Yashima reviewed Hidden Blade by Pippa DaCosta
Review of 'Hidden Blade' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
The premise: Egyptian gods roaming NYC (welcome back to the City, the only one it seems) is not exactly new (there's a reason I have a gods-at-work shelf) but with a soul-eating dark and dangerous protagonist - what could go wrong?
I actually don't know what went wrong. The book hits all the right notes, the writing is ok, the plot moves nicely and not too confusing ... the evil overlord is suitably interesting and ... yet this book bored me.
It feels like just the exposition of something larger and unable to stand for itself. Several subplots never quite get cleared up. And even the ending of the main plot is not satisfactory - maybe because in a surprising last minute twist Bastet dies and I really liked her.
Even as Ace is the kind of guy I usually want to read about - dark, darker, nearly evil "you …
The premise: Egyptian gods roaming NYC (welcome back to the City, the only one it seems) is not exactly new (there's a reason I have a gods-at-work shelf) but with a soul-eating dark and dangerous protagonist - what could go wrong?
I actually don't know what went wrong. The book hits all the right notes, the writing is ok, the plot moves nicely and not too confusing ... the evil overlord is suitably interesting and ... yet this book bored me.
It feels like just the exposition of something larger and unable to stand for itself. Several subplots never quite get cleared up. And even the ending of the main plot is not satisfactory - maybe because in a surprising last minute twist Bastet dies and I really liked her.
Even as Ace is the kind of guy I usually want to read about - dark, darker, nearly evil "you better stay away from me I'm so bad" ... he just doesn't click for me and we find out way too little about Shu and their shared curse to make this even remotely interesting - especially their purported enmity that never manifests ...
One reason might be that I am lacking an interesting female character to identify with. Isis is a bitch, Shu is weird and gets little screen time and the same goes for Chuck and Bastet. So ... maybe that's it.