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pandapuffs's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
eliseg29's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
ladylarson's review against another edition
4.0
Great read!
completely original story line that was exciting and well written. The characters were well developed and the relationships really built the story. Going to be re-reading this one for sure!
completely original story line that was exciting and well written. The characters were well developed and the relationships really built the story. Going to be re-reading this one for sure!
oh_its_ry's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
sunday_evening's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I go between 3.5 and 4 stars. I enjoyed reading this book and basically read a majority of it in one day, but I still had some issues with it. I found the pacing to be imperfect in some ways. I truly enjoy books that have a lot of rich world building, but at times it feels like Shannon is just throwing random information at us. This slowed the plot down at times, and also made for some very confounding narrative choices. The stuff with the word “concubine,” for example, I just found more and more bizarre each time it was brought up. Also, I would’ve much rather preferred if we spent more time with Paige in her “normal” life with the syndicate before getting arrested both to get to know her more as a whole character, and as a way for readers to get a more “natural” grasp of the worldbuilding. But this is a general pet peeve of mine, and Shannon is by far not the first author to make this (bad) choice, and there are authors who did it far worse than her. But it seems like we’re going to get more of Paige living in London in the second book, which I do plan on reading. Overall, I do find the world building fascinating, and feel like for the most part the plot made sense and I like Paige. And I like her and Warden together, and am intrigued by him and the Rephs in general.
lexkv66's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
catpingu's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I think I was expecting witchier and spookier, not this AU steampunk alien invasion dystopia-like sci-fi. It's also a complete different flavor from her later acclaimed books [book:The Priory of the Orange Tree|40275288] and reads as extremely YA. I'm not super impressed but neither am I super bored or annoyed. It functions as a nice in-betweener of the more soul-consuming series out there.
In the year 2059, England is a Scionist society, in which the clairvoyants are abhorred by the general populace as "unnatural". Most are shipped off to the Tower for eternal imprisonment, or otherwise keeping their secret identities on the down-low. If they are special, they can work out a deal to be part of the special division of officers capturing and trapping hidden voyants and delay their death sentence by thirty years. Otherwise, they band together in Sci-Lo, the London underground for voyants, under the protection of the sections' mime-lords and mime-queens.
Paige Mahoney is one of these clairvoyants, only, she's an extremely rare dreamwalker. One unlucky night, Paige is drugged and captured during a surprise identity check. Expecting to find herself in the Tower, she's surprised to find herself in the forbidden town of Oxford, under the care of inhumanly beautiful and cruel beings called the Rephaim. Paige learns that behind the cruel world she'd lived in all her life, there's actually something darker lurking in the next town over.
It feels hard to make this book feel like it's worth reading because, well, I can't say that <I>nothing</I> happens in this book, but it's just that the things...well...the events are somewhat predictable once you get over the shock of learning about the Rephaeim's existence. Again, this book reads like early 2010's YA (which it is, so it's par for the course). First book in a series <I>always</I> has to be somewhat dull because world-building. And so the next couple of books, presumably more world-building but also starting to build tension for a big final battle somewhere and vindication for the main characters. We just need to get there.
Happily, it's been a while since I've read some good ESP (extra-sensory perception) powered characters and it's actually a huge blast. The usage of spirits and ghosts, and contraptions for connecting to the either easily lends itself to a steampunk-feel, while not actually being fully steampunk.
The little gang of mime-lords and mime-queens feels especially like [book:Six of Crows|23437156] which is delightful, and maybe we'll get to see more of this dynamic in the next book. The romance? Lackluster, forced, and entirely too predictable. The plot? Hmmm...once the premise was set, predictable but still with some surprises thrown in that make that trip just a little bit more interesting.
The style is a huge departure from Priory of the Orange Tree, but honestly between the two I find this series more palatable and easier to digest because it's <I>that</I> much easier to remember what's going on in the story and all the character attributes. However, in terms of grand story-planning, Priory of the Orange Tree one-ups this series; while I might find Priory more clunky to follow I cannot deny the obvious superiority in characterization and themes, though this could be put down to the genre difference between the two (one is clearly high-fantasy, the other is like a starter YA).
In the year 2059, England is a Scionist society, in which the clairvoyants are abhorred by the general populace as "unnatural". Most are shipped off to the Tower for eternal imprisonment, or otherwise keeping their secret identities on the down-low. If they are special, they can work out a deal to be part of the special division of officers capturing and trapping hidden voyants and delay their death sentence by thirty years. Otherwise, they band together in Sci-Lo, the London underground for voyants, under the protection of the sections' mime-lords and mime-queens.
Paige Mahoney is one of these clairvoyants, only, she's an extremely rare dreamwalker. One unlucky night, Paige is drugged and captured during a surprise identity check. Expecting to find herself in the Tower, she's surprised to find herself in the forbidden town of Oxford, under the care of inhumanly beautiful and cruel beings called the Rephaim. Paige learns that behind the cruel world she'd lived in all her life, there's actually something darker lurking in the next town over.
It feels hard to make this book feel like it's worth reading because, well, I can't say that <I>nothing</I> happens in this book, but it's just that the things...well...the events are somewhat predictable once you get over the shock of learning about the Rephaeim's existence. Again, this book reads like early 2010's YA (which it is, so it's par for the course). First book in a series <I>always</I> has to be somewhat dull because world-building. And so the next couple of books, presumably more world-building but also starting to build tension for a big final battle somewhere and vindication for the main characters. We just need to get there.
Happily, it's been a while since I've read some good ESP (extra-sensory perception) powered characters and it's actually a huge blast. The usage of spirits and ghosts, and contraptions for connecting to the either easily lends itself to a steampunk-feel, while not actually being fully steampunk.
The little gang of mime-lords and mime-queens feels especially like [book:Six of Crows|23437156] which is delightful, and maybe we'll get to see more of this dynamic in the next book. The romance? Lackluster, forced, and entirely too predictable. The plot? Hmmm...once the premise was set, predictable but still with some surprises thrown in that make that trip just a little bit more interesting.
The style is a huge departure from Priory of the Orange Tree, but honestly between the two I find this series more palatable and easier to digest because it's <I>that</I> much easier to remember what's going on in the story and all the character attributes. However, in terms of grand story-planning, Priory of the Orange Tree one-ups this series; while I might find Priory more clunky to follow I cannot deny the obvious superiority in characterization and themes, though this could be put down to the genre difference between the two (one is clearly high-fantasy, the other is like a starter YA).
mrshuisman's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
It’s been a while since I read a sassy 19yo girl who was also written by a 19yo girl, and I enjoyed it. This book has some funky unnaturals, maybe aliens, a whole lot of questions, and so much attitude
boris's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0