Book Review: The Nightmare Affair by Mindee Arnett

The Nightmare Affair (Arkwell Academy #1)

Robin LaFevers

Publication Date: March 5th 2013

Publisher: Tor Teen

Pages: 367

Genre:  Mystery, Paranormal, Young Adult

Sixteen-year-old Dusty Everhart breaks into houses late at night, but not because she’s a criminal. No, she’s a Nightmare.

Literally.

Being the only Nightmare at Arkwell Academy, a boarding school for magickind, and living in the shadow of her mother’s infamy, is hard enough. But when Dusty sneaks into Eli Booker’s house, things get a whole lot more complicated. He’s hot, which means sitting on his chest and invading his dreams couldn’t get much more embarrassing. But it does. Eli is dreaming of a murder.

Then Eli’s dream comes true.

Now Dusty has to follow the clues—both within Eli’s dreams and out of them—to stop the killer before more people turn up dead. And before the killer learns what she’s up to and marks her as the next target.

The voice of this book reminded me so much of the voice of quirky supernatural mystery books that I tend to read when I need something to take me away and not make me think too hard. I love that voice, I'm so happy to have found it in a YA book.

Dusty Everhart (real name Destiny), our main character, is what the book's world calls a Nightmare, which seems to take off the actual origin of the word "nightmare" which goes back to people saying that a hag was sitting on you, pushing you down so you can't move (in other words, good old sleep paralysis). Pretty much to "feed" on dreams, Dusty sits on top of them and then enters their dream.

I like this set up, because it leads to some amusing moments, including the opening scene. As far as Urban Fantasy/Paranormal goes, the specific way Arnett has created her world has made it unique in good ways.

The best thing about this book however (excepting the fact that the mystery was very well done) was the way this book is YA, and contains emotional and dramatic things, yet somehow keeps out of the annoying "High-School Drama" zone that YA often finds itself in. Dusty could very well have been whiny, her personality has the basis for it, but she isn't. The romance could have involved lengthy descriptions of woe-is-me and he-is-so-beautiful, but it totally didn't. In fact Dusty pretty much blatantly ignored her attraction to the main male for most of the book, which was pretty awesome.

I really enjoyed Dusty. There was something really fresh about her. I also took a bit of sadistic pleasure in the fact that she would never get away with things truly. In most mystery driven books, the main characters often (unless it's the climax) are able to to sneak away without causing too much suspicion when trying to learn new things, but nope not Dusty. She'd get caught and there would be consequences (compounded by her open mouth insert foot problem).

Although Paul was pretty obvious, as he fell into a pretty common cliche (too sweet when he's obviously not the canon hero for the heroine), the way he was almost used as a smokescreen as a reader to conceal who the actual bad guy was, was brilliant.

Up until the very end I was convinced it was an 'F' and Paul was calling the shots, Mr. Marrow blindsided me completely. I trusted that character and then kind of put him aside in my head, just like the main characters did.

Bethany's betrayal also surprised me for some reason. I love that you don't feel like Dusty is dumb for not realizing some things (other than Paul, but I feel like Arnett did a good job showing that she was letting infatuation cloud her judgement when it came to him) because you were believing the stuff coming out of their mouths as well.

I recommend this book to people who enjoy reading lighthearted paranormal mysterious. I also recommend this to people looking for a highly entertaining book, without having to worry about the book emotionally dragging you down. I personally enjoyed reading it before bed (before the mystery got too gripping to put down).

4 Bookmarks

Book Review: Scarlette by Davonna Juroe

Scarlette

Davonna Juroe

Request Disclaimer: I was not paid in any way by the publishers or author to review this book favourably. The review is my own honest opinion (Whether or not it is agreed with). 

Publication Date: October 12th 2012

Publisher: BumbleB Media, Inc

Pages: 325

Genre:  Fairytale, Paranormal, Historical, Young Adult

Find the Beast ~ Find the Cure

Scarlette, an 18-year-old peasant, lives under a dark threat. A nightmarish creature lurks in the surrounding forest, killing the villagers one by one. When Scarlette's grandmother survives an attack, Scarlette learns that her grandmother hasn't suffered the bite of just any normal animal.

