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shaekin's review against another edition
3.0
I think I would have liked this book a lot better if I read it first. I read it after the third book in the series, so as a result I knew what was going to happen for most of the book. It made the book feel really slow. I'll definitely recommend the series to others, and I'll probably recommend they start with this book, just in case.
kitvaria_sarene's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted to like this more than I actually did. Which is mostly due to *my taste*, not the book itself..
I read the author's other (not urban) fantasy, and really enjoyed it, so I was really looking forward to this!
While it's a solid 3 star book I don't regret reading, it just isn't written for me.
My first problem was the style of the story - it's Urban Fantasy, and so I expected something like Harry Dresden or Hellequin. It's more like a Lovecraft meets Urban Style though, with some sort of creatures trying to get a hold on earth. That's not bad, it's just not my personal cup of tea.
The next thing that made it hard for me is the main character just getting out of prison. He wants to start a good normal life now. So far so good! I quite enjoyed the slight mystery of his backstory, and learning slowly what happened between him and his former best friend. However, the (luckily few!) moments when he thinks about female main characters looks, or if they want to kiss him annoyed me. Yes it might be very realistic that he is starved of human interaction and especially "romantic" moments. Another review even complains about it being unrealistic how little he thinks about this, and there not being any actual sex scenes. So it's not necessarily bad writing, I just can't stand it, again, personally.
Aside from these gripes, the book was well written and managed to keep me interested all the way through.
I read the author's other (not urban) fantasy, and really enjoyed it, so I was really looking forward to this!
While it's a solid 3 star book I don't regret reading, it just isn't written for me.
My first problem was the style of the story - it's Urban Fantasy, and so I expected something like Harry Dresden or Hellequin. It's more like a Lovecraft meets Urban Style though, with some sort of creatures trying to get a hold on earth. That's not bad, it's just not my personal cup of tea.
The next thing that made it hard for me is the main character just getting out of prison. He wants to start a good normal life now. So far so good! I quite enjoyed the slight mystery of his backstory, and learning slowly what happened between him and his former best friend. However, the (luckily few!) moments when he thinks about female main characters looks, or if they want to kiss him annoyed me. Yes it might be very realistic that he is starved of human interaction and especially "romantic" moments. Another review even complains about it being unrealistic how little he thinks about this, and there not being any actual sex scenes. So it's not necessarily bad writing, I just can't stand it, again, personally.
Aside from these gripes, the book was well written and managed to keep me interested all the way through.
itabar's review against another edition
2.0
If this prequel is better than the first book in the series, I don't think I will bother with the rest. I had trouble caring what happened to any of the characters, so it's probably just me and not the book.
markmtz's review against another edition
5.0
An exciting book and a good backstory for the Twenty Palaces series. I hope we'll see more of Ray Lilly and Annalise Powliss someday.
mspris's review against another edition
3.0
The backstory was certainly interesting and not exactly what I expected would be the story from the hints that had been dropped in the first two books. But I enjoyed knowing what the real story was.
aphrael's review
3.0
Read this one last, but honestly I don't mind having so much foreshadowed by the other books. These books just fit together so well but they're not super predictable or too neatly tied up.It's a really good series, really sucks to only find it after it was discontinued.
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