Reviews

The Splendid City by Karen Heuler

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natsumiburde's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

wharj's review against another edition

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medium-paced

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

2.75

It's fine. Starts decent and has an interesting light absurdism feel, but once the flashback starts it really dragged in pace, and learning more about the world took away from the strange elements.

chloescozycorner's review against another edition

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The characters don’t give a damn and neither do I

almondcup's review against another edition

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1.0

What I liked
+ The surrealism in the first part of the book, along with the political satire
+ The development of the main character Eleanor
+ Strong themes of the importance of community
+ The plot and mystery was intruiging

What I didn't like
+

Spoiler

Stan just never grew as a character. I was expecting him to develop and learn why he was wrong, but he never really learned anything

+ The surface level witch ritual-stuff in NY just felt too long and a bit meaningless at times
+ There were too many witch characters introduced in NY. A lot of the times their names would appear when they said something, but I would have no idea who they were and what their personality was. This meant that the only likeable character ended up being Eleanor (maybe Dolores?)
+ The structure of the book. I'm not sure if it was a good idea to interrupt the mystery with a long backstory midway through

moonwillow27458's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

kyt's review against another edition

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mysterious

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

2.0

abookaddictsbookshelves's review against another edition

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2.5

*I received an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Angry Robot and NetGalley*

Eleanor has been sent to the new state of Liberty as a punishment for transforming her co-worker Stan into a talking cat.

Sharing an apartment with Stan is bad enough, but there is something very strange happening in Liberty - water is rationed, people are taken away in vans, and a witch has disappeared.

While Eleanor investigates what happened to the witch, Stan is determined to win a treasure hunt and will do anything to reach it first.

The premise for this book really intrigued me, especially the fact that the protagonist turned her co-worker into a talking cat.

Eleanor was a likeable and relatable protagonist. I really liked that she wasn't perfect.

Stan was an pretty awful character, but it was interesting to read from his perspective.

The setting of Liberty was interesting, and I can easily imagine something like that happening in real life.

The plot was mixed for me - while I did enjoy finding out more about Eleanor, Stan, and what was happening, my interest did wane and I struggled a little with the writing style.

I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't enjoy this more.

Overall, this was a mixed read.