jessdrafahl's Reviews (154)

A book whose plot involves separate agents fighting a war throughout time, which involves fantastical places such as Atlantis and alternative London’s, technological societies and primitive ones, and all else in-between should have been an immediate home run. After the first chapter, however, I could immediately tell that the story would unfortunately be stumped by the authors’ insistence on writing the story in the most superfluous way possible, making the book a chore to read, rather than enjoyable. It’s not that the book is impossible to read, although I can’t say that it’s the most accessible writing. Rather, as you read the characters describing things in the most roundabout manner possible, all you can do is roll your eyes. I can’t even say that the novel had a leg up on its masterful storytelling. Yes, it had wonderful allusions (or, rather, references. They weren’t exactly subtle) to Greek mythology, fairy tales, Romeo and Juliet, and the Bible. However, it still felt…sloppy. And predictable. That’s the trouble with time travel stories. You can only do so much without becoming cliche. And this, unfortunately, was stunted because of that. How aggravating to read something that had so much potential, yet couldn’t reach it. 

And if I have to read the phrase “as the prophet says” one more time…

If cottage-core was a book, this is it right here. This book, being the first in a trilogy, is actually quite charming in its Scottish, gothic setting. The fae feel properly represented throughout the story and it was truly quite entertaining. The issue, however, falls with how jarring some of the writing feels. The time, for example, is not clear. It seems that the novel takes place in the 1900s, but also the 2010s at the same time from the speech of the characters. Also, the main character is a confusing character. She is constructed as an extreme anti-capitalist, yet also doesn't seem to much care about that besides complaining about tourists and people from London. It also feels insanely convenient how every man seems to instantly fall in love with her. I think that had this book gone another round or two of editing, it would have easily gotten a four-star review or better.

 This book was more of a hit or miss, maybe leaning more towards a miss. Many of the characters said very homophobic or fatphobic things that did not necessarily contribute to the themes of the novel. Although the times were different when this book was written, the comments that some of the characters made towards other characters were uncomfortable to read, only because no other characters in the novel seemed to fight against them. It didn’t feel organic from some of the characters, but rather an extension of the authors.