The Quick Cut:
Guy smuggler steals stone artifact. Girl thief steals artifact from guy smuggler. Guy and girl have awkward one-of-them-tied-to-bed meet cute. Guy and girl work together to take artifact back where it belongs and enemies be none too pleased.
A Real Review:
This one gets a smidgen on the complicated side, but stick with me here. The city is London, but there's 4 versions all piled on top of each other: Gray, Red, White, Black. The non-magic people live in Gray and no one lives in Black due to the terribleness that happened ages ago. A rare few can pass between the London's and our man Kell is one of them.
If your brain does this hearing that explanation, you're not alone:
Honestly, the way they work it into the book is much later on when you're more prepared to handle that kind of overly descriptive craziness. Plus, Kell does a fantastic job doing it - so don't let my version scare you. And DAMN does the writing rock on this one...Honestly, the way they work it into the book is much later on when you're more prepared to handle that kind of overly descriptive craziness. Plus, Kell does a fantastic job doing it - so don't let my version scare you. And DAMN does the writing rock on this one...
The first thing about magic that you have to understand, Lila, is that it is not inanimate. It is alive.
This book (beyond the world concept) also is broken into little books within the book itself. In this case, it really lent to the tale and broke up the detailed nature of what was going on. Books 2 through 5 were rough for me and I got bored reading through, but it really
picked up book 6. Touche to the author here for finding a small creative break to make this story easier on the readers. Without those breaks, I would have taken FAR longer to get through this (unhappily).
Now onto our characters Kell and Lila. Full disclosure: Lila drove me crazy. For reals, don't let her stay on her own too much and don't let her talk too often because her excuses are far too drama queen.
Kell is really my favorite here, but I also feel like I always relate more to guys (I've been told this is an Aspie thing, who knows).
It's understandable why these two bond together in the end, they're in the same social boat in their own natural London's. She's from Gray and he's from Red, but they are stuck in the same awful place - and that's what makes them a great team in the end.
Now that ending... A little nondescript for my taste, but that's likely me getting spoiled rotten with the epic last minute plot twists many books nowadays have.
This one is an interesting concept, definitely weak in the first quarter for me, but the setup of the book itself helped me power through it until the two heroes get together and finally rocket.
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5
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