W.R. GingellBesprekingen

Fantasy of manners / Romance.
A disabled young lady with the ability to see other people in her dreams, and sometime push them a little bit, has been playing match-maker like a busy little spider at the center of her web. This time someone may be out to reel her out to play a role in the latest of her own games.½

Quite a bit darker than the previous series, The City Between. I really missed those characters. Athelas was in good form, very much in character. I loved the new characters, although Harrow broke my heart. It took me a long time to get through this first book in the series, but I hear that the next book is easier.

I really liked Camellia. That last chapter - wow! Blew me away. She really put Athelas on the spot. Worth reading for that chapter alone.

I am still thoroughly enjoying this series. This particular book provides a bit more insight into Athelas' character. It also gives Pet an opportunity to prove that she has worth to the psychos. I'm looking forward to seeing how her character continues to evolve as the series progresses.

I read this as part of another author's summer read along and I'm so glad I did. I doubt I would have ever picked this series up otherwise because I found the idea of a human kept as a pet a little off-putting. However Pet is not docile. She's a snarky Pet and I find that amusing. She's confounding the psychos expectations of a typical human. Also, just as a point of information, because a friend asked when I tried to describe this book to him, being a pet has nothing to do with sex. Her owners consider her a pet like we would a dog or cat, but with more useful skills. I enjoyed the story and will definitely continue on with the next book in the series.

I have devoured this series and now I must wait for more. I find myself still somewhat lost in this world and not wanting to move on to another series yet. I enjoyed Pet's character growth in this book. I'm proud of her and devastated for her all at the same time. Without giving anything away, I will say that no one truly acted out of character, but some choices are disappointing. I like that we're getting to know many of the characters more as the series progresses and I'm looking forward to seeing where things go from here.

I was so excited to see this book arrive and absolutely devoured it. I'm not sure how I feel about the developments in this book. It's nice to see Pet stand by her values even when it makes things difficult. I find myself a little disappointed in the Psychos, but their actions make perfect sense given their background. I'm anxious to see how the dynamic between Pet and the Psychos continues to evolve as the series continues. Now the impatient waiting for the next book begins again.

This book started a little slower for me than the others in the series. However, the ending was a doozy. One mystery is cleared up. We now know about Morgana. I was not expecting that. I love the characters in this series so I will definitely continue reading. I'm really glad these are included with Kindle Unlimited since they only take a few hours to read.

I'm still loving this series. I don't feel like it's acceptable to really comment on the things that happened in this book because it will give too much away. Can't wait for the next book.

I love this series! This book is another great addition. I am enjoying finding out more about the characters and seeing them grow. There were also a few surprises in this one that were quite interesting. I can't wait for the final book, although I know I will be sad to see the series end.

Absolutely Delightful

Yet again W.R. Gingell has written a book that you can escape into and forget the troubles of the world for awhile. With a story line that keeps you guessing and characters that are delightfully human it’s a real winner

I think this one is the best of the 3

After I thoroughly enjoyed the City Between series I was looking for more of something similar and I found it here.
While this is fantasy and not urban fantasy the writing style and characters are very very similar. (which isn't a bad thing.)
I normally dislike magic systems that are too whimsical and vague but the way this author expertly embeds the magic into the world in such a natural way largely compensates for how arbitrary it works.
This is very much a character-driven story. Either you enjoy the protagonists and their interactions and banter or you most likely won't get much entertainment out of this book.
It's a very quirky story full of quirky characters. Usually quirky ends up meaning gimmicky instead and isn't actually interesting. But in this case, I mean quirky in the very best way.

The writing style is very unique and very similar to her other books as far as I know.
It reminds me a bit of the writing style of Soulless by Gail Carriger but it doesn't seem inspired by it, just similar by chance maybe.
"Unique" just like "quirky" is frequently used to wrap "bad" in prettier words. This is, again, not at all what I mean. I mean unique in the very best way.

The weakest part was the ending where arbitrary magic went all over the place and the book utterly fails to properly communicate who even has the upper hand and anything can completely flip on its head at any time. Needless to say, I didn't enjoy the climax of the book.
But I loved basically everything else and am very sad to not find an audiobook for the other books in the series not least because the narrator does an incredible job. Probably one of the best audiobooks I have listened to.

