My Rating: ✩✩✩✩✩
I have enjoyed Stein's books to varying degrees across two series, but this one was a miss for me.
My overarching issue with the series is that there doesn't feel like enough world building. I don't mind when an author drops you in and teaches the mythos by immersion, but here I feel like I am adrift in a sea of magic with no guide. Each book has hinted as some of "how it all works," but other than some witches paring off with supernatural love interests and talking appliances, there just isn't enough to make the stories fit together.
As for this book specifically, it was all telling and very little showing. We see the story through the eyes of our MMC, but don't get much from her about herself. She doesn't really grow or change and the only reason this life doesn't end the same way as the others is almost accidental. The MMC doesn't really pass the "lamp test" (especially given that sentient lamp as love-interest is 100% on the table with this mythos). The ending just happens. The "mystery," that the reader didn't even know existed in this form, is resolved...just because the right combination of poorly performed spells? When all was said and done, it didn't really feel like a story.
Other ratings vary, so this may be just a bad fit for me and exactly perfect for another reader, but I think this series has run its course for my reading preferences.
Published on 27 October 2026 by St. Martins Press
No comments:
Post a Comment