Octavia Butler's writing style isn't particularly engaging and her characters ...
593356
Octavia Butler's writing style isn't particularly engaging and her characters don't seem distinctly painted, but the world she builds and the realities of it are stark and compelling enough to make up for a story which otherwise feels a little dry.
1157748
This review is more like 2.5 stars. I couldn't decide between 2 or 3, but bumped it up because it was good enough to get through in a day.

I'll try to keep it mostly spoiler free, as my complaints have little to do with specific plot points.

I've been reading a lot of Cassandra Clare's work lately, and greatly anticipated City of Lost Souls. It was less on the grounds that she's some amazing writer, but more on the entertainment value of finding out what happens next. Call it a guilty pleasure, if you will. But there were so many problems with this book that I couldn't overlook this time, and it detracted from my overall experience.

Firstly, the descriptions are ridiculous. It was established in the very beginning that Jace is beautiful, angelic. We need not be reminded every time, yet we are. Even when characters are thinking about Jace, we have to hear how beautiful he is. It's also unnecessary to describe every article of clothing a character is wearing, as it takes focus away from what's happening. Same for the new locations. They're described in such detail that I found myself skipping over certain lines and missing nothing, because there was no need to focus on it. Overused descriptions are another problem. I cringed a little every time a form of the word "gold" was used in this book. Also "hearts slamming against chests," and "half-closed eyes." They simply bother me.

Focus is a good word that this book needs. Events are all over the place, and it's difficult to determine what's important. It didn't bother me at first, but I'm beginning to really dislike the constant POV jumps. They occur much too frequently, it's often ambiguous whose POV it is at first, and honestly it's a little insulting to my attention span. I feel like it's overused to build tension, when tension should occur normally within the span of a scene. I find few things more jarring than being in the middle of a tense moment, only to have to read about Jordan and Maia being all over each other again.

I'm starting to get the feeling that this book has far too many characters for the story it's trying to convey. It's probably too late at this point, but the series would benefit greatly in scaling back the number of POVs to perhaps just Clary, Simon, and possibly Jace. Other characters can still be there, don't get me wrong, but it's unnecessary to know what everyone is thinking about everything. There is intrigue in knowing only one side of the story.

Overall this wasn't a terrible book. It's just that a decent story was drowned in a lot of unnecessary things. Many fans will love it, I'm sure, but it simply had too many problems for me to enjoy it to its fullest. I still look forward to the conclusion, just perhaps not as much as I would have otherwise.
2852929
Writing style was of the period, so stilted. The story, while interesting did not flow well. The characters were not always clearly developed.
4953289
Not particularly engaging.  Readers not familiar with Hispanic names may have difficulties in following the story.
1662565
The Peculiars follows the story of Lena Mattacascar who is part Goblin. When Lena turns eighteen, she receives a letter, along a few other things, from her father who abandoned her years ago. Hell-bent on learning more about him and her heritage, Lena sets out to Knob Knoster, a town close to Scree, in search of answers. Along the way, she encounters various people and adventures that side-track her journey.

Well, I should begin with this - this book isn't dark, not really, so the blurb is slightly misleading. I wish it took a darker turn.

Having said that, McQuerry has a way with world-building, she's definitely creative with it. Reading about a protagonist who's part Goblin was a breath of fresh air after all the books I've been reading lately but having raised my expectations so much in the beginning, the novel fell short in the middle. The Peculiars is one of those novels with the dreaded mid-book slump. However, right when I was about to give up all hope, the story got interesting and picked up its pace again towards the end.

Lena wasn't exactly one of my favorite leads and the same goes for Jimson. While some may find their romance sweet/cute, I found it tad boring. I guess character-development may not be the book's strength but Lena did redeem herself as the book progressed, letting go of her insecurities and standing up for herself.