Now desperate, Scarlette searches throughout her province to find a cure. But there are those who want to keep their pasts hidden. As she begins to uncover the dark secrets of her village, Scarlette is befriended by a local nobleman and a woodcutter who share a gruesome history with the beast. To save her grandmother, Scarlette must unravel their mystery and solve an age-old crime. But as she pieces together the clues, Scarlette finds herself torn between the two men, both of whom want to be more than friends and hold the key to the cure.

What if Little Red Riding Hood was Real?

Based on both the Grimm and Perrault versions of Little Red Riding Hood and set against the terrifying, historic Beast of Gévaudan attacks, this dark YA retelling blends two epic legends, giving the fabled girl-in-the-red-cloak a new, shockingly real existence.

EDIT: The original review was written and posted before the new beautiful cover that now graces Scarlette. I'm quite happy to see that the cover is now worthy of the writing inside.

--

There are a lot of books out there that have gorgeous covers and are professionally published, but when you read them there just isn't much substance and enjoyment to them. Then there comes a book that has a cover that makes you want to pass over it because something seems off and less professional about it or you see an easily spotted photoshop filter.

I'm sorry to say that Scarlette by Davonna Juroe has one of those covers, and I'm sorry to say that because what's inside the cover is so well written.

Scarlette is an adaptation of Red Riding Hood based in the historical events of werewolf paranoia in France. When Juroe sent me an e-mail asking if I would review the book, this is what caught my attention first because I wondered if she could pull it off, because in my opinion if she could it would be amazing. So the verdict? She pulled it off indeed. There is a good balance in this book of historical, character development, intrigue and paranormal. In fact one thing I really enjoyed was the fact that Scarlette just outright rejects any paranormal explanations for most of the book (it's not like the supernatural occurances are smacking her in the face, especially in the beginning).

I also really enjoyed Scarlette's character. She is called naïve by many characters, but honestly as the reader, knowing what she knows, she reacted to everything in a very realistic and level headed way. She does do some dumb things, but compared to the popular characterization of eighteen year old heroines in books with paranormal elements, it's a lot less and it's nice that she's less dramatic about it.

Throughout the book, I found myself making a lot of guessing about who could be behind everything and how everyone connects and then found myself revising the guesses over and over again. The answers are not as obvious as they seem and I found myself surprised a lot by the twists.

The ending was a bit rushed as a warning. There was so much build-up that the final climax ended up being too much too fast and the wrap-up felt short. That was really my only thing in the writing that kept me from giving it a higher rating. Though I will say that I like the way the aftermath connected with the historical fact about the whole situation.

I honest to god almost stopped guessing because I was pretty much wrong most of the time! There was a long time that I had believed that Louis was the wolf, but then I changed my mind when I learned he was the benefactor! I honestly did, and then for a while like, Scarlette, I thought it was her boss, and for a long time in the beginning I thought it was her mother.

As soon as Scarlette found the cross though, I knew she had to be a witch, though Jeanne and Marie's connection to Scarlette's mother and to Francois completely took me by surprise.

Something I found interesting is that another book I was reading parallel to this, and based in a dystopian futuristic world had an almost similar theme going on with the main character trusting a character because they have no reason not to, but as a reader we know that they are bad because of reader's intuition and our habit of trusting the cute, rebellious boys as opposed to the very helpful and understanding ones.

Finally I wanted to touch upon Scarlette's mother/daughter relationship, because I found it very interesting. The mother ended up being such a complex character. At first it just seems like she hates the world, and is an abusive mother, but soon I get an image that she honestly loves her daughter but due to the bitter world she had been in and the trials and troubles she had put herself through trying to create the monster in defense of a friend and ally who had died, she became obsessive about it. I really wonder what kind of woman her mother had been originally, before she had had her rift with Marie, before Scarlette was born and the witch was burned.

Scarlette is a book that combines historical events, paranormal (from a historical point of view) and a classic fairytale. If you like books that keep you guessing with mystery, I recommend this book. It is definitely one of my favourite retellings of the fairytale.

4.5 Bookmarks

Extras

One of the most interesting parts of this book is the fact that Juroe put a lot of research into it involving the historical "werewolf" attacks in France. She's written at least a couple of posts about information she had found:

http://www.davonnajuroe.com/2010/10/what-if-little-red-riding-hood-was-real.html

http://www.davonnajuroe.com/2010/03/fab-facts-werewolves-peasants-and.html

Finally, TODAY SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 4TH the book is being offered for free on Amazon, so if you have the slightest interest due to my review, go go go go here and I hope you enjoy!

