It dragged a bit in part 1 when it was dipping into magical school land but really picked up near the end of part 1 and doesn’t let go until the end. It also gets pretty damn intense and dark. I tend to enjoy protagonists that aren’t heroes but neither are they anti-heroes, they’re just complex and human. It’s satisfying when there are no easy choices or answers.

Well written and epic. I felt like it had epic fantasy problems at times as well. Some characters are introduced and removed, large swathes of time go by, not overly concerned with theme a lot of the time. Stuff like that. The advantage is that it really does feel epic and the main characters that are expounded on do feel well characterized, which is something I find this brand of fantasy isn’t great with. I just really like to have themes being driven and a lot of times it’s just a whole lot of events taking place all over, so it’s kind of impossible. In the end it feels pretty good and has something to say, it’s just not as satisfying to the type of fiction I generally prefer. Enjoyable none the less, though. Will continue to the next one, no doubt.

I’m not sure why I couldn’t get into it that much. I thought it was fine in every respect, but just never got attached to the story in any way.

On paper it’s got what I like. Magic, murder mystery, sad back story. I enjoyed it and it kept me coming back but I feel like maybe it fell a little flat for me because of the arrangement. Early on it shifts from present day to the past, to the recent past; sometimes between characters. It sets up a whole lot of stuff and attempts to spool out the answers in a way that builds anticipation.

Only problem is it breaks the format of jumping back to reveal things around halfway and eventually that broke the anticipation for me. Ends up giving you more than anticipated but it still somehow felt less satisfying.

I liked the prose and the characters for the most part, though. It was certainly darker than I expected it to be for some reason.

Some CWs to keep in mind: fairly graphic sexual assault, mind control, child abuse.

While the concept is really interesting and unique. Using this premise to talk about systemic issues like racism and bigotry and homophobia and the like parallels the fiction really well and I liked that. The characters were fine, I didn’t get attached to any of them in particular because they were usually in motion tackling whatever hurdle.

But the things that bothered me was the constant, jarring tonal shifts. Comedy to seriousness all the time detracted from the messaging. Coupled with a villainous that was cartoonish to the point of throwing out inane pop culture references like announcing that it was the final conflict and “you shall not pass” and all this other crap just took me out of the story and rolling my eyes whenever she had any interaction whatsoever. I _hated_ that character and the dialogue like it.

When the fiction focuses on the concept and premise, it’s great. There’s diversity and it’s very inclusive and what you’d expect NYC to be representative of, as well as some of its problems. I just wish it were taken seriously. But I don’t like self aware fantasy or comedy. So mileage may very.

Interesting concept. Does it’s job getting you interested in the series. Reads a bit like commercial fiction. Maybe that’s why it was such a hit? Consumable, flowery prose, and a bit more intelligent than typical popcorn fiction makes it standout.

I had pushed this off because the movie was god awful. Glad the book was so much better.

Some of the most unique themes around identity and culture I’ve read. Interesting characters, setting, technology, and language. Starts out with a bang too: a weird murder mystery. It was a bit long in the middle and a lot of the beats felt familiar until the end, which was fantastic.

Very evocative and a nice remix. It’s certainly gothic as you’ve read it before but just a few changes makes it satisfyingly different while having some fun mainstays. I found it a bit uneven at times with pacing and dialogue but it was never a slog.

When it’s at its best for both it’s riveting and has great flow. Probably took around 5-6 hours to go through the whole thing.

As always with gothic it has a lot of body horror and loss of agency/autonomy, so CW all of that.