Reviews

A pleasant lightweight near-future adventure. Nerdy human + wacky AI = fun, especially when we learn that the AI is not quite operating as designed. Decent plot. Willing-hostage Laury was a dud of a character, but I liked the way the plot ended with things not being quite as clear-cut as they had seemed. OWEN's ability to cast illusions got a bit over-stretched at times, but generally this is satisfactory ass a first novel. I'll check out his next one.

chelseamguy's review against another edition

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5.0

I didn't know if I would like this, but I really, really did. Maybe not the best but many good parts and an overall good feeling at the end that wasn't from things being too perfect, my favorite kind of ending.

awspeidel's review against another edition

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fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

knockingonheavansbookstore's review against another edition

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adventurous funny tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

bluelishi's review against another edition

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2.0

This book made me want to quit reading. Maybe that's a little harsh but, oh man.
There was one thing I liked about this book and that was OWEN and Henry's relationship. That was the only thing.

Let's break it down (I'll try to keep this brief).
In the first few chapters of this book, it read like a wannabe deep and philosophical intro. okay.
This book made me ask questions like "what even is world-building?" "What is an interesting character?" and such.
Honestly, Henry was so fucking boring. We're told that he's an uptight little bitch who loves trains and people want to avoid working with him and I get that; nothing about him is even remotely interesting, to be honest. The most exciting thing he did was probably drink whiskey. Overall, the characters in this fucking book were so underdeveloped, it drove me crazy.

The first 60% of this book made me question what the fuck was happening in the sense where it was just so unlogical but then some action happened and I was mildly intrigued but BOY. The over-descriptions were killing me. It got to a point where I'd read one sentence at the beginning of a page then jump to the last sentence and everything in between was just useless filler. Like no, I do not give a flying fuck about the history of Metropolis on 4 pages. No, I do not care about the teenager that's drinking coffee.

Also, are you telling me that highly trained agents that are a part of an illegal scheme that has been on the low for months just happen to fuck up whilst Henry and his magical ass comes and finds you? that they get caught? w h a t.

This took me fucking ages to finish and it's only 272 pages for fuck's sake.
This book annoys the living daylights out of me.

Is this review a fucking mess? yes but I do not have any patience to care.

-This arc was provided by Edelweiss+ in exchange for an honest review

cynnn's review against another edition

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4.0

The pedantic nature of the main character plus the trivial, laid back alcoholic nature of OWEN makes for a fun comedy action duo story - the kind you wish more of these buddy cop shows/movies were, but just don’t live up to. At first I was a little wary over the quick pace of the book, but by the end it feels right.

This was a pleasure to read and I found myself cackling and relating heavily with both Henry and OWEN.

Also.. what IS the optimal sidewalk width?!?!

fscolli93's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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