Ben Saufley

This was a very satisfying thriller/mystery. I liked the linguistic angle and for the most part I think it was convincing – I'm not a linguist but I do think there are times when one reads a book and the writer's actual lack of expertise is apparent, and I don't think that was the case here. The payoff, the resolution, was certainly spectacular, but it didn't feel unearned or out of left field. I really enjoyed it, start to finish.

I really enjoyed this one. I'm completely aware that I'm a sucker for school books, especially "magic school", but the magic in this one was really interesting, the atmosphere was great, and the romance was charming.

Coming up with an engaging premise is only part of writing a book, and while it's not easy, it's certainly the easiest part. I thought this book was pretty interesting and asked a lot of interesting questions right up until it became clear that it would hand-wave them all away in the resolution. By that point, a lot of the flaws of the book – the constant, clichéd "in English, please?" between scientists; the cartoonish villain; the less-educated style of speech of a supposedly brilliant protagonist (plausible, sure, but just one more thing) – went from things I'd forgive for an interesting premise to signs that it was never going to wrap up the way I'd hoped. Disappointing, in the end.

It wasn't bad, had me interested in what was going on, how it all played out—but the concept that it was a book-within-a-book, introduced at the very start, was confusing until it was resolved, and its resolution was unsatisfying. I can applaud the attempt, because it's an interesting idea, but it was a bit too much to work, for me.

This was an interesting kind of thriller but the pacing kind of lost me – it's _kind of_ over with 20% of the book to go. Sure, not completely, but the writing's on the wall and there's really no more tricks up its sleeve.