It has been a very long time since I ditched a book partway through…The last one was the first book in the A Court of Thorns and Roses and that was before I started blogging about my reads. I also misremembered and thought I’d only marked one book as ‘black’ in that timeframe but there are actually quite a few haha. This one is definitely the new bottom of the list.
This was meant to be the ‘three strikes and you’re out’ read and it sure struck out. I’ve got a bit of a gap in my reading list now that I’ve pretty much finished with Amelia Peabody, caught up with Lady Julia Grey and gotten a bit disillusioned with Veronica Speedwell/Lady Sherlock. I want my Victorian era (or at least not modern day) mystery series with a working woman lead. And this series definitely won’t be filling that gap.
So I had started writing a very ranty ‘why I dislike this series so much’ but it felt really negative. So I’ll try to be a bit less angry haha
- I feel like the characters have no integrity or principles. They make extremely selfish decisions and don’t really think about the consequences of their actions, particularly for other people
- I don’t feel like the characters are particularly smart. It makes it frustrating to read.
- They all have very short tempers and end up acting impulsively and while also simultaneously being either also rude and/or stupid.
- I don’t think any of their relationships are healthy. Any of them AT ALL. Not even with each other
- Sarah’s inner dialogue is SOOOO pessimistic and mistrusting, it’s painful
Honestly, my favourite characters were the Jewish husband and wife duo. But they didn’t return after the first novel. And I don’t really care about the mystery about Sarah’s dad. Especially since she seems to think he might actually be guilty of the murder/rape of a girl and contemplates if he ever thought about molesting her and her half sister 🤨 And I don’t care about the current mystery either since I don’t feel like they really want to find out what happened/deliver justice, they just don’t want to lose their job working for a not particularly mentally healthy boss. Which is fair enough, gotta do what you need to survive, but doesn’t make for endearing main characters or gripping story.
I’m starting to think the more important aspect of what I want from this kind of book is kick-ass women characters and interesting mysteries. The time period setting is not as important. So time to spread the net out a bit wider in terms of the books I should try reading to fill this gap.
On a more positive note, one thing I do respect about this series is how the resolution to the mysteries are not nice and neat or even particularly happy. It does feel more realistic, but then again, I don’t read fiction for realism and once it’s been done a couple of times (ok, only twice from my pov) it doesn’t feel novel anymore. Whoops, slipped back into negativity there 🙃
Categories: Book Reviews
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