This was a somewhat interesting one.
It used most of the stereotypical urban fantasy tropes but it just didn't feel like your run of the mill UF story.
The pacing was... weird and the story was a bit all over the place. Apart from a few boring sections, the weird construction made the story somehow refreshing.
After reading lots of UF and PNR I am at a point where even if I am not able to actually guess the plot (like who the perpetrator is) I can guess what story section comes next and what purpose it will have.
I am attuned to the typical pattern of story segments which in itself makes even well-written books somehow boring and predictable in a way sometimes.
I read/listen to books mainly because I need something that occupies my mind so it doesn't wander to dark places so having a break in the story-building 101 was very refreshing even tho one might objectively rate it as inferior.

The general tone is lighthearted but there are a few heavier sections every now and then as well.
I could connect well with the mc and the reasoning was surprisingly sound and personalities consistent considering how meandering the story progressed.
The conclusion made the plot feel a bit pointless but this is not really a plot-focused story anyway. It is more about experiencing the journey alongside the mc in a fascinating world and interesting circumstances.

I can not in good conscience rate this higher than 3 stars from a more objective viewpoint but my personal enjoyment rating is a good 4 stars for sure.

A slow, beautiful book evidencing an amazing, delighful, poignant understanding of character and humanity.

The conclusion in Gingell’s The City Between series offers a high-stakes final showdown and does a satisfying job of tying up narrative threads.

When Susan and her travelling companions discover a town where a young woman is sent to the “castle” as a bride every six months or so, Susan decides to investigate.

I’ve enjoyed Gingell’s other Two Monarchies books -- several have become comfort-rereads -- and there were aspects enjoyed about this one, like Susan’s cheerful practicalness. But I came away with a yucky feeling. As a general rule I like Gothic mysteries with fairytale elements, but this was just too grim and murdery, I guess.

Since “Cinderella” married the prince, her two stepsisters, have been unfairly trapped in a prison and they’re eager to escape.

I really like the ideas in this retelling, but thought the execution was a bit of a mess. Gingell’s usually good at deliberately and successfully confusing stories -- both at stories where the characters are trying to figure out what’s going on, and at stories where the reader becomes aware that there’s more going on that the characters realise. But here, when it comes to what Jane believes and who she trusts, I was confused about whether Jane was making informed decisions based on backstory details which would be revealed in due course, or if I was supposed to suspect that Jane was missing important things!

There were also a couple of developments which would have been more satisfying if they had been better foreshadowed. It felt like this had been published one draft too soon. Not a criticism I’ve had of any of Gingell’s other novels.½

A twist on Rapunzel. Lots of men have turned up at Gothel’s tower wanting to “rescue” the kidnapped princess, but Lucien, the youngest prince of Lombargy, is more interested in getting to know Gothel and discovering her reasons for kidnapping.

I really enjoyed this as a retelling! I’d have liked it even more if it hadn’t leaned quite so much into the typical happily-ever-after ending, but, hey, minor quibble.

“You seem to be under the mistaken impression that I’m innocent of the crimes I’m accused of,” said Gothel. “I’m not. Go away now. I don’t have time to deal with you.”
“You can’t -- you can’t kidnap princesses,” said Lucien, still trying to catch his breath.
“Of course you can!” Gothel said scornfully. “It’s not easy, naturally, but it’s very possible.”

Loved it. Superb storytelling. Can't wait to read more from this author.

Love these characters!

3.5, more like. It was fine, just...overuse of some phrases, and I felt a lot of the plot could probably have been trimmed down. It might have been because I was reading too quickly, but some stuff in the last third of the book seemed to happen too fast or with not enough explanation.

Fitting ending to an excellent series.

The heirling trials have begun, cutting off Pet’s house’s connection to the real world. But Pet’s determined to have nothing to do with the trials -- her plans involve rescuing her friends and feeding everyone curry until all this is over.

Lots of dramatic developments are afoot! I enjoyed this.

