Nolan Oliver

Strained premise and bad pacing

Reviewed: 07-21-24

The story starts with what could be a interesting premise of general, regular people thrown into extraordinary circumstances. However, the author, though seemingly liking that idea, has no interest in actually writing the nuances that would go into that sort of a story. Instead, there's next to zero discussion among people about the new world and situation they find themselves in. The main character just nods along, hardly blinks an eye at the change, and starts grinding away.

You get the barest bit of exploration of the concept through the two main side characters. Jacob (why did the author do this when the main character is named Jake) has some interesting writing about how he goes from being a great leader to struggling to find his place in the transition between worlds. But, again, we still barely dig into that.

So, what do we actually get. We get a grindy story that hints at possible larger secrets out there in the wider world. If you buy into the premise then some of it is fairly interesting. There are certainly some good ideas in here, just poorly to frustratingly executed in my opinion. Unfortunately, along with that there's no real payoff to most of this even in future books. The pacing is far, far too slow and, even with that pacing, lacks impact when you do get to climaxes. This book just...ends. No real reason for it, no real resolution to anything that's going on except in the smallest sense.

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A solid first installment

Reviewed: 12-29-22

This book is a solid first installment in a new modern, urban fantasy series. Notably, magic is public knowledge so there's none of the usual secrecy tropes at play. That allows for the story to expand in some interesting directions, which the author definitely took advantage of. Overall, the story is good and I wasn't left disappointed. That said, I felt it just missed nailing a few story beats that would have pushed it to be something great. The mystery plot is good, but a few of the reveals aren't foreshadowed enough to allow for readers to be able to really follow along and be able to truly track where things may be going. The action scenes as well are good, but lack some satisfying resolutions or scenes that I was hoping for.

Overall, I enjoyed the read and I'll definitely be picking up the next one whenever it rolls out,

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Another fun, bubbly installment.

Reviewed: 02-23-22

I loved the first book and I love this one too. Delightfully bubbly with just enough complexity to keep it interesting. The author did a great job entwining the first and second novels. Plot was interesting, with a good little mystery. Plot is just as delightfully unbelievable. Super easy, fun read. If you liked the first one, you'll like this one too!

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Fantastic modern Gothic romance.

Reviewed: 09-26-21

This novel is delightful! It's both an excellent, fun romance novel and a great modern gothic plot. It's not a bodice ripper, but the romance aspect is still great. It keeps you hooked and has a satisfying ending and explanation for the mechanics. I highly recommend it for your next read!

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Cute idea but nothing special.

Reviewed: 08-07-21

It starts out fun and is a cute idea but goes flat very quickly as the writing is very two dimensional. It also drags really bad in the middle. Narrator was solid but nothing amazing.

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4 people found this helpful

Excellent story but could have used some editing.

Reviewed: 05-09-21

Another fantastic edition to the series, but it definitely dragged. There was a lot of information that could have been cut out or provided in a quicker way. I get that we're on the adventure with Cadence, but phew, that was a long one!

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Beautiful retelling of the traditional French.

Reviewed: 01-11-21

I love fairy tales and I've read my fair share, but even I was delightfully surprised by how beautiful and authentic these versions were. Wonderful performance and translation (I think), great nuances to the stories that really bring them to life. 100% recommend. Great length too for some easy listens if you need a break from novels.

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3 people found this helpful

Fantastic take on dark fairy tales.

Reviewed: 11-08-20

I loved loved loved these stories! The writing reimagines classics in a new and dark way. Very good writing with excellent character development and world building. Includes Cinderella, The Nutcracker, The Little Mermaid, and a Russian fairytale which I'm familiar with but forget the name of.

I highly recommend these for all fairy tale lovers 15+ as there are some truly dark themes and occurrences.

The performance was also spot on and fantastic richness to the stories!

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Narrator was alright, writing was awful.

Reviewed: 08-05-20

This was a bizarre book. It had lots and lots of details with no plot or explanations to actually keep it all tied together. The magic system is interesting but is never explained in any coherent way that advances a non-existent plot. The plot mainly consists of talking about tarot cards, describing poker games and foreboding omens. At most you have this vague idea that the main character is "an important figure" to Tarot and that the other Tarot personifications are unhappy. Narrator was alright, he tried but he was dry and monotone.

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Another that starts with with a bang but fizzles.

Reviewed: 07-29-20

This was a weird one. It started out really strong and seemed like there was going to be good tension between the two main characters, as one is a myth buster and one is a "real witch." Instead the skeptic gets completely bowled over and acts as if the witch is the entire center of the universe in a really lack luster romantic relationship. The whole "evil witch boss" issue got really stale as the plot for that never went anywhere. I stopped with about 2 or 3 hours left and that still hadn't moved along.

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2 people found this helpful