ARC Book Review: Circle of Silence by Carol M. Tanzman

Circle of Silence (WiHi #2)

Carol M. Tanzman

No Prequel Review, can stand on own
ARC Disclaimer: I was not paid in any way by the publishers to review this book favourably. The review is my own honest opinion (Whether or not it is agreed with). 

Publication Date: July 24th 2012

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Pages: 302

Genre:  Contemporary, Mystery, Thriller, Young Adult

THE BIGGEST STORY OF MY LIFE COULD BE HOW IT ENDS It's my turn to run a "Campus News" crew, and I've put together a team that can break stories wide open. And Washington Irving High has a truly great one to cover, if only we can find a lead.

A secret society has formed in our school. It announced its presence with pranks: underwear on the flagpole, a toilet in the hallway, cryptic notes. A circle of silence keeps the society a mystery. No one knows its members, agenda or initiation secrets-until a student lands in the hospital under "strange" circumstances.

I "will" blow this story wide open and stop others from being hurt...or worse. And while my ex, Jagger, might want to help, I don't trust him yet. (And, no, not because of our past together. That is "not" important to this story.)

But whether you find me, Valerie Gaines, reporting in front of the camera, or a victim in the top story of the newscast...be sure to watch "Campus News" at 9:00 a.m. this Friday.

What I didn't realize until about halfway through the book, is that Circle of Silence is actually a sequel… So… What I can tell you is that you don't have to read the first book, dancergirl, before reading this one at all to understand it. Circle of Silence is an excellent standalone book.

So, for me, I'm not much of a Contemporary YA reader, in fact I've never been much of a Contemporary book reader, preferring things out of the ordinary, but what books like Circle of Silence have is a horror and mystery element that pulls me in and holds me prisoner. The book is fast paced, with thoughts from the mysterious pranking group's leader scattered here and there. Those parts actually amps up the feeling of horror as you see into a mind of a kid who might just be a sociopath. You also see some of the plans before they happen and you start to worry about others more and more.

As for the characters, I really liked them, especially the main character. There's something about high school hardcore journalists that really intrigue me. They have a stubbornness to them that gets them into all sorts of trouble and love it.

The love story is done all right, though personally I don't think the book needed it. I guess it did place the heroine off her game when Jagger was around, but even if he had just been a friend I think it would have worked fine. At the same time, people expect YA to have romance, and the publisher is a part of Harlequin, it's also just a personal preference.

I knew her sister was one of the group! I knew it, knew it! Considering how the group was so obviously a group of loners who felt ignored by the world, Val's sister fit that bill. I didn't think she was the one who was sending the e-mails though, until the point where it was learned they were being sent from the same location.

On the other hand, I adored the fact that the Skeletor was a kid no one ever noticed. It fit so perfectly, yet he was a complete sociopath, what had started out as a fun bunch of pranks had turned into life and death, initiations leaving kids in the hospital.

I also really like the fact that Val did not win the prize, yet at the same time didn't mind. It really showed how much she grew up as a person throughout the book.

I recommend this book to people who love the author Laurie Faria Stolarz, or any other YA Contemporary author that tends to dab a little bit in horror. If you love mystery, that's also a huge driving point for the novel. Overall I did enjoy it quite a lot.

4 Bookmarks

Book Review: Deadly Little Lies by Laurie Faria Stolarz

Deadly Little Lies (Touch #2)

Laurie Faria Stolarz

Review of Deadly Little Secret (Touch #1)

Publication Date: November 9th 2009

Publisher: Hyperion

Pages: 288

Genre:  Young Adult, Thriller

Since Ben abruptly left town, Camelia has been studying everything she can about psychometry, and wonders if Ben's abilities have somehow rubbed off on her.

Deadly Little Lies feels like the beginning of a series a lot more than Deadly Little Secret did. While the first book feels more standalone with some teases of things that might happen in the future, this book is full blown SOMETHING IS GOING ON, and we, as the readers, want to keep reading to figure out what is going on.

Camelia returns and this time she is starting to notice that when she just lets impulse sculpt for her she keeps sculpting things that are real or that come true and it's freaking her out. As she deals with that and Ben's game of hot and cold (I don't know any other character that plays it better than him…) we get glimpses of her aunt as a teenager through diary entries scattered throughout the book. I'm really glad that Stolarz found a way to continue the structure of having these separate special parts as it adds a layer of interest to the storytelling I adore.

