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vikingwolf's review against another edition
Oh I was gutted about this book! It sounded so good, it was different from the other urban fantasy books that I had read, it had interesting quirks, was well written-then it jumped straight into the genre cliche of love triangle and ruined itself. I was so disappointed after such a great start.
Lets start with those positives. I really liked Justine as an MC. Her obsession with this imaginery bursting blood vessel made her very interesting and entertaining in a twisted way. She is convinced, wrongly, that she is about to die at and second. A slight headache causes her to freak out because the end is nigh, and it makes a normal life impossible. I really liked this idea and I was curious to see where the author was going to take this. It is nice for the MC to have flaws especially something intriguing like hypochondria. I liked the idea of the crime fighting team and the way that they used their 'disabilities' to take on the human filth in the city. They find peace of mind from their conditions by turning it against these criminals and using it to destroy them. This was pretty cool. It was such a different concept that I was pretty excited to see what was going to happen.
I'm never keen on books that are slow to get moving but in this case I could forgive it because it was a bit different. I could forgive the whiny side of Justine because I have experience with anxiety conditions and know how people can react with those issues weighing them down. So far so good!
And then came the love triangle nonsense which destroyed the book for me. Why does it always have to go this way? Why can the female MC not get through a story without loving every new man she meets? It is not what happens in reality and with such a strong story developing, it is not needed! So the story gets dead slow as we delve into her love life and we get less of what engaged me with the book in the first place. Justine goes from intriguing to pathetic hormonal girl from a bad YA novel and I start finding her annoying. I found Packard to be slimy, not charming, manipulative, not kind and there was as much chemistry between them as planks of wood. I always felt he was a dangerous guy who only cared about his own interests and this is not a guy that I want as a romantic hero. Otto wasn't any better and having her leaping into bed with him was so stupid and pointless that I got mad at the author.
Justine stops being the MC I like when you realise that she's going to be cheating on the poor boyfriend who has somehow stood by her in spite of all her crazy behaviours and episodes. What thanks does he get? Our heroine thinking about which of the line up of men she plans to jump into bed with, not caring about loyal boyfriend. Great, potential whore alert. In fact is it a love triangle or love square? Plus she starts treating other people badly and becoming a bit of a cow. That feels like betrayal when you liked her at the start. Her whiny and selfish traits get worse as the book progresses. The bloody boyfriend is the one I have sympathy for. Run for the hills boy!
This book had such amazing potential and if it had stuck to being about Justine's ability, it could have been a great urban fantasy. Instead the love trianle and hormonal crap plunged it into poor paranormal romance territory and I lost all interest in it. What a damn pity!
Lets start with those positives. I really liked Justine as an MC. Her obsession with this imaginery bursting blood vessel made her very interesting and entertaining in a twisted way. She is convinced, wrongly, that she is about to die at and second. A slight headache causes her to freak out because the end is nigh, and it makes a normal life impossible. I really liked this idea and I was curious to see where the author was going to take this. It is nice for the MC to have flaws especially something intriguing like hypochondria. I liked the idea of the crime fighting team and the way that they used their 'disabilities' to take on the human filth in the city. They find peace of mind from their conditions by turning it against these criminals and using it to destroy them. This was pretty cool. It was such a different concept that I was pretty excited to see what was going to happen.
I'm never keen on books that are slow to get moving but in this case I could forgive it because it was a bit different. I could forgive the whiny side of Justine because I have experience with anxiety conditions and know how people can react with those issues weighing them down. So far so good!
And then came the love triangle nonsense which destroyed the book for me. Why does it always have to go this way? Why can the female MC not get through a story without loving every new man she meets? It is not what happens in reality and with such a strong story developing, it is not needed! So the story gets dead slow as we delve into her love life and we get less of what engaged me with the book in the first place. Justine goes from intriguing to pathetic hormonal girl from a bad YA novel and I start finding her annoying. I found Packard to be slimy, not charming, manipulative, not kind and there was as much chemistry between them as planks of wood. I always felt he was a dangerous guy who only cared about his own interests and this is not a guy that I want as a romantic hero. Otto wasn't any better and having her leaping into bed with him was so stupid and pointless that I got mad at the author.
Justine stops being the MC I like when you realise that she's going to be cheating on the poor boyfriend who has somehow stood by her in spite of all her crazy behaviours and episodes. What thanks does he get? Our heroine thinking about which of the line up of men she plans to jump into bed with, not caring about loyal boyfriend. Great, potential whore alert. In fact is it a love triangle or love square? Plus she starts treating other people badly and becoming a bit of a cow. That feels like betrayal when you liked her at the start. Her whiny and selfish traits get worse as the book progresses. The bloody boyfriend is the one I have sympathy for. Run for the hills boy!
This book had such amazing potential and if it had stuck to being about Justine's ability, it could have been a great urban fantasy. Instead the love trianle and hormonal crap plunged it into poor paranormal romance territory and I lost all interest in it. What a damn pity!
blodeuedd's review against another edition
4.0
Plot:
The blurb does say it as it is.
