Teresa Edgerton

While the waxing moon brings out plagues of goblins in the city of Thornburg, an alchemist searches for the secret of life, a fairy godmother conspires against her ward, and a masked man disrupts the meetings of secret covens.

Goblin Moon possesses fabulous atmosphere and wooden characters. Which is a shame, considering the novel's wryly ornate prose ("Chained to the seat beside him was a sad-faced miniature indigo ape with a jeweled collar"), chapter titles ("Chapter Ten: Which the Sensitive Reader may wish to Omit, but Ought to be read, nevertheless"), and the possibilities of the hero (a masked neurotic in the tradition of the Scarlet Pimpernel and Francis Crawford of Lymond).… (mer)

A bit disappointing. The writing was fine with the exception of plot and pacing, which is a bit of a problem. One set piece was pulled off semi-successfully, the rest rather fell flat, they was a super-abundance of characters and sub-plots and the book would have benefited greatly by having about half the amount. Most of the book felt like set-up, and when I realised (I was on an e-reader) that I had about 10 minutes left, I was stunned--thought I was maybe 60% of the way through--but no, it all wrapped up in a very perfunctory, rushed manner.

I'm giving it an extra star for promise, and because the sentences themselves read well, but the sum was less than the parts: it could have been so much better. Hopefully the author improves her pacing in future volumes.

(Note: 5 stars = rare and amazing, 4 = quite good book, 3 = a decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. There are a lot of 4s and 3s in the world!)… (mer)