I've read and enjoyed Neill's Chicagoland Vampires series - the only negative being that I never bought the heroine's behavior when talking about dating. She and her bestie were suddenly very juvenile on that subject whereas the rest of the time, she was a burgeoning badass. The "girlish" stuff seemed wrong for someone in grad school. Maybe that's just me.
This series, however, has a fully grown up woman at the helm. Claire has survived a Paranormal war in New Orleans and has built a relatively stable life in the aftermath. But when she discovered she has Paranormal abilities, everything changes.
Very exciting, great characters, wonderful world-building. I think Neill has become a much better writer with this series.
This series, however, has a fully grown up woman at the helm. Claire has survived a Paranormal war in New Orleans and has built a relatively stable life in the aftermath. But when she discovered she has Paranormal abilities, everything changes.
Very exciting, great characters, wonderful world-building. I think Neill has become a much better writer with this series.
I have read and enjoyed Neill's Chicagoland Vampire series so I was excited to hear about her new Devil's Isle series. It sounded like an interesting premise and I always enjoy storylines involving fey. It ended up being an okay book but not great. For some reason the story just seemed a little tired and boring to me.
I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook was okay. Some of the male voices were stiff and cold sounding, especially Liam's voice. I had a hard time telling if it was the speech patterns and/or writing that made Liam sound stiff and cold, or if it was the narration. Either way this wasn't my favorite audiobook but it was okay.
I thought the idea of the Veil was incredibly interesting. Claire is okay as a character, but I wasn't totally engaged with her...she was just a bit too vanilla even with her Sensitive abilities. Liam was also an okay character but I never engaged with him all that well either; he was just so distant and cold.
The world is intriguing. Basically the people in this book have decided to stay in New Orleans despite the post-apocalyptic lifestyle to the area. While I found this interesting I also had a lot of trouble finding it believable and viable. I mean if the rest of the country had food, supplies, and technology why would sequester yourself in this little pocket of poverty and sparsity? I didn't get it and thought it was weird how isolated the story was; we really don't have a good idea what's happening in the world outside New Orleans. Additionally I am not a huge fan of New Orleans personally, so I wasn't crazy about the story being set there. I do understand that this is probably meant to echo New Orleans post-Katrina struggles, but I just didn't dig it.
Overall this was an okay book but not great. I liked the idea of the Veil but didn't find the world or characters all that engaging or interesting. There is quite a bit of action in this book but somehow it still felt tired and boring to me. I won't be reading future books in this series and wouldn't recommend it. I think Neill's Chicagoland series has also taken a turn for the worse in the last couple books; I am not sure if Neill's writing style is shifting or if I am just growing out of it.
I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook was okay. Some of the male voices were stiff and cold sounding, especially Liam's voice. I had a hard time telling if it was the speech patterns and/or writing that made Liam sound stiff and cold, or if it was the narration. Either way this wasn't my favorite audiobook but it was okay.
I thought the idea of the Veil was incredibly interesting. Claire is okay as a character, but I wasn't totally engaged with her...she was just a bit too vanilla even with her Sensitive abilities. Liam was also an okay character but I never engaged with him all that well either; he was just so distant and cold.
The world is intriguing. Basically the people in this book have decided to stay in New Orleans despite the post-apocalyptic lifestyle to the area. While I found this interesting I also had a lot of trouble finding it believable and viable. I mean if the rest of the country had food, supplies, and technology why would sequester yourself in this little pocket of poverty and sparsity? I didn't get it and thought it was weird how isolated the story was; we really don't have a good idea what's happening in the world outside New Orleans. Additionally I am not a huge fan of New Orleans personally, so I wasn't crazy about the story being set there. I do understand that this is probably meant to echo New Orleans post-Katrina struggles, but I just didn't dig it.
Overall this was an okay book but not great. I liked the idea of the Veil but didn't find the world or characters all that engaging or interesting. There is quite a bit of action in this book but somehow it still felt tired and boring to me. I won't be reading future books in this series and wouldn't recommend it. I think Neill's Chicagoland series has also taken a turn for the worse in the last couple books; I am not sure if Neill's writing style is shifting or if I am just growing out of it.