My thoughts:
I can say one thing, and that is original. What a great use of powers and magic. So strange, so freaky.
Justine, oh she is nice, a crazy hypochondriac, but that is not her fault. Though of course in real life I am sure we would not make it as friend, at least not before her zing. When she got zinged she no longer have to constantly worry that she is gonna die from something. But then pre-Justine is fun to read about too.
The crew, nice crew, but who cares about the crew when there is a boss, and oh what a boss. I liked Packard from the start, then I had my doubts and then I went all rawr! There is also police chief Otto, who I kind of admired from a distance and had theories about.
Oh the magic, Justine gives the bad guys they are after all her own dark thoughts about illness. She is free and they are doomed. There are no big action scenes instead they infiltrate the lives of these people, try to be friends with them and then go into attack mode time after time. How to describe in the end, it is not kick-ass UF, it is mental warfare UF. And I like it.
Hard book to put down, and it even made me giggle.
My final thoughts and recommendation.
I hear book 2 has a big cliffhanger, scary! This one ended good with things to come, but nothing that I went crazy over. I of course really want to know what happens, but I I am kind of scared of that cliffhanger now, perhaps I should wait until book 3 is out...if I can make it, cos come on, the thing Packard said at the end, damn, I want to read more!
Ok where was I, yes I do recommend this series. It is certainly original, and so far there are only people with magical abilities around.
Reason for reading:
People said it was good
Cover:
very UF
The blurb does say it as it is.
My thoughts:
I can say one thing, and that is original. What a great use of powers and magic. So strange, so freaky.
Justine, oh she is nice, a crazy hypochondriac, but that is not her fault. Though of course in real life I am sure we would not make it as friend, at least not before her zing. When she got zinged she no longer have to constantly worry that she is gonna die from something. But then pre-Justine is fun to read about too.
The crew, nice crew, but who cares about the crew when there is a boss, and oh what a boss. I liked Packard from the start, then I had my doubts and then I went all rawr! There is also police chief Otto, who I kind of admired from a distance and had theories about.
Oh the magic, Justine gives the bad guys they are after all her own dark thoughts about illness. She is free and they are doomed. There are no big action scenes instead they infiltrate the lives of these people, try to be friends with them and then go into attack mode time after time. How to describe in the end, it is not kick-ass UF, it is mental warfare UF. And I like it.
Hard book to put down, and it even made me giggle.
My final thoughts and recommendation.
I hear book 2 has a big cliffhanger, scary! This one ended good with things to come, but nothing that I went crazy over. I of course really want to know what happens, but I I am kind of scared of that cliffhanger now, perhaps I should wait until book 3 is out...if I can make it, cos come on, the thing Packard said at the end, damn, I want to read more!
Ok where was I, yes I do recommend this series. It is certainly original, and so far there are only people with magical abilities around.
Reason for reading:
People said it was good
Cover:
very UF
joyousreads132's review against another edition
1.0
I think I have about 30-40 pages left. I'm officially stopping. One word that comes to mind as I was reading: UNCONVINCING. A lot of aspects of this book wasn't able to get me to like Justine. I couldn't feel any emotions that the characters were feeling. I don't feel Packard's desperation to get out of his prison; I didn't feel Justine's loss over her relationship with Cubby and most of all, I just didn't get it. Maybe it's because I'm too simple minded for this sci-fi but I think I wasted my time reading most of this book.
The most irritating of all, how could Justine have sex with Otto?
I just don't get it.
The most irritating of all, how could Justine have sex with Otto?
I just don't get it.
xvicesx's review against another edition
4.0
I find it hard to name what I liked and didn't like in Mind Games. It somewhat reminded me of [b:Blood Bound|12096557|Blood Bound (Unbound, #1)|Rachel Vincent|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1311397659s/12096557.jpg|15080228] in the power-play aspect, the secret power aspect and the shockingly plausible aspect. So, again, I found myself in a rather terrifying world, clinging to the ration of a nearly insane woman. I must admit, I kind of liked Liv from Blood Bound more than Justine but, despite the similar theme, I know I shouldn't be comparing those two simply because they hardly have anything in common.
Mind Games really was a mind game from beginning to end, terrifyingly taking you through a variety of human desires and emotions, some of which we may not be willing to face. In more than one way, it was an amazing book, revealing friendship, illusion, fears and coping mechanisms in ways that I never thought they could be revealed.
Then again, I somewhat wished for a bit more romance, maybe even a bit more friendship and a bit less of an apocalyptic view on life...
The sad fact remains that they are all messed up people and you can't help but have some of that rubbed off by the time you're finished with the book. You'll find yourself thinking for a while about just how messed up the world in itself is and just how despicable that is and how it's angering and depressing at the same time cause you can't do squat to stop it. You can't save the world. Nobody can. And as Shelby would put it, there's no real happiness. Just illusions... Makes you sad in so many ways. I guess that's what I didn't really like: having to look the truth square in the face like that...
