For my next Mark This Book Monday entry, I'm reviewing the second book of the Something Strange & Deadly series, and even if I've tried to keep things as spoiler free as possible, there might be some unintentional spoilers for both this book and book 1 in the series.
A Darkness Strange and Lovely by Susan Dennard
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I loved the first book of this series, with its unique take on the 19th century and the undead. I loved Eleanor with her parasol swinging and her take-no-shit-from-anyone attitude. So I was quite excited to read what was next for her and the Spirit Hunters.
The sequel starts with Eleanor in Philadelphia trying to deal with all the consequences from the battle that took part on the ending of book 1, and trying to deal with her feelings for Daniel. Her mother is at an assylum and she's selling all her posessions to be able to care for her. She's trying to deal with the rejection of her previous social circle, her own mother, the guilt of what happened on the showdown and the fear of having Marcus come out of hiding and attack her at a moments notice. When her fears get confirmed after finding out that Marcus visited her mother using her brother's body, she decides to follow the Spirit Hunters to Paris, the City of Light.
During her boat trip to Paris she meets two interesting characters, a French lady called Laure and a mysterious guy called Oliver. I felt that despite Eleanor misgivings with Oliver, she just ends up doing whatever he says even when she doesn't trust him, only cause of her brother's memory.
Eleanor was more annoying and exasperating for me in this book, and I loved her in the first book. Not only I was shaking my head at her on many occasions but I kept on feeling like shaking her whenever she kept on making the wrong choices, trusting the wrong people and lying to her friends left, right and centre. The way she dealt with her powers was irresponsible and the way she interacted with Joseph, Jin and Daniel was unlike the Eleanor of the first book. Truth be told, she does have a point for hiding her powers given the reaction of the Spirit Hunters when they find about it, but I'm sure the fact that she kept on lying to them must have had something to do with it.
I liked how guessing who the real villain behind the Undead of Paris had enough twists and false hints throught the book, and I like how by the end Eleanor faces her friends and tries to explain and work with them.
The romance with Daniel is sort of present but not taking front stage, and despite some showdowns between the two of them, still there's too much unsaid between them. I like how Daniel thinks he's improving himself to make him more worthy and less of a scallywag but he seems to forget that Eleanor loved him for what he was, as infuriating as he were on occasion.
This was a good second book plot wise, upping the stakes and moving the story forward, adding some chances and preparing the final showdown, but I was not very pleased on how my dear Eleanor conduced herself throughout most of the book, so that's the reason I'm giving this book 3 and a half stars. I'm tempted to round up to 4 stars cause of the fantastic descriptions of Paris and all the mentions of fantastic French food!
Despite my complains, I'm really looking forward to reading book 3 and hoping Eleanor will kick arse in it!
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A Darkness Strange and Lovely by Susan DennardMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I loved the first book of this series, with its unique take on the 19th century and the undead. I loved Eleanor with her parasol swinging and her take-no-shit-from-anyone attitude. So I was quite excited to read what was next for her and the Spirit Hunters.
The sequel starts with Eleanor in Philadelphia trying to deal with all the consequences from the battle that took part on the ending of book 1, and trying to deal with her feelings for Daniel. Her mother is at an assylum and she's selling all her posessions to be able to care for her. She's trying to deal with the rejection of her previous social circle, her own mother, the guilt of what happened on the showdown and the fear of having Marcus come out of hiding and attack her at a moments notice. When her fears get confirmed after finding out that Marcus visited her mother using her brother's body, she decides to follow the Spirit Hunters to Paris, the City of Light.
During her boat trip to Paris she meets two interesting characters, a French lady called Laure and a mysterious guy called Oliver. I felt that despite Eleanor misgivings with Oliver, she just ends up doing whatever he says even when she doesn't trust him, only cause of her brother's memory.
Eleanor was more annoying and exasperating for me in this book, and I loved her in the first book. Not only I was shaking my head at her on many occasions but I kept on feeling like shaking her whenever she kept on making the wrong choices, trusting the wrong people and lying to her friends left, right and centre. The way she dealt with her powers was irresponsible and the way she interacted with Joseph, Jin and Daniel was unlike the Eleanor of the first book. Truth be told, she does have a point for hiding her powers given the reaction of the Spirit Hunters when they find about it, but I'm sure the fact that she kept on lying to them must have had something to do with it.
I liked how guessing who the real villain behind the Undead of Paris had enough twists and false hints throught the book, and I like how by the end Eleanor faces her friends and tries to explain and work with them.
The romance with Daniel is sort of present but not taking front stage, and despite some showdowns between the two of them, still there's too much unsaid between them. I like how Daniel thinks he's improving himself to make him more worthy and less of a scallywag but he seems to forget that Eleanor loved him for what he was, as infuriating as he were on occasion.
This was a good second book plot wise, upping the stakes and moving the story forward, adding some chances and preparing the final showdown, but I was not very pleased on how my dear Eleanor conduced herself throughout most of the book, so that's the reason I'm giving this book 3 and a half stars. I'm tempted to round up to 4 stars cause of the fantastic descriptions of Paris and all the mentions of fantastic French food!
Despite my complains, I'm really looking forward to reading book 3 and hoping Eleanor will kick arse in it!
View all my reviews
I just looked at your rating because I couldn't pass up seeing if you enjoyed it. I'm not reading your review yet just because I've not read this one yet. I'm happy to see it got 4 out of 5. I'll be back to read the review later on.
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