I also enjoyed how things are stirred up in our brains, but not everything is revealed. We have enough to guess, but not enough to know 100% and the characters haven't had it revealed to them yet.

I also liked how they extended the first books plot into this one via an old character.

I have to admit I found it pretty obvious that it was Debbie from the start as soon as she had gotten back, because she had definitely lost a few, blaming Ben instead of her stupid friends who had pulled the pranks that had led to her accident. I did however enjoy her as a villain, she did some pretty scary things, possibly scaring than Matt in the first book did, because of the way they melded with Camelia's new ability, giving Debbie's "attacks" a supernatural feel to them, despite not being supernatural.

I am super picky with continuing books, but I think I will continue at least one more book in this series, if only for Aunt Alexia, I want to read Camelia figuring it out. The book is good, but I don't find it amazing, I also don't find it terrible either. I think it's well written. I do recommend this series for contemporary fans who like a bit of a thrill.

3.5 Bookmarks

Book Review: The Daykeeper's Grimoire by Christy Raedeke

The Daykeeper's Grimoire (Prophecy of Days #1)

Christy Raedeke

Publication Date: May 8th 2010

Publisher: Flux

Pages: 352

Genre: Mystery, Adventure, Young Adult

Can one (super smart) girl
(who just wants to be discovered)
decipher the cryptic Mayan calendar prophecy and SAVE THE WORLD? 

When her safe-cracker mom and code-breaker dad inherit a dreary Scottish castle, sixteen-year-old Caity Mac Fireland is not happy. Ripped from her cushy life and friends in San Francisco, Caity’s secret fantasy of being discovered by a Hollywood agent, talent scout, or even just a pageant coach seems more unlikely than ever.

But when Caity stumbles across a hidden room in the castle, its walls covered in strange symbols, her life takes a bizarre turn. She finds herself center stage in an international conspiracy involving warring secret societies, assassins, the suppressed revelations of the Mayan Calendar and the year 2012, plus the fate of humanity.

With the help of her friend Justine back home, and Alex, a gorgeous and mysterious Scottish boy, Caity must race to decipher the code and reveal its message to the world before time runs out.

This review of Prophecy of Days may just be one of the hardest reviews I've ever had to write. For me there are many different parts to what makes a book great: the prose, the plot, the characters, the research, the believability and the voice, among a few others I probably can't think of now. Unfortunately, some of those parts mean more than others, so even if a book is amazing in many parts, but fails in others it can bring the enjoyability of the book down.

The idea, research and plot of this book were extrodinairy. It was just as complicated and well thought out as The DaVinci Code going deep into the Mayan Calender and Secret Societies that resonated with me. But… I hate to say this because I really did enjoy this book, the prose and actual writing of this book feel rather subpar. There are a lot of "telling not showing" and the writing finds itself being very simplistic in a way that is less stylistic, but more like the author was just trying hard to get from point a to point b instead of having the characters be characters.

It could be that it is because this is not a character orientated book at all and it ends up being a matter of preference, but I really felt like the prose could have benefited from a bit more drive and believability from the characters, Caity especially had a robotic feeling to her, as if she was just going through the motions that a teenaged girl should instead of feeling any passion or ideas about it all.

The thing is, normally with books with this quality of writing, I put them down and I don't finish them, but the idea of this book is amazing and I loved the mystery of it all. I really enjoyed learning about the mystery of the Mayan Calender, so much I myself am going to start looking up to see what day each day is (if people have updated it past 2012 that is) as it goes along with my love of Astrology.

I also really love the idea of kids uniting all across the world.

I'm not as passionate about the "twists" in this book as I have been in the past. I completely guess Donald would end up going with them to Easter Island, and even though I was surprised about Dr. Li, I have a hard time believing he was really betraying them, and I'd rather think that he is solving some other mystery.

The meeting with all the kids was absolutely awesome, and I only wish that it pulled off more belieavable as well. It was just too easy for Caity and Janine to get to the places they needed to get.

Okay, this book is good, but more than likely many would not consider it written well, so this is up to you guys if you want to pick this book up or not. If you can let writing that may not be up to the par of others by, then I highly recommend this book, because it is really interesting and I did enjoy it quite a bit.

