I want to like Moreno-Garcia’s novels so badly. I really want to. I think she is a good writer overall; where she fails, every time, is in the plotting and pacing of her work. This work is no exception. The general plot, which is somewhat similar to Gemma Files’ Experimental Film, is not uninteresting. But the pace of the story is so sloooooooooow. Literally hundreds of pages go by in which nothing really happens. This would have made an interesting novella, perhaps—but there just isn’t enough story for a 300+ page novel.

The characters themselves are truly awful—not just unlikeable antiheroes, but insufferable, obnoxious representations of people. Why should we care if they succeed? Why should we want them to win? You got me, dear reader, you got me.

And that’s pretty much it. Each novel by Moreno-Garcia just leaves me feeling disappointed, saddened by the wasted potential. Maybe the problem is that, even though I really want to like Moreno-Garcia’s novels, I just don’t.