Spriggana
A paint-by-number cosy mystery, and not very well executed.
Things like the protagonist discovering a vital clue remembering details about a poem written by one of the characters years earlier - but that is the first mention of the poem in the book. Yes, I checked.
Said protagonist arrives to a small town, where she has never been, and just like that she is best friends with almost everyone (except the one person nobody likes) to the point everybody is giving her all the information, only sometimes hinting that maybe the police would like to know…
With loads of cosy mysteries on the market you can skip this one…
Am I the only one who wanted to strangle Flavia's father? He loved Harriet so much that he would rather part with her house then with one very valuable book, because they have signed it together? Aaaargh.
A dissapoinment after several books by North I really liked. I felt like it lacked a plot – Charlie travels, delivers objects, things are happening to him, but he is rather passive. And all the shreds of conversations he keeps hearing seem to exist only to hammer a Mesage home. While I do agree with the general message, it felt really like not at all subtle proselytizing.
Still, I like North's writing and there were passages worth reading on their own, so not a complete dissapointment.
Very entertaining space-opera. And, being only half of the story, the Big Question - what is the Eperor's Secret - is still to be answered. Second volume awaits!
Pros: Interesting world (OK, city), not-obvious plot (except the “orphan with unusual powers” trope which is really old) and interesting enough to check out the sequel.
Cons: Poorly formated ebook – no “scene splits”. And the ending blatantly setting up a sequel, which fortunately had been written and published, but without it one major plot would be unresolved (I assume it is resolved in volume 2).
Spodobało mi się bardziej niż się spodziewałam. Owszem, cykl o Pelagii był uroczy, ale już seria „gatunków” czy nieszczęsny Nicholas Fandorin zupełnie mnie nie przekonują. Ale do Erasta Fandorina jeszcze wrócę.
A really quick read. But be warned – there is no paranormal element in those books at all. Well, maybe except keeping shoe polish in the linen closet... ;-)
Ech, żeby inni umieli pisać dla dorosłych tak mądrze jak Pratchett dla dzieci (i młodzieży ;-)).
OK, for me the Great Secret was not a world shattering information. But the Risen culture reminded me of Earthsea's afterlife (the one from first books), which I hate...
Jako kryminał chaotyczne, jako powieść „z epoki” zbyt nachalne, no i kolejny antypatyczny bohater. A nawet więcej niż jeden...
Co więcej mogę napisać - podobało mi się. Nie da się ukryc że książka jest nieco staroświecka, ale w końcu powstała przed ponad 70 laty i wolno jej. W każdym razie dorzucam do listy lektur przyszłych kolejne dwa tomy. :-)
Ocena oczko niższa niż 1 tomu - głównie ze względu na straszliwie irytującą narratorkę. Ale nie porzucam Fandorina. :-)
A bit better then the first one, but the con a bit ubelievable. Yes, I know, it is a pulp sf story, so what do I expect? Well, if I can not have believability, I would settle for some fun. Unfortunately humor is missing, too. Or it is not my kind of humor.
I loved to see Millie and David in good health. The story itself is a short one, but it gives an idea what happened after “Reflex”. And the parasol-giving scene near the end is simply lovely.
After few dozen pages I was not thrilled. Just another urban fantasy with Faire/Sidhe/etc hiding among humans. But later on the plot got more interesting and I'll be picking up the second volume.
Extra points for the first one being a self-contained novel, without cliffhangers to be resolved in volumes 2...n ;-).
Too American. To compare to TV: I prefer Hustle to Leverage. The key difference: the British crew does not need a “muscle man”. As for the book (more likely a short story or a novelette) – Leland Hale has no problem with killing someone which puts him few steps lower then Stainless Steel Rat...
Liked it much better then the first book. The irony here is that this one is clearly a part of minimum two-book series, but somehow it makes it better then the stand-alone book one.
Finally a Leland Hale story I liked. Of course, it's the last one :->.
The con if properly convoluted (which does not mean I wold not improve it a bit ;-)) and the victims are crooked themselves – as it should be in a proper con. :-)
Very difficult book to rate.
Starts with two three-star stories (both loosely connected to the Flora Segunda books). But then we get three stories which can be dubbed as Hardhands and Tiny Doom: The Early Years, and I really did not like them. But I dislike writers never using one word if they can use two or – better! – more. It very rarely works for me, and in this case it did not. The fact that Hardhands and Tiny Doom's family is the very model of a disfunctional one does not help...
Luckily the last two stories I really liked, the Hand in Glove being my favourite. Strangely, the best stories have almost nothing to do with Flora books – they simply happen to be happening in the same world, and that's all.
Do understand me – I do not say it's not a good book. But the Goodreads rating system is based on liking, and while I agree this is a good book, it is one I really do not care about...
Cozy mystery with a bit of twist – enough to make a difference and make it stand out from the crowd. (Also: a pug!).
Can you write suspence and intrigue with less then 3000 words? I do not know, Roald Dahl needed 1000 more to write Lamb to the Slaughter, but let's say it's possible, but requires an idea and willingness to strip everything not essential. So sticking to the cosy mystery template in a short story is not a good idea – you get all the ingredients crammed in, but no atmosphere at all.