3 Bookmarks

Book Review: Theodosia and the Staff of Osiris

Theodosia and the Staff of Osiris (Theodosia Throckmorton #2)

R.L. LaFevers

Review of Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos (#1)

Publication Date: November 10th 2008

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Pages: 400

Genre: Historical, Mystery, Middle-Grade

Theodosia Throckmorton is in a fix. Allowed to attend a reception given by one of the directors of her parents’ museum, she stumbles across Mr. Tetley of the British Museum—in most unusual circumstances! Since Theo has last seen him in a showdown in an ancient Egyptian tomb, his reappearance could mean only one thing: the Serpents of Chaos are back.
Once again Theodosia will have to take on secret societies, evil curses, and dark magic too sinister to imagine, especially if it falls into the wrong hands. Blocked at every turn, Theodosia will have to rely on her own skill and cunning—along with a little help from the most unexpected places.

Say hello to the return of Theodosia! I really need to read Grave Mercy still because I truly adore LaFever's writing style. Once again I was completely swept away by Theo's world. The Serpents of Chaos are far from being done, and of course Theo is now on their well "shitlist", they don't like her so much at all.

We also get to witness Theo's grandmother trying her hardest to get Theo a governess and turn into a "well bred young lady" which Theo is just having none of. Theo is such an independent, strong, intelligent character that I love reading so much. As always most of the adults just ignore her and think she is just a precocious child, another secret society appears, causing even more confusion for Theo and the characters are just as memorable as the first one.

I really, truly wish that I had had this series when I was younger to read, because I would have eaten it right up.

I KNEW IT! I KNEW THE ADMIRAL WAS THE BAD GUY! Okay, I didn't know for sure, but I started guessing it about halfway through. I also love how ghastly the things the Serpents of Chaos do, but Theodosia just takes it in stride and fixes things up. Will makes a really nice counterpart for her, and the way she deals with all her governess's is just beautiful.

And the other secret society thinking that she is Isis reincarnate also amuses me, however I am actually entertaining the thought that it might be true as she is incredibly attracted to Egyptology and can improvise amulets incredibly well.

If you like MG Adventure, read this series, seriously, it is incredibly good. LaFevers is a fantastic MG writer and all the Egyptology is equally interesting. I myself am quite excited to continue on with this series and see what adventures Theodosia Throckmorton gets into next.

4 Bookmarks

Book Review: Red Fox by Karina Halle

Red Fox (Experiments in Terror #2)

Karina Halle

Review of Darkhouse (Experiments in Terror #1)


Publication Date: June 13th 2011

Publisher: Metal Blonde Books

Pages: 300

Genre: Horror, Mystery, Paranormal

With Book Two of the Experiment in Terror Series, Perry Palomino and Dex Foray trade in the stormy Oregon coast for the unforgiving deserts of New Mexico.

In the for­got­ten town of Red Fox, a Navajo cou­ple is tor­tured by things unseen and by motives unknown. Wild ani­mals slink through their house in the dark, a bar­rage of stones pound their roof nightly, and muti­lated sheep car­casses are turn­ing up on their prop­erty. Armed with a cam­era and just enough to go on, Perry and Dex travel to the des­o­late locale, hop­ing to film the super­nat­ural occur­rences and add cred­i­bil­ity to their flail­ing web­cast. Only their show has a lot more work­ing against them than just grow­ing pains. Tested by dubi­ous ranch hands, a ghost from Dex’s past, and shapeshift­ing decep­tion, the ama­teur ghost hunters must learn to trust each other in order to fight the most ancient of myths…or die trying.

Red Fox finds itself along a very different paranormal path than Darkhouse. Perry and Dex find themselves in a completely different environment and facing a different kind of "evil". I will admit I did not enjoy this book as much as Darkhouse (I did spend about half of it screaming at the two of them to capture more footage), but that is not to say I didn't enjoy it, because enjoy it I did.

I really liked the use of Native American legends invoked this time, adding a layer of human treachery to paranormal evil. The plot twists and turns and kept me guessing until the very end, all while revealing that Perry and Dex are deeper than originally thought. Finding a bit about Dex's past was especially enjoyable. He's such a secretive man that prying anything from him is impossible. (And just to mention, you can cut Perry and Dex's sexual tension with a knife it's so thick).

