Troubled Blood

3.5 stars, guess I'll round up. J.K. Rowling really, really needs an editor - there was so much unnecessary fluff to this book. At times, reading it felt like a chore. But the end pulled things together really nicely, and I am definitely still excited to see where the series goes.

The sexual tension between the two main characters is starting to feel tired. I empathize with Rowling's plight, if they actually get together than we lose a key factor keeping readers interested, a key motivating device for the plot. But the constant references to how much each of them would like to make a move yet continue to tiptoe around each other just felt repetitive –– we get it already!

Interesting currents continue to recur in Rowling's writing: - A fascination with, and seeming relish to depict, various British accents or tics of speech (lisps) - Poor families living in squalid conditions, mental illness / retardation (think of the Gaunts in Harry Potter, serving a very similar narrative purpose as the Athorns) - Feminism, sexual assault, the difficult choices women must make on a daily basis to succeed in a male-dominated world - The tendency of evil to hide in plain sight, disguised (think of Barty Crouch Jr. as Mad Eye Moody) - The nature of parent-child love, and what happens when it is absent, or replaced with cruelty. Lifelong effects of childhood trauma. - Birthdays - Fate, destiny, things which are “written in the stars”