Just One More Chapter

This book had its moments. It's no secret, I am a full fledged sucker for a good Circus/Carnival-centric book. Reading this synopsis had me feeling like this book had my name writtem ALL over it! I was super excited to start but unfortunatly the first thing I noticed, right off the bat, was that there were GLARING editorial mistakes. The misuses, omissions and all around lack of proper editing chopped up the flow everytime I came across them. Bad grammar is a pet peeve of mine and it smacks me in the face...HARD... every single time I come across some. That being said, I tried to move on and let them slide with only a wince and a minor curse to mark their passage BUT move on I did.

As for the actual story, the plot moved along nicely. It definitely gave off a strong Carnival T.V show (circa 2000-2003) vibe. That was a great show and so too was the scaffolding of this story...the meat and potatoes, they were tasty. I really enjoyed how rich and vivid the imagery was BUT there was some info dumping with regards to the Gods origin stories, their interrealtedness and the actual Voodoo practices. Because of those areas the plot was a bit choppy at times. Otherwise, the pacing was on point. It kept me interested and involved enough to see it through until the end. I waded through the editing woes and the spotty info dumps and even some semi-transparent plot twists and came out the other end rather pleased with the whole story. That was until the end...

That ending felt like a copout. It was wholly dissatisfying...underwhelming... a fizzle where a BANG should have been. With how thoroughly the Geek decimated our kick ass heroine's life, that ending seemed like a pittance... a hail mary to an intercepted fumble. Yes, I can appreciate how realistic/diplomatic that finale seems, for there is never really a true victor in the war between Good and Evil, BUT come on.... if your life was torn asunder, I believe a little bloody retribution would have been on the menu.... there wasn't even a slap. I don't know. This was a mixed bag for me. I loved the imagery. I loved/loathed some of the characters BUT those editing mishaps and that whimper of an ending have this book precariously perched on the ratings scale. I believe that with a good editing scrub and a tweak here and there regarding the info dumping, this could be a really great book.

Oooohhhhh but that ending...

Overall impression: This was a fun read. The writing was captivating and the characters were robust and really...those are the factors that matter most, right?

*** I was given a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review ***