By Kendare Blake
For Fun
Pages 320
Recommended by Eventually, everyone.
First sentence The grease-slicked hair is a dead give away-no pun intented.
Synopsis
Cassius Theseus Lowood has more that just a strange name, he hunts and kills ghosts. An occupation he inherited from his now deceased father. Traveling from town to town with his witch mother and their cat he's about to meet a ghost unlike any other before.
General thoughts
First off, this was EXACTLY the kind of book I needed to get out of my reading slump. It was fast paced and exciting and had a fun mystery to keep you turning pages. There was a slow bit in the middle that felt too meandering for the rest of the story's pace, but once I got over that, things picked up again. I was all prepared for it to be incredibly gory and full of cuss words and, yeah, I guess I'm just way too tainted cause I hardly noticed all that. So, if that's why you're not reading this one, it wasn't THAT bad. Unfortunately this is me, and I'm easily disappointed so, yes, I have complaints. To begin with I was tired of all the "telling". Cass is a loner. Cass doesn't want friends. Cass doesn't know why he's hanging out with all these people now, why he's making friends and caring about them. See? It kept telling us over and over that he was a loner and he wasn't at all! And then, telling aside, it was bugging me that he was supposed to be a loner and he really wasn't; I liked the idea of a lone ghost hunter guy. All, brooding and misunderstood. Sigh. What a let down. Obviously this is a trilogy, or at least has a sequel so I was bothered that the "other ghost" even had a part in this one. It seemed like too many things crammed into one book. I was also bothered by the insta-love but I always am, so no surprise there. ;)
Characters
I was so excited that we were getting a male protagonist in this one, but Cas just wasn't entirely believable as a guy to me. When a female author is writing from a guy's POV it had better be believable. I just didn't think it was in this case; throwing in a few cuss words does not a believable guy make! The rest of the characters felt a little too cookie cutter for me and that's never a good thing. However, this just proves that I'm much more about plot than characters, don't you think? Cause I did like this one for it's plot, just not it's characters. Oh, and all the telling.
Would I recommend it?
Yeah, with a shrug and an apathetic, "sure".
I'm so sad that you didn't like it as much as I did. *sigh* Ah well. I tried.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good one to check out at the library. Now, I wonder if I'll ever get a turn with it.
ReplyDeleteOn a scale of 1 to 10, how scary is this book? I've been wanting to read this because it's all over the blogosphere but I tend to frighten at the mention of ghosts! I don't mind some telling if it's accurate, but you're right about telling if it's not really reflected in the book.
ReplyDeleteJenni, I liked it. I think I'm just being grouchy about everything lately. ;)
ReplyDeleteSuey, You can borrow it from me. :)
Lan, I'd say about a 7. It was just very descriptively gory.
sorry that this one didn't live up to the hype for you.
ReplyDeleteSort of fits in with your previous post about expectations...I think that high expectations definitely can alter a person's ultimate feelings about a book, but I don't know that there's a way to avoid that if you are at all interested in the book world.
TheBookGirl, I'm not sure there's a way to avoid it either. Oh well, this one wasn't terrible.
ReplyDeletei actually really loved this book. Maybe the second one will be better for you than the first. I dunno. But I can't wait for the second. Great review– it's nice to see some honest reviews about books :)
ReplyDeleteiLuvReadinTooMuch, Oh, I'll definitely stick with the series.
ReplyDeleteI want to read this so bad...but I think I'm glad I am on the library waiting list for it:)
ReplyDeleteI'm on the fence about reading this one. It isn't my usually cup of tea but my friends keep telling me its amazing. I'll def keep your review in mind when I finally do get around to picking it up!
ReplyDeleteRebecca, It's not one I mind owning but, yeah, if I'd read it from the library I wouldn't have bought it afterwards.
ReplyDeleteNatalie, Yeah, if this sort of thing scares you, you might want to avoid it. It was a worthwhile read, though.