“If you can’t communicate with him, let him go away and do something useful,” Zero said, from the couch. “[...] He can find somewhere else to stay for a little while; it’s no use hanging around the windows.”
“He’s my emotional support vampire,” I shot back at him. “And not everything has to have a tangible use, you know!”
Zero only said crushingly, “JinYeong is no use to us in this situation, tangible or otherwise. He’d be well advised to go to ground for the duration of the trials.”
“He thinks you might get hurt,” I said to JinYeong, jerking my thumb at Zero. “Don’t listen to him, you’re very useful.” ½

Clovis spends most of days couch-bound, her mind caught up in Dreams of other people. In the weeks leading up to her annual visit to family in Eppa, her Dreams follow her beloved younger brother, Jessamy, and a trio of people connected to their family’s publishing business -- Ae-jung, Hyun-jin and Yong-hwa.

This is a very Korean-drama-ish sort of fantasy. Eppa is obviously culturally and aesthetically inspired by Korean, and Clovis’ narrative uses a sprinkling of basic Korean terms -- the sort of vocabulary which, having watched a bunch of kdramas, I can now understand. (There’s also a glossary included).

Moreover because Clovis begins the story as an observer rather than an active participant, it’s like she watching a kdrama -- having to infer from people’s actions and dialogue what they might be thinking and feeling.

It’s an unusual way to tell a story but I really enjoyed it, especially as Clovis becomes more involved.

You have questions. That’s all right. Ask away.
Oh, that’s a clever one; no one has asked me that before. Did the Dreams come first, or the paralysis? I don’t know for sure, but I can guess. I think the Dreams came first, tugging me soul away from my body, and I became so used to being away from my body that I never learned how to use it or really live in it.½

I rarely read self-published/indie novels and let me explain why.

1. I'm poor. And when one has been known to read 5 novels/week even kindle books eat into your budget. Libraries are free. Indie novels are rarely at libraries. This was originally recommended to me in 2012 ish? I just now found a library willing to purchase it.

2. Before it had a name, I had FOMO. I wanted to read all the books. I also get overwhelmed easily. The easiest way for me to not have 2000 books on my to-read list is to set some parameters.

3. Indie books fall all over the quality spectrum. Not everyone will hire an editor, an experienced editor, or multiple editors. Not everyone will examine their bias and take the advice of a good editor(and I'm not talking just grammar and punctuation here). Not everyone will have a cover with the quality of this one. I got a hard copy of my final published product, flipped open to a random page, and the first thing I saw was an errant comma. No less than 6 people had looked at it. I haven't been able to look at it since; I'm terrified that I'll find more problems.

To be sure, the same things are true of those who publish in the mainstream industry. I talked with an editor who had left her job partially because she worked with writers who had enough of a cult following to be able to ignore her good suggestions and still get published. I once took a red pen to book 5 of a hugely popular series and found enough punctuational errors to corroborate that fact(though I also think it was rushed to make all the money it could). That being said, I can definitely see times when the mainstream industry has ruined a good idea, much like Hollywood ruins a good book. The point here being that there are no safe bets but there tends to be more experience and quality checks built in to the mainstream industry.

All that explains why I haven't delved too far into the indie scene. This novel makes me regret it. Gingell does a fantastic job creating fun characters and obviously has put a lot of thought into her world of magic. It made me wonder if anyone had done the equivalent of a Robert Jordan or Brandon Sanderson series in this style. Perhaps she has... this is the first book of hers that I have read.

However...
I struggled with backstory. If it exists--- which it might, after all this is apparently book 3.5 in a series and I haven't got access to the others--- I apologize.

And, this is a bit bigger of a problem for me, I struggled with motive. About halfway into the novel, when my delight with Isabella's (and other's) characters had become normal, I found myself asking "Why?" too often. Why is so-and-so doing this? Why does so-and-so actually care about the victim? Why is so-and-so being so childish? There were either too many gaps in the story or something was missing. But that's a hard thing to establish.

People who enjoyed [b:Sorcery & Cecelia: or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot|64207|Sorcery & Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot (Cecelia and Kate, #1)|Patricia C. Wrede|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388180354l/64207._SY75_.jpg|505] or other similar offerings will like this.

4.5 stars for characterization.
4 stars for magic world-building
2 stars for backstory and motives.