There’s an infuriating audio issue in this book that set my teeth on edge. There’s this pulsing static in some parts that I just can’t deal with anymore. It didn’t grab me enough to want to put up with it anymore

I should have been the target audience for this, but I found the writing a little one-dimensional. I struggled to connect with the characters and felt like I was reading a sequel to a book that didn’t exist. The emotional impact was not there and what was left was kind of just gimmicky. Wasn’t for me. 

Thanks Netgally and SMP for the arc, but I’m dnf-ing at 35% 

This is…an upsetting book. I wanted to give it time to see if maybe the whole, you know, violent assault and blame-shifting from the FMC would be unpacked, if maybe an apology and having to get humble and reconcile with a person she harmed would happen but…nah. Nope. We’re meant to be on HER side. 

I can’t do it. Not to mention the paranormal aspect of this book is totally lacking. 

I feel like maybe this author has some animosity and feelings about other indigenous authors and her place in the world that need to be worked out off the published page. In any case, I won’t be recommending this book   

DNF at Chapter 12

I love the premise of this book, and am actually interested enough in the plot that I may pick this up again in the future, but the prose is, in a word, rough

If it were just a few moments of information dumps over descriptions, or perplexing dialogue tags or anachronistic language, I could let it go. Things like ‘bus’ and ‘tourist’ could be excused: there’s no definite time period listed so I suppose I could allow for this to be more 19th century in origin. 

I had to put the book down at calling God ‘Sky Daddy.’ It was just so beyond anachronistic, a nod to a contemporary audience that the book hadn’t set itself up to earn. I feel like this author was aiming for Tamsyn Muir or Margaret Owen, but unfortunately it doesn’t EARN those moments like those two authors do. The humour feels flat because the characters have traits, but not a ton of depth or heart. 

I really wanted to like this book. I was so excited for the premise. 

DNF after Part 1

Ok, I am in awe of Jamison Shea’s ability to craft a world. This book, and the one before it, are full of lush, dark prose and descriptions that bring the story to life in ways that floor me. This book series makes you feel things, rage, mostly, as it radiates off one of the most lovably intense protagonists I’ve ever read. 

I’d recommend this book to someone who had just read the first and was dying for more details about the characters, and wanted to see intimate portraits of their lives. 

However, I found this book lacking the same frantic, pushing, HIGH STAKES plot of the first book. There are, as the description says, fissures, hints of questions that may come to be big problems, but the first full third of the book is just that. Laure has this power now, and I hoped to see some like, big moves to justify the sequel existing, but I just don’t know if you can really top burning down Palais Garnier. I also felt that the lack of as much dance in this book was a detriment. I missed the pressure pot of that environment. 

I may pick this up again later, but overall I was just bummed after enjoying the first book so much that this one didn’t have the same punch to me. Ah well. I still recommend the first one to folks all the time and will continue to do so. 

I’m so sorry this prose was not it. Too self aware, too self congratulatory, and with this expectation that it’s funny enough to get away with it when it really…isn’t. I couldn’t do it. I should be the audience for this, I LOVE a good clever  fantasy comedy but just…no. 

I can’t deal with this narration. The narrator’s pacing is super weird. She doesn’t pause between trains of thought so it’s really difficult to follow what she’s saying. 

I tried. But I’m at 83% and feel no investment in this story or these characters. I’m dnf-ing.