Helpful Score: 5
I really liked this book! It was a unique sort of thriller/fantasy/mystery novel. A fast and entertaining read, it certainly was not predictable and kept me guessing over which sister was good and which was evil until the very end! I think, however, the book would have benefited from a different title and cover, one that would be more widely appealing for the mystery that it was. The story had a very cinematic feel, and I think that the paranormal romance cover and title would put off a section of readers who would otherwise enjoy this book. It really is more of a mystery than anything else, and while there elements of both the paranormal and romance, I just wouldn't categorize this book in that section. I am definitely curious in this author's other books!
Helpful Score: 3
This book pits a computer hacker protagonist (with psychopathic abilities that he's fleeing) with two sisters who are involved with not conventional witchcraft, but the kind of memory palaces that are referenced in Joshua Foer's current _Moonwalking with Einstein_. You don't have to be really knowledgeable about either, but the novel is more fun if you are interested both in cyberpunk and/or Renaissance traditions of disciplining memory. The book works as a thriller/mystery/murder mystery, but it's also really about the way that an over-reliance on contemporary computer technology makes our brains and memories weak, compared with the kind of discipline that older traditions demand. This concept hooked me--that and the London setting.
It's hard to categorize because it combines kinds of genre fiction--a touch (not tons) of cyberpunk but definite echoes of Sterling and Gibson (the male protagonist) with more paranormal (the heroines), and a little psychopathic powers (another thread of the plot). If you like any of these, there's something here, though if you want straight cyberpunk you'll be disappointed I think--along w/some straight ahead eroticism and thriller/mystery writing. It made me think a bit of Ruth Rendell, esp. -The Bridesmaid_.
It's hard to categorize because it combines kinds of genre fiction--a touch (not tons) of cyberpunk but definite echoes of Sterling and Gibson (the male protagonist) with more paranormal (the heroines), and a little psychopathic powers (another thread of the plot). If you like any of these, there's something here, though if you want straight cyberpunk you'll be disappointed I think--along w/some straight ahead eroticism and thriller/mystery writing. It made me think a bit of Ruth Rendell, esp. -The Bridesmaid_.
Helpful Score: 2
Slow starting but picks up later on. Then keeps you guessing until the end.
