The ending of this (especially the epilogue) was really good. So good, it almost made up for having to deal with Roz all book.

Almost.

Oh, she was just so unpleasant the whole book. Following her was rough and I still don't like her. It's not just that she's a bad person, it's that she sets herself above people who are just like her in terms of morals. 

Damian was charming throughout and I enjoyed following him. He meant well and had a big heart, and even when I didn't agree with his decisions I could see where he was coming from. 

The world-building was solid. I want to know more about the saints, man. Give me more info on what they are and how they work and the followers of the others. Give me more of that and less of Roz! 

The mystery was solid and I enjoyed trying to sort out who had done the thing. I won't say I had it pegged, but I had a few suspicions. 

Admittedly, I was suspicious of nearly everyone towards the end so we'll call that a win in itself. I do love it when you think everyone is out to get the characters. 

I will read the next one in the series because I have to see where things are going. 

 

I enjoyed this quite a bit. It felt a bit like a Dark Tower side story (I really need to finish that). Or perhaps I just want to think that because otherwise I just read a cowboy story and I don't quite want to admit to that. This felt very Stephen King and was a very quick read (I guess that part did not feel very Stephen King, admittedly) and definitely worth the time.

 

Also,

This is a good story, well-told, with characters I was rooting for.

I'm a Brandon Sanderson fan, so I'm not surprised I liked this, but I wasn't expecting it to be so charming. 

The story is written from the point of view of a Cosmere character I am particuarly fond of, and it's written a lot like the Princess Bride--the narrator clearly knows a lot of things about the "real" world (and a few other worlds as well), and the narration is funny and sassy and great to read. It isn't in the same tone as Brandon Sanderson's other works, and that works fine for this tale. Don't expect the seriousness of The Stormlight series, and you'll be fine. Come in expecting to be told a <i>story</i>, not read a book, and you'll enjoy it a lot more. 

Tress' journey is fun and dangerous and full of quirky characters. The narrator is one of them, and again, seeing him was a delight. Tress herself is a lot stronger than she gives herself credit for, and her quest, while a pretty basic concept, turns into something more, as quests are wont to do. 

The ending surprised me with a few things, which is always what I want from a Brandon Sanderson book. I found the denouement sweet. 

There are tons of connections to the Cosmere, though the book is readable without knowing what they mean. They're just easter eggs, and it's fun to see them. I marked all of them in my physical copy just so I can go back and connect some things. 

Overall I loved this a lot and I'm glad to see the Secret Projects are going to be delightful.

 

This wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great, either.

 

Camille is annoying in a lot of ways, and she never really gets better. She is socially awkward in the most obnoxious way--she's extremely self-centered and it causes her to miss all sorts of things that are obviously going wrong in other people's lives. She's also not terribly bright and has that annoying YA "heroine" tendency to run straight towards the creepiest guy in the room at any given moment. If someone tells you they think he might be a murderer and you think he might be stalking you, seems like you should be running in the other direction, yeah? Is this just me?

 

Of course, because one time he managed to help her when she was in danger, Edward Ben somehow became the center of her universe at all times, and she trusted him even when he basically told her not to. Because that is not creepy at all.

 

There are no vampires, but this book was very clearly written riding on the Twilight wave, and sometimes the similarities are a bit too much. Unfortunately, vampires, even awkward sparkly vampires who play baseball, are just plain more interesting than what we have here in terms of paranormal stuff. Camille is awfully similar to Bella, but somehow I found the latter less annoying. Possibly because she was the first?

 

I did enjoy the thriller aspect and I thought the handling of the second viewpoint was done pretty well. I enjoyed trying to figure out what was going on, although I did manage to figure it out well before things were revealed. Camille is a trusting little soul and does not pay attention to things that should be obvious sometimes.

 

I won't pick up the rest of the series, but I'm not against maybe trying something else by the author, hopefully something that feels a little less derivative. 

This was so slow.

I was bored most of the way through. It's well-written, but nothing happens really. 

Sometimes that works well. Sometimes you're happy to just follow characters around and let them do whatever they're doing because you want to hang out with them. 

I didn't want to hang out with any of these people. 

There is an alarming amount of information/discussion about shoes, some about school and classes, and a frenemy relationship between the two main characters, but I wasn't particularly interested in any of it. 

To be honest, I should have DNFed this. At least it goes off my eternal TBR list, though.