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jpalomav's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
claudia_is_reading's review against another edition
4.0
Ah, consequences! Throughout the whole book, there is a thread of fear (but never regret) about the consequences brought on Alex by using the escape rune in [b:In Plain Sight|60418023|In Plain Sight (Arcane Casebook #1)|Dan Willis|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1644873985l/60418023._SX50_.jpg|66856794]. His hair is completely white, his magic is feeling less trustworthy, his hands are not as steady as they should and his last finding-rune didn't work. Therefore, yeah, he's quite worried about losing his magic Iggy's comforting words notwithstanding.
If this wasn't enough to sour his day there is some reporter making his life even more difficult by publishing articles in which he is portrayed as some kind of saviour for the bumbling cops who can't do anything right. You can imagine how well this goes with the police, and it's made even worse when it looks like he's leaking info to this reporter.
And he can find neither his client's husband nor the new motor belonging to the Lightning Lord all the while some nameless group is stalking his client and they seem to possess some unknown and very powerful magic.
Although not everything is so dire as our hero is getting a romantic interest in this book and I like her :P.
Ah... I really liked this one too and now I don't know if I should go for the eBooks or wait for the next audiobook. Decisions, decisions *laughs* Whichever I choose I'll be reading the rest of this series :)
If this wasn't enough to sour his day there is some reporter making his life even more difficult by publishing articles in which he is portrayed as some kind of saviour for the bumbling cops who can't do anything right. You can imagine how well this goes with the police, and it's made even worse when it looks like he's leaking info to this reporter.
And he can find neither his client's husband nor the new motor belonging to the Lightning Lord all the while some nameless group is stalking his client and they seem to possess some unknown and very powerful magic.
Although not everything is so dire as our hero is getting a romantic interest in this book and I like her :P.
Ah... I really liked this one too and now I don't know if I should go for the eBooks or wait for the next audiobook. Decisions, decisions *laughs* Whichever I choose I'll be reading the rest of this series :)
theirresponsiblereader's review
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
“How do you let yourself get talked into this?” he said out loud, mostly to keep his mind off his surroundings.
He knew very well what had brought him here, of course. Money.
Or rather, the lack of it.
What’s Ghost of a Chance About?
Despite the success of the events of In Plain Sight, he’s barely scraping by. The financial straits that put Alex into these less-than-savory surroundings are threatening Alex’s agency. It doesn’t seem like this is a new situation for him—but it might be worse this time than usual.
He gets the chance to make some good money when one of the more powerful sorcerers in the city hires him to find a stolen invention of his that will both enrich the sorcerer and make life better for the residents of NYC. While he’s looking for that, Alex is approached by a young woman whose husband has seemingly been kidnapped. Neither of these searches should be that difficult for him, but something is preventing his runes from working—so he has to approach these hunts using his mind, not his magic.
And because that’s not quite enough on his plate, Alex is also hired by a woman to find out who killed her husband—there’s been a series of murders that are making headlines. People are being killed by someone who leaves no trace—not only that, the victims have been found in locked rooms, with no exits.
As if that’s not enough, Alex is dealing with the damage he did to his own health (and, seemingly, his lifespan) from when he rescued the city months earlier. Basically, Alex has a ghost of a chance to make it out of these next few days intact and successful.
So, what did I think about Ghost of a Chance?
“If the details in the story are correct, the victims were all found alone in locked rooms,” Alex said. “The police had to break in each time.”
“What does that tell you?”
“Locked rooms mean suicide,” Alex said with a shrug.
“You don’t sound sure.”
“According to the story, the victims were all stabbed twice in the chest.”
The year’s a little more than half over, and I’ve read a decent number of locked room mysteries so far—I can’t help but wonder if I have more headed my way before 2022 is out. This one held its own with the others I’ve read this year, sure, this one involved the use of magic, so it’s a little easier. I did like that magic was utilized in a way that neither Iggy, Alex, or anyone who reads a newspaper in New York had apparently thought of before—so it was a little easier to pull off both the killings and the escape. So it’s a little different than what, say, M.W. Craven gave us.
I couldn’t help but notice how structurally similar this was to In Plain Sight—three cases that don’t seem to have anything to do with each other, one of which involves the police threatening Alex if he doesn’t succeed. The two novels don’t follow the same outline, but the similarities stand out. But those are thoughts that came to me after I finished—while I was reading, all I thought was that I was having a really good time. It’s when I start having those thoughts while I’m reading that I think we’re headed for trouble.
I really appreciate what Willis has done here—the world feels pretty established and lived in already. The primary characters are pretty well-fleshed out at this point (which isn’t to say we can’t learn more about them) and I’m ready to see more of the magic systems at work. There is a seemingly effortless charm to these books. I was entertained throughout and kept wondering why it’d taken me so long to return to this series—I don’t intend to repeat that.
I couldn’t help but notice how structurally similar this was to In Plain Sight—three cases that don’t seem to have anything to do with each other, one of which involves the police threatening Alex if he doesn’t succeed. The two novels don’t follow the same outline, but the similarities stand out. But those are thoughts that came to me after I finished—while I was reading, all I thought was that I was having a really good time. It’s when I start having those thoughts while I’m reading that I think we’re headed for trouble.
I really appreciate what Willis has done here—the world feels pretty established and lived in already. The primary characters are pretty well-fleshed out at this point (which isn’t to say we can’t learn more about them) and I’m ready to see more of the magic systems at work. There is a seemingly effortless charm to these books. I was entertained throughout and kept wondering why it’d taken me so long to return to this series—I don’t intend to repeat that.
connorshappytie's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-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
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