator did a great job maintaining a narrative voice for Okiku, particularly the sections where the ghost's thoughts are more chaotic/intrusive. 

I think I enjoyed this even more than Hither, Page? I hadn't realized how fond I was of James and Leo and how much I wanted more of their story. The familiar characters and old family mystery were exactly what I was in the mood to read. It was intriguing to meet the new cast of characters and speculate on all of the unraveling family secrets, but the deepening romance between the leads was the highlight for me. I would happily take a whole series of these two solving mysteries together. 

I can't seem to stop comparing all of the classics I read to Dracula. Much like Dracula, I feel like this book had to at least partially be intended as a comedy. There are running gags. The character names are hilarious. Several of the action sequences read like slapstick. If you read it like a dark comedy such as Little Shop of Horrors, it's quite enjoyable. If you try to read this straight, I'm not so sure it would be. The characters are quite flat and the dialogue is unnatural. The action sequences, as I said, are more zany than thrilling. The horrific descriptions are melodramatic rather than eerie. If you do intend to read it, I highly recommend the audiobook narrated by Kevin Theis. They put a lot of spirit and accents into the story, and the version I listened to had fun music and sound effects that were tastefully done. 

I have all of Jenny L. Howe's books because she's a local author and one of my favorite bookstores always does preorder specials for her releases, but I hadn't actually read any. I was honestly a little worried I might not like them, since she is so lovely in person, and I didn't want to get in a situation where I had to lie about how I felt about her books. Not gonna be a problem! This was fantastic! The characters were so charming. Despite most of them being kind and good people, they still feel real and grounded. I thought Everly and Logan had great chemistry. I thought the writing itself was pleasant, clear and easy to read but still immersive and thoughtful. Looking forward more!

I wonder if this author has played the game Outer Wilds, because this book explores similar existential questions through the same medium of space exploration. I highly recommend both the book and the game. If you don't play video games, I suggest watching a thorough play through for the story. I would also recommend A Psalm for the Wild-Built and The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet as similar books to this one.

It's so much harder for me to talk about books I enjoy or that reach a deeper part of me, because when that happens I don't leave the book with a lot of specifics. I feel like a part of me was seen or shifted, and after I've finished I can't always pinpoint where it was along the journey that it happened. If I can pinpoint or articulate it, I don't want to spoil the discovery for the potential reader. In this case, it's a bit of both. I have an idea of what parts really got me, but I don't want to ruin the impact of those parts for anyone else. 

That being said, for those who don't mind a big spoiler and are wondering about the cat on the cover:

The cat doesn't die!

I really enjoyed this! There's so much packed into so few pages, and I could see myself reading a whole series in this world with characters this compelling. It reminded me a bit of When Among Crows by Veronica Roth, but that one was more urban fantasy while this one is more historical fantasy. 

I really enjoyed the subtle humor that managed not to feel out of place in such a dark and mysterious story, and I thought the characters were excellent. I don't really want to talk too much about them because it feels too much like a spoiler. I recommend going into this as blind as possible. I added this book to my TBR a long time ago and had forgotten the synopsis, and I'm glad I got to be surprised about everything. 

My only criticism is the same one I had with C.L. Polk's other book The Midnight Bargain where I felt like the fantasy sexism was a little over-the-top. 

The audiobook narrator was great. Her voice for the narration and main character fit well, and she did a lot of other distinct voices for the other characters that I appreciated. 

This is the third witch and witch hunter type of romantasy I've read, and if you're looking for one, then this is a great candidate. Compared to Serpent & Dove, this felt more elevated and mature, but I actually liked how silly and fun Serpent & Dove was. This was more comparable to Night of the Witch in terms of the tone and writing quality, but while that one kind of tosses the enemies side of the relationship out quickly, this leans much more heavily and consistently on the enemies and deception aspect of the witch/witch hunter dynamic. I personally liked Night of the Witch more for my tastes, but I think people who want to really simmer in the dark angsty aspect of that dynamic will prefer this. 

I was not really in the mood for this level of angst, which hurt my overall experience of the book, but I can acknowledge that it was very well written in terms of the prose, plotting, and characters. This seems like a really promising start to a series and Kristen Ciccarelli seems like a talented author. The audiobook narrator was also fantastic. 

I predicted 90% of the reveals, but I think that's just because I'm overly genre-savvy and was reading this from a more cynical perspective because I wasn't in the mood for it. For someone who is properly along for the ride, I think they'll enjoy all the twists and turns. Some did catch me by surprise and were very satisfying, and the author makes fantastic use of the dual perspectives to keep things mysterious and suspenseful. 

Spoilery thoughts: 

After that ending, I have no idea how this can possibly turn back into a romance? I don't see how a romance is viable after all this deception and misunderstanding. How could these two people possibly trust each other again? It seems like they both f**ked up really really badly and they have every reason to hate each other, honestly. Yeah there are some misunderstandings that could be cleared up,  but also the truth of the matter is they were both working on opposite sides and directly sabotaging the other. Some witches are bad, and they need to be stopped, but also torturing and killing innocent women who are just normal people who happen to be witches is bad and that needs to be stopped. They both leaned so hard into fixing one problem that they contributed to the other. It's a very well written conflict, but it will be an impressive feat to swing their feelings back around in a way that feels earned.

I had planned on giving this 3 stars, and I appreciate that this is a debut work, but I kept disliking the book more and more as it went on. The nicest thing I can say about it is that I liked how it incorporated Spanish and Mexican culture. This story wants to be a diverse and more YA take on dark magical competition stories like Phantasma, but it didn't pull it off in my opinion. 

I thought the writing quality was poor and ham-fisted. Bad men are cartoonishly bad. The main characters are unlikeable, selfish, and kind of dumb, but the book lamely tries to tell you they are righteous and clever. The magical competition rules were vague and seemed to change on a whim, which disrupts the tension and narrative flow. The game was also repetitive, it's just the same game every round with some brief unimaginative challenges thrown in. 

Aside from my complaints, I think there's some potential here, but it's at a disadvantage with a plot that feels derivative of other books in the YA Competition genre. It needed some strong characters and solid prose to carry the unoriginal premise, and I don't think it had either. 

I would recommend this book to fans of What the River Knows because that book left me feeling a similar level of disappointment, frustration, and bafflement that so many people liked it.

It was nice that the audiobook had two narrators to help tell the protagonists apart. One of the audiobook narrators (for Mayté) was decent, but I really disliked the one for Lo. 

I'm sorry, I really wanted to give this one a chance, but the writing is some of the worst writing I've ever read. I can often look past clunky or juvenile writing for the sake of a good story and compelling characters, but there isn't enough substance here for how bad the writing quality is. I can't do it.