Heartless

Premise
I had this and the last volume for the series lying on my bookshelf for years. I read the previous volume “Blameless” in 2016 and it is not optimal to read the story again after so many years, because I lose somehow interest and connection to the story. Unfortunately on the internet, I could not find any recaps, but on the other side, I read the mangas. That makes it as if I have read the first three books one and a half times. And I did not lose the connections to the original characters of Alexia, Conall, Lord Akeldama, and so on. I thought of writing this premise because it will highly impact my review.

Plot
I found the plot pretty uninteresting, besides a few revelations.

Characters
Regarding a couple of characters, Prof. Lyall and Ivy, we assisted a big change that looked out of character to me. I love dynamic characters: characters that change sides, that grow, that are well-developed. However, to write a well-round evolution, you need a larger amount of pages, to show the change to readers. I am not sure if these changes were hinted at in the previous books already and I don't remember them or if they were meant to be unexpected.

Conclusion
Overall, I found it a nice read. I enjoyed going back to my beloved and funny characters, but I found myself not very involved in the story and found those revelations not quite fitting.

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader as part of a quick takes post to catch up–emphasizing pithiness, not thoroughness.
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I think I'm about over this series, but maybe it was just this novel. Alexia seemed to run around oblivious to what was going on for almost the entire book—sure, it's kind of explained by the effect “the infant inconvenience” is having on her mind, but I don't totally buy that. (maybe that's my maleness talking). The first couple of chapters and the little bit at the end with the newborn were the highlights for me—the climactic battle sequence was fun, I just didn't like how we got there. Still, it was a fun listen and I enjoy the characters. I hope the series finale is better.

That said, Emily Gray is a delight. I seriously cannot listen to her enough.

Reading till 4 in the morning before work? Of course, yes.
Well, this installment was a bit less logical than the previous one. All that business with octomaton was not so well thought out as it seemed to me. Anyway, the good thing is that I already get used to the sarcastic writing. However, it does make it more difficult to care for the characters.

Another fun Victorian(ish) tongue-in-cheek mystery. This one actually had a slower pace (the main character, Alexia, was 8 months pregnant and could only manage a determined waddle) and focused much more on character development, which I enjoyed.

If you want a break from serious books, I can recommend this series.

Whoops forgot to review this.

This was quite entertaining. Still felt the need for a few breaks, but I enjoyed reading this one. It is exciting to see how all the pieces are being put into place.

Looking forward to finally finishing this series!!

Much better than Blameless. I tend to enjoy when Alexia and Connall are on the same team. The action and mystery of this novel was way more intriguing and I like the evolved back story of several of our major players coming to a head. Really enjoyed this installment.

Fantastic!!!! I am very interested to see how the last book plays out!