Holly Evans

A grudging 3 stars
I felt like I was reading a book written via telegram STOP The story had the minimum description needed to tell a story Stop Not enough to draw me into the world Stop

If you're writing a book about a new concept, in this case, the "ink network" you should spend some time actually thinking about how that concept works to the point you can explain it to your readers. While I thought I had an idea, I'm still not sure how it works or why. Holly Evans failed on this score.

This book has the bones of a really good story, but it felt like she was putting in the minimum of effort to produce it. I wanted more description and action. I would have liked to actually see how Dacian and Isa's relationship developed beyond what we're told. Why did Dacian's feelings change toward Ethan? What shifted his negative view of someone he considered an invader into his home to one of respect?

The "council" is a typical, cliched, bunch of people who act menacing and are not above taking what they think they should have, but it would be nice if we got more of the politics and the people in the council. More of the whys and wherefores to explain their presence beyond needing a shadowy government type agency to menace the characters with their presence and threat ...… (plus d'informations)

DNF at 59%

I really wanted to like this one but I was so bored/confused. Those two don't mix. So many characters whose name just would not stick with me. Every time if I wanted to continu reading I had to scroll back to see who was what. I tried 3, separate, times to remember what 'the breaker' name actually was and why he was in the story. For something I started just a few days ago... not good.

But the story concept is still very cool in my opinion and maybe somebody else would enjoy it.

p.s. Oh the romance! Not very convincing to me...… (plus d'informations)

This one has potential in the world Evans has built, but the main character is highly unlikeable. When the first few fights broke out, I had to track back to see if I missed something, because some of these fights came out of nowhere for me. Like people (or non-people) were minding their own business, then Evie comes along, being notoriously rude as always, and drawing knives on people (or non-people) just for the sake of it (or because she had a hunch, she has a lot of those).

She also keeps moaning about her lost brother, and how she needs to protect him, but in the end, I felt as if he was the one protecting her, and he was the one making her whole and happy, she had no friends, and was a bitchy bitch, he was the one providing alchemical stuff to protect her, while she was reluctant about "magic", which could be helpful.

Evie's voice is also kind of.. I don't know.. I understand per basic character Goal-Motivation-Conflict concept, she has a goal (to get her twin back) and it kind of is urgent (he might be dead for all we know), but the writing style doesn't really imply urgency. She tells, but I don't see it. There's not enough, or not deep enough, background about their relationship (other than her moaning that he is all she has). Anywho, if getting back her brother was her external goal, I can't for the life of me figure out, what her internal goal/motivation/conflict was.

The plot was far to simplistic for my liking and Evie got away too easy from all the fights (yeah, she got wounded, but seems she always healed her wounds by taking a hot shower..). Other reviewers have compared the plot to a video-game, wherein the player gets to do mini-quests to advance in plot. That's about right. Somehow I also got a vibe of those Choose Your Own Adventure type of books that were popular in the 80s and 90s.

There were some grammar issues here and there. Also, repeating of a whole background tidbit two chapters later after it had been already introduced. Possibly a miss from the editor's side?

Any pro-s to this book? Well, yeah, the side-characters, most notably the alchemist elf was right up my alley. And since I was in Prague while reading this novella, then it also guided me to a nice Starbucks in the the Mala Strana district.… (plus d'informations)