verumsolum's reviews
2682 reviews

This is a really good book. That shouldn’t surprise me, given how much I’ve enjoyed this author’s Guild Codex universe. I just wish she’d trust her readers enough not to leave juicy cliffhangers to force us to buy her next book: she’s too good for that time of game-playing!

This one didn't do it for me this time through. I remember finding the audiobook version hilarious several years ago, but… reading it myself… I didn't find myself as interested. It's a little weird and… in ways that I found less fun when I was reading it myself. If you want to try this anyway, my advice: listen to the audiobook… I think the performance adds to the text.

I wanted to like this one more than I did. I don’t know whether it required more knowledge of South African culture than I possess, or whether the compilation made it confusing (I am always anxious when I can’t tell where one issue ends and the next begins in a compiled comic) or whether it’s just confusing. So I’m probably not the best judge of the book, but having read it all, I’m going to rate it for how much I enjoyed it… but I can’t imagine myself continuing to read this series

This was another really good book in this series. My main quibble is… there were times I wanted coziness or romance, and this book would go for the spice. I'm still glad I read it, but there was the occasional time I'd get to a chapter and roll my eyes as I thought "Sex? Again?" — I don't think this is a problem with the book, just a preference of this reader. So I share it both so that if you really love spice, you know I recommend it for you, and if you're not… it's still got enough to be worth reading (even if there is the occasional chapter that makes you sigh as you skim past it)

This is the second book of the series and… I think I like this one even better than the first. Not a huge difference, but the scope of what had to be solved felt big enough for Teegan's abilities. And… also big enough for the shadowy bureaucracy behind everybody we see regularly. 

I was even excited enough that I did not do my usual cliffhanger half-point deduction for teasing mysteries that won't be revealed until the next book of the series. I think the fact that the final-chapter reveal was

from a POV we haven't previously seen

helped me feel less annoyed: I'll definitely be reading book three!

This is one of those books that, I suspect, the rating says more about the reader than the book: in part, because this book isn’t what it seems (or, at least, that’s not its full story).

I would not use this as a reference work, but it was a thoroughly enjoyable read, most of the time. (My small reservation being that sometimes the author’s sense of humor shows itself (I hope in ways that aren’t always unambiguous). 

A fairly strong book: village Christmas romance, with a telling that doesn’t go overboard (like too many other books which amp up the drama to an uncomfortable level): the people feel real and good (though still appropriately flawed)