marksutherland reviewed Wicked Things by John Allison
Review of 'Wicked Things' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
I think this volume probably makes much more sense if you are already familiar with the Bad Machinery books, but if you're coming in cold or with only the few appearances of Lottie in Giant Days you're going to be confused. I suspect this might have worked better as a second volume, using the first to re-establish her skills and hubris before knocking her off her pedestal with the events of this book.
This having been said, I definitely enjoyed it as a long term Allison fan. Max has done a fantastic job with these characters and it feels like it would have been a worthy successor to Giant Days if it had time to find it's feet. The back half does feel a bit rushed as I guess they knew they weren't getting a second run, but I think they found a reasonable resolution with what they had to …
I think this volume probably makes much more sense if you are already familiar with the Bad Machinery books, but if you're coming in cold or with only the few appearances of Lottie in Giant Days you're going to be confused. I suspect this might have worked better as a second volume, using the first to re-establish her skills and hubris before knocking her off her pedestal with the events of this book.
This having been said, I definitely enjoyed it as a long term Allison fan. Max has done a fantastic job with these characters and it feels like it would have been a worthy successor to Giant Days if it had time to find it's feet. The back half does feel a bit rushed as I guess they knew they weren't getting a second run, but I think they found a reasonable resolution with what they had to work with. Hopefully we'll get to see the rest of the mystery that now hangs over Lottie's head some day.