On top of this the internet show's popularity is already in question. Her family things it's just meh and well Perry is fired from her job from assuming everything will be okay (which was a serious blow to myself since I make a lot of decisions like that). I think it as from the fear from them losing the show (one of my favourite aspects of the book) that had me screaming in my head at them most of the time.

I totally did not guess that Sarah was one of the bad guys and I feel absolutely dumb for not. In hindsight it was obvious she was not happy and that she was putting on an act, but the fact that she was a skinwalker took me by surprise. Also what is creepier than the idea of the skinwalker? Can be an animal or even take on the skin of a friend.

So though I missed the creepy ghosts and haunted stories, I really liked the incorporation of something different with the skinwalkers.

If you enjoyed Perry and Dex in Darkhouse you will enjoy them more in Red Fox. I seriously recommend this series to people who want something different out of paranormal fiction and characters types that haven't been overused. (Like Dex, who is such a butt and so secretive and so much like people in the real world).

4 Bookmarks

Book Review: Flora Segunda by Ysabeau S. Wilce

Flora Segunda

Ysabeau S. Wilce

Publication Date: January 1st 2007

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Pages: 448

Genre: Fantasy

Flora knows better than to take shortcuts in her family home, Crackpot Hall--the house has eleven thousand rooms, and ever since her mother banished the magickal butler, those rooms move around at random. But Flora is late for school, so she takes the unpredictable elevator anyway. Huge mistake. Lost in her own house, she stumbles upon the long-banished butler--and into a mind-blowing muddle of intrigue and betrayal that changes her world forever.      Full of wildly clever plot twists, this extraordinary first novel establishes Ysabeau Wilce as a compelling new voice in teen fantasy.

Flora Segunda was recommended to me by goodread's spiffy recommendation program. The title and description intrigued me, and I am a fan of characters who get to explore gigantic magical houses (i.e. The House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones).

I liked the characters and prose well enough. I enjoyed the perspective of Flora and the messed up family she lived in which breaks your heart, yet somehow is portrayed light enough that it doesn't drag you down.

Now in fantasy books one of the hardest things to master is how to present one's world building. There are two extremes authors can trap themselves into: one of those being trying to fit every single bit of exposition about the world in every moment they can shove it, the other being the opposite and not explaining everything, bombarding the reader with strange words, culture, history and geography without explaining any of it, expecting the reader to know everything about it already. This latter issue is all right if it's a book in a series, but when meant to stand on its on this is a huge pitfall, and Flora Segunda unfortunately falls into it.

While reading this book I assumed that possibly it had been published in another country first, or the author was foreign and the fault in my trouble keeping up is that I just wasn't in the mind to understand it, but nope, apparently Wilce is from Chicago, which I learned from the about the author blurb. Also, apparently the world Flora Segunda is set in is a oft reused world by the author, so that could be the reason why the reader is left high and dry when it comes to this world.

The other issue is that the pacing of the book is rather slow and I'm a personal fan of faster paced books (and unfortunately the other book I was reading at the time, The Nature of Monsters by Clare Clark) has a slow pacing to it as well so I found myself running away to a third book during the reading of them.

I wanted to like this book so badly, so, so badly. I guess all middle grade fantasy books about plucky heroines are not created equally, however. The prose was perfect for the genre but the story felt older. The issue of Poppy, for example, feels like such a heavy subject. The way both Buck and Flora had to deal with him broke my heart everytime.

There were also many attempts of clever twists that were only approached halfway. The weirdest twist was that of Poppy originally being a ranger. I honestly thought that it would have been a cooler and more interesting twist if Buck had been the ranger in the past, which would have made sense since she claims to have met Nini Mo and was friends with the Dainty Pirate.

All in all I made it through and I honestly don't know how I feel about it. As I mentioned earlier I did like the characters and I enjoyed the prose style, but I felt the plot was truly just all over the place.

If there's one thing I hate doing, it is giving a lower review. I find sometimes things are just a matter of taste and sometimes, yes it is the writing itself. In Flora Segunda's case, I do think it's mostly taste. The writing itself is good writing, the plot and pacing is where it lacks for me. If you are already familiar with Wilde's world of the Republic of Califa, than I do recommend this book, because all the world being thrown at you will not cause you to put down the book. I also recommend this to people who want to read amusing characters, as that is where this book shines.

2.5 Bookmarks