Although I wished the novel took a different direction, McQuerry's writing made me stick through the entire book as she managed to keep it interesting. She paints a vivid picture and it's hard to not appreciate that in a book.
Let me put it this way, if you're new to the Steampunk genre, you might really enjoy The Peculiars. On the other hand, I'm not new to it. I like steampunk novels and I went in expecting a lot from this book and I'm not saying that it wasn't good, just that it could've been better. I'm torn between rating this book 2 or 3 stars but I'm deciding on 3 for the author's writing, imagination and unique idea alone.
2698142
It seemed like the plot meandered about aimlessly without ever getting much of anywhere; and the storytelling frequently digressed into philosophical tangents or rants a page or two long.  I did not find these sideline tangents very enjoyable.  Yes, the book was suffused with the witty, warm humor that makes me such an Alexander McCall Smith fan-- but there were too many characters to keep track of, especially considering that this was my entry point to the series (through an odd combination of circumstances).  The most likable character was Bertie, and I definitely enjoyed his story; but other characters seemed irritating or pointless, and I felt like I knew them too superficially to root for them.
4244543
I read this series through the Kindle unlimited trial offered. Overall I think the author has potential. Having said that I think the prose needs work.  It is way too stilted. Conversations are delivered as speeches. The final effect is a story lacking in emotion and it got boring half way through. Hopefully the author will work on her prose and her writing will improve with future books.
I did like the characterization of the heroine, that of a strong independent woman. So often these romances feature awkward insecure women that make me cringe every time. Because the book is written only from the heroine's POV, in unskilled hands, we lack the emotional input from the hero. It is a literary dilemma, whether to use one person's POV, POVs from two or more characters (and get the story very fractured in the process) or to go with third person. However the heroine's POV can work to great effect: consider Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier or Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. But then again, those are masterpieces.....
2068390
Just not my cup of tea.  Plotting and writing style needed more work.
1949916
The story was interesting but the writing style was not to my liking.
1663388
This book sounded fascinating, but it disappointed me.  Unfortunately it is written in a labored, heavy, and somewhat pretentious literary style, which snuffs out much of the fun.  I had hoped for a straightforward character-driven novel and fun mystery.  The author's dreamy narrator, an imaginer of the past, is so much less fun than a historical narrator who is a character in the drama, or an omniscient narrator.  Somehow the style of writing overshadowed the plot and fascinating characters for me.  I really wanted to love this book, but it's many labored metaphors and narrator musings made the book much less fun than I had hoped.  A more clear exposition, more clear or chronological organization, and greater charcter development might have made this a story I could love.
228509
(Note: this review contains mild spoilers.)

I am a fan of Death Note and I wanted to read the prequel to get a better understanding of the franchise. However, thanks to the internet, I already accidentally spoiled a few major points of the story concerning the character Beyond Birthday. So, as I was reading this, there were a few things that happened that I already expected. So unfortunately I can't give this review without being somewhat biased against my enjoyment of the story already. However, there were many things about the author's writing style that really stuck out to me as being rather ridiculous.

A lot of the story struck me with a very childish writing style. The author uses the character Mello as the story's narrator, but it is still written very inconsistently. Mello himself doesn't seem to have his own consistent voice. I would've much preferred reading this through Naomi's perspective, and not from another character who wasn't even there.

Secondly, the author has a very annoying use of sentence fragments to try and say something exciting or significant to the story. I can understand the need for it sometimes, but the amount in which they were used really dampens the effect.

Thirdly, some of the characters' names are so ridiculous, I can't take it seriously. The victim's names are "Backyard Bottomslash", "Quarter Queen", and "Believe Bridesmaid." Why not "Bill Blanchard" or "Betty Benefield?" Even the villain himself has a silly name, "Beyond Birthday", though I can understand THAT because of the nature of where he comes from.

Lastly, when we are given brief glimpses into the killer's mentality, the laughter seems really, really silly to me.

The ending not only feels rushed and dry, but it also feels as though everything happened for no reason. We never really see L shine, we never really see Beyond Birthday's mysterious power in action, we never see Naomi uncover his secrets, and we realize through the story that L essentially does very little. Instead of actually seeing things revealed through the story, we're just getting told what's happening by Mello.

As I was reading this I found that I couldn't take anything seriously. I didn't feel there was much at stake, and with the victims having such silly names, I couldn't even think of them as real people either. Quarter Queen was probably the most emotionally engaging of the victims because of her youth, but still, with that name I really couldn't engage.

(SPOILERS BELOW)

When you're given a character with a power that Beyond Birthday has before the plot of the anime actually reveals it exists, you are indeed forced to keep the power a mystery from other characters. However, that really does dampen the effect of the narrative because we never really see the power effecting anything at all. We're simply told by the narrator that it exists, without being hit with a huge revelation.

