emvdw's Reviews (341)

Sometimes, when I've been really looking forward to a book, I put off reading it, because I think my expectations will be too high and I'll be disappointed. 
I had put off Addie for years... Luckily, it did NOT disappoint. I took a little bit too get going, but I really loved it. The ending is very satisfying too! 

Fun read. The tone is excellent: like a true crime podcast about Roman murder. 
I liked the effort the auhtor took to use respectful language around the enslaved population of Rome. 
Sometimes it got a little bit repetitive. 

I may come back to update this review, because I suspect this may be one of those books that stay with you for a long time, so I may feel different about it in a while.

I don't know if this is a book that you should read if you Want All the Answers, because you don't get any of them. I have to admit that I often do get a bit frustrated when I am left with questions at the end of reading something. And while I have an easier time accepting that there is no answer (for the reader at least) to the central mystery 

The disappearance of things

  -- because it is just That Kind of Novel -- I do keep some frustration around others (I mainly want to know 

Who organises the Memory police and why are some people able to keep their memories? And to a lesser extent: What happens to the Island now everyone disappeared?

).

Besides this frustration, I really liked the novel. It has a dreamlike quality to it. The characters are interesting, and I always wanted to keep reading. 

The book itself if 4 stars for me, but the narration by Viola Davis herself elevates it (how could it not). So while it's still worth it by itself, I would really recommend the audiobook.

I wanted to like this more than I did in the end.  The world-building was excellent, I enjoyed the asides that explored the mythology.
I was a bit disappointed with the all-male cast, since the series is called The Queen's Thief. The plot twist at the end was too surprising,

especially since there's first person narration from the Thief's perspective. All thoughts about his true motivation being completely absent was very unrealistic to me.

As for the audiobook, I really disliked the narrator's choices. His Magus was very sneering, and after a while it really started grating on me, especially since he becomes a lot more sympathetic towards Gen as the story unfolds. His female voice was also very annoying, so I suppose the lack of female characters ended up being a blessing in disguise.
Finally, the main character kept whingeing and it annoyed me no end...