Don’t let the low (for me) number fool you. I read several other books this week. The graphic novels show up in a new recurring series, the first post of which will show up soon. Saturday’s reads show up in my first Pokethon Gym post which will also show up soon.
Oof. This one his right in the feels, just like I knew it would based on other reviews I have seen. Like I said in my review of book three, Osman’s writing shines in his character work. This reaches an all-time high in this book. Somehow he manages to balance the zany quips and somewhat ridiculous twists and turns of cozy mystery with such heart, such depth in the relationships, all kinds of relationships like old love, love lost,
remembered love, deep friendship, and so much more. I loved how much Joyce grew as a character in this book, taking the reins from Elizabeth, who has her own journey in this book. We also learn more about Ibrahim and see the potential addition of a new side character for the crew. I absolutely adore this book.
This book was so forgettable. It never did anything egregiously wrong; it just existed. The narrative lacked definition for every crucial element of fiction – characterization, plot, problem (as in the driving element that the main character seeks to resolve), mythology, and world building. The main character, a changeling left in the place of the crown princess to the high queen, finds herself on a mission to open a 13th door (the
process to close the previous 12 doors is part of the ambiguous world building) along with the crown prince of one of the under kings who has been betrothed to the stolen crown princess since birth but grew up with the changeling main character. Confused yet? Add to this a journey to the location of this mysterious 13th door, the discovery (or disclosure of previous knowledge) that they can traverse the door but only once a month and once through the door losing all of their urgency and transforming the narrative into a romance of manners with an occasional fae artifact and/or monster sprinkled in for good measure. Oh! We also have to have a ridiculous love triangle as well with the addition of a good-looking but tortured fae lord. Needless to say (although I am going to anyway) I will not continue with this series.
Since this book released in 2023, I have heard a lot about it, mostly rave reviews. This book focuses on the victims of an infamous 70s serial killer whom the author never names. The narrative alternates between two primary points of view. The first is a woman who survived the defendant’s – this is the only “name” that Knoll gives this man – attack on her sorority house which resulted in the death of two women, one of whom was her
best friend, and severe injuries to two more. She becomes deeply invovled in the case because she saw the defendant’s face as he left the house and can identify him. In this process, she meets and begins to work with a woman who four years before had her own connection with the defendant. According to the synopsis, the reader would assume that the other perspective which takes place four years prior would be told from this woman’s point of view. It’s not. The reader has to wait until around halfway through the narrative to learn the connection. Even with that, I managed to find myself engaged with that perspective and wanted to continue to learn more about that character as she worked through layers of trauma unrelated to the actions of the defendant. When the end of the book came, I immediately thought of how I would struggle with expressing my thoughts about my reading experience. Basically, I stayed engaged in the narrative but I did not see anything extraordinary about how Knoll crafted the story. I almost wish that she had chosen one of the points of view over the other because each seemed to have their own goal and trajectory that had tenuous connections to each other at bets. The narrative definitely provides plenty of food for thought though and will likely stick in my memory for that reason.
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