(END SPOILERS)

Death Note is a very clever anime and has a lot to work with. I feel like a Death Note prequel is an awesome thing to do, but unfortunately this prequel squanders a lot of the potential Death Note has with an inconsistently written, somewhat childish story that has very little at stake for the characters involved. I wish I could've liked it more, and I wish I could've read it without having already spoiled the nature of the killer. But unfortunately, I personally didn't enjoy it.
1192193
I finished this book solely because I was interested in where the story went. I won't get the next in the series. The writing, I had to completely ignore. Is it a book? Yes, but poorly written. Apparently, people in this genre don't seem to care about how urban fiction is delivered. I feel the writer has potential. The story is interesting, but I feel like the writer went out of her way to come up with the worse cases for everyone involved. Who knows though, perhaps there is someone whose life is really just that bad. In which case, I feel for them, really.
2061637
The story is a good one, but I did not feel engaged by the characters and I didn't enjoy the style the of writing.
145271
This is the third book in the series, Kings and Sorcerers, and Im halfway through.  This is also the first series of books I've read by Morgan Rice.  Her writing may be better than this book reflects, but I can only go on what I see and read.  In general, the topic is great, but the writing is okay.

First, I often must reread sentences and I find annoying spelling, grammar, and typo errors that disengage my interest in what I'm reading.  If it happened once or twice, I would not mention it, but the editor of this book should be ashamed.  Interestingly, it seems to have gotten worse with each book, as if she was in a hurry to get it to the publisher.

Second, the characters are not as well developed as they could be, which takes away from the overall storyline.  There are too many side stories to keep the main character interesting and engaging.  The story unravels a bit as a result, and I find myself losing interest.  I liken this to TV series that go four months in between seasons.  By the time they come back, Ive lost interest and moved on to another program.

Regardless, I like the topic, and I hope her writing will get better with time.  I will read the rest of the series, as I like to get the whole story, but I also read other books at the same time, and they are a bit more engaging.
450337
Sylvia Day's A Touch of Crimson: A Renegade Angels Novel is the start of a series. On the whole it's a fairly average erotic paranormal romance. When I got into the details, however, I liked it less.

I think of Adrian as a Slab O'Man. He doesn't seem to have a lot to him beyond that, physically and personality-wise. Lindsay is somewhat more interesting, as is Elijah, her lycan bodyguard, but the other seraphim are even sketchier than Adrian and seriously lacking in personality. I often felt as though the characters were posing for the reader instead of behaving naturally.

There are some frustrating character point-of-view oddities. Early on we're seeing things from Lindsay's perspective, although in the third person. Some vital information was left out of this part of the narrative just to make a revelation surprising a little while later. Since we had supposedly been getting Lindsay's PoV, this felt like a cheap cheat.

I have a real problem with plots that rely on someone having decided to "punish" a being by making them more powerful and/or more dangerous to all of those around them. It can work in stories with a certain mythical, fairy-tale feel, but A Touch of Crimson is about as far from that sort of feel as possible. Angels aren't wild and mythical; they're soldiers with wings. Thus, the fact that angels were turned into Vampires when they fell-Vampires who feed on humans and can spread vampirism to humans-vampires the angels aren't really supposed to kill because that negates the punishment aspect... that's just plain bad plotting.

And now for the quote that really gets me:

  "Lindsay shook her head. "No."

  Adrian's features lit with a glorious smile. He twisted swiftly and she found herself beneath him ...

  "I know what it means when you say that," he murmured."

Yes, by all means, let's put a scene into a romance that indicates that the man not only knows better than the woman does what she means when she says "no," but feels it appropriate to act on his imagined "yes" rather than her spoken "no." WTF. There are better ways to produce a dynamic where Lindsay is reluctant-but-wanting and Adrian draws her out, that don't imply that it's not only okay but desirable for a man to decide he knows better than a woman what she really wants in bed, and to act on that without her agreement.

There are a few similar tidbits. There's also a set of decisions later on-one by Lindsay and one by Shadoe-that get made ridiculously easily given what each of them would have to pay for her decision. (I'm not specifying further to avoid spoilers.)

I was going to give this book a 2 out of 5, but honestly that bit about `no' meaning `yes' pisses me off enough that I'm demoting the book to a 1 out of 5.

[NOTE; review book provided by publisher]
3813394
The central character was written much younger than her described age, and her romantic interest's character was not developed at all. Too many loose ends throughout...I might read the 2nd title in the series to see if the writing improves, because the concept is interesting.
4690686
Pendergast's speech pattern as well as his sidekick, with their Elizabethan dress sort of irritated me after awhile. The story tries to bridge mystery, fantasy, and horror but I don't think it does any really well