I wanted to like this book, and I'm happy to say that I did.
I wanted to love this book and I have to settle for liking it.
Why? For starters, I have high standards for "love". "Like" is pretty easy, but "love" is tough the book has to be free of typos and spelling/punctuation errors. (Check). Either not drop a cliffhanger on us (or at least warn us up front that it's coming) OR have conclusion to at least part of the story if it's going to leave the rest to a future work. (Check). The dialog has to feel "right" / be believable. (Check.) It has to have likeable characters (check) and the characters, plot, some scene(s), or a message, or a few quotes, or ... have to be so powerful as to stay with me as I move on and read other books. (uh ... semi-check. Two weeks later, and the impression is not indelible, but it IS still with me.)
I think the reasons this fell just short of "love" had to do with the number of times I hit a "huh?" point in the plot ... something I couldn't figure out where out of left field THAT came from! Perhaps future books in the series will explain things, but I've never been a fan of series in which I HAVE to buy future books. WANT to, yes but if the plot in each edition doesn't totally stand alone, I find myself disappointed.
This is the first in a series I suspect (hope? expect?) some to all of my questions will be resolved in future sequels.
RATING: 3 stars
I wanted to love this book and I have to settle for liking it.
Why? For starters, I have high standards for "love". "Like" is pretty easy, but "love" is tough the book has to be free of typos and spelling/punctuation errors. (Check). Either not drop a cliffhanger on us (or at least warn us up front that it's coming) OR have conclusion to at least part of the story if it's going to leave the rest to a future work. (Check). The dialog has to feel "right" / be believable. (Check.) It has to have likeable characters (check) and the characters, plot, some scene(s), or a message, or a few quotes, or ... have to be so powerful as to stay with me as I move on and read other books. (uh ... semi-check. Two weeks later, and the impression is not indelible, but it IS still with me.)
I think the reasons this fell just short of "love" had to do with the number of times I hit a "huh?" point in the plot ... something I couldn't figure out where out of left field THAT came from! Perhaps future books in the series will explain things, but I've never been a fan of series in which I HAVE to buy future books. WANT to, yes but if the plot in each edition doesn't totally stand alone, I find myself disappointed.
This is the first in a series I suspect (hope? expect?) some to all of my questions will be resolved in future sequels.
RATING: 3 stars