But maybe it's just me and I've that kind of view on life myself, I don't know... Mind Games is a good book. A great book, even, and it's wonderful with those who've time to do some thinking but just as good for anybody else. Beware of the anxiety that you might feel in the end, though.
Mind Games really was a mind game from beginning to end, terrifyingly taking you through a variety of human desires and emotions, some of which we may not be willing to face. In more than one way, it was an amazing book, revealing friendship, illusion, fears and coping mechanisms in ways that I never thought they could be revealed.
Then again, I somewhat wished for a bit more romance
Spoiler
, a bit more of the angst that we know is there due to her attraction to both Henji and PackardThe sad fact remains that they are all messed up people and you can't help but have some of that rubbed off by the time you're finished with the book. You'll find yourself thinking for a while about just how messed up the world in itself is and just how despicable that is and how it's angering and depressing at the same time cause you can't do squat to stop it. You can't save the world. Nobody can. And as Shelby would put it, there's no real happiness. Just illusions... Makes you sad in so many ways. I guess that's what I didn't really like: having to look the truth square in the face like that...
But maybe it's just me and I've that kind of view on life myself, I don't know... Mind Games is a good book. A great book, even, and it's wonderful with those who've time to do some thinking but just as good for anybody else. Beware of the anxiety that you might feel in the end, though.
laden_bookshelf's review against another edition
5.0
Something different in the urban fantasy realm with some interesting twists. I stayed up wicked late and only got 4 hours of sleep because I wanted to finish that badly. Definitely liked it, will definitely look for more.
git_r_read's review against another edition
5.0
O..M..G! MIND GAMES was so much better than I thought it would be. I read many glowing reviews, but the book kept going to the bottom of Mt Git'r'Read because of one little quirk of mine...I have low tolerance for hypochondriacs and the main character, Justine, is a raging HUGE one. I kept thinking that it would get to me and I would throw the book across the room or not be able to get past it.
I am so pleased that I was very very wrong. The hypochondria was handled very well and watching Justine learn to control it and use it as a weapon was intriguing as hell. The premise of the team that Justine works with was just so cool. Each member has a problem that they have learned to control and utilize to put away criminals that the law can't touch. Yes, that's vigilante-ism, but it's Urban Fantasy that takes place in an ambiguous time, so it seems like a good thing to do.
It has also been a while since I've actually read through the sex scenes in the books I read that have such scenes. I usually skim past as they can be written in rather uncomfortable phrasing or unbelievable positions. I can suspend belief in fantasy and paranormal, but refuse to do so with the between the sheets action. Whatever that makes me, there it is.
All that said, I read each and every sentence in the scenes between Justine and her two men. Holey McCrappe, Carolyn Crane writes superbly smokin' sex imagery.
Five sparkly didn't think I'd like it, but damned if I didn't dig it a lot diamonds......
I am so pleased that I was very very wrong. The hypochondria was handled very well and watching Justine learn to control it and use it as a weapon was intriguing as hell. The premise of the team that Justine works with was just so cool. Each member has a problem that they have learned to control and utilize to put away criminals that the law can't touch. Yes, that's vigilante-ism, but it's Urban Fantasy that takes place in an ambiguous time, so it seems like a good thing to do.
It has also been a while since I've actually read through the sex scenes in the books I read that have such scenes. I usually skim past as they can be written in rather uncomfortable phrasing or unbelievable positions. I can suspend belief in fantasy and paranormal, but refuse to do so with the between the sheets action. Whatever that makes me, there it is.
All that said, I read each and every sentence in the scenes between Justine and her two men. Holey McCrappe, Carolyn Crane writes superbly smokin' sex imagery.
Five sparkly didn't think I'd like it, but damned if I didn't dig it a lot diamonds......
callistolexx's review against another edition
3.0
Wow...this review is hard. Mostly because I'm honestly not sure whether or not I liked the book. I think I did as I enjoyed most of it. It's just the beginning (Justine is really annoying when the book starts) and the end (something about the end just seemed...off to me, though I can't pinpoint what, other than Justine making a really wrong choice) I'm iffy on. On the whole...I enjoyed reading it. It was an interesting world that Carolyn Crane created and I do believe I'll give the rest of the trilogy a shot because I would like to know more about this world and the disillusionists. I just really liked them. I also liked the espionage-esque undertones related to their work. So I do think I like the book. I just need to get over my minor nitpicks with it.
allisonjpmiller's review against another edition
1.0
Interesting concept, painfully bad writing. Cliché after cliché just drowned any mojo the premise had going for it. I'm normally very forgiving of my heroines, but I wanted to be on the other side of the world from Justine, that's how much I couldn't stand her.
malus23's review against another edition
2.0
Extremely heavy foreshadowing, hopelessly clueless mc, and a lot of suspiciously convenient people and things. Interesting base concept, but the whole thing felt a little overwrought.
meganharnett's review against another edition
5.0
This book kind of started off slow and was confusing in the beginning. I almost gave up on it but then the story got better and started to move along. Turned out to be a great story. I loved it!