What do you think?
Rate this book
Black Swan Rising #3
The Shape Stealer
Jewelry designer Garet James is the Watchtower—the last in a long line of powerful women sworn to protect the world from evil. Although she had once defeated evil in New York City, her pursuit of her true love, the 400-year-old vampire Will Hughes, has now unleashed an age-old evil onto the modern world, and the entire planet is at risk.
Marduk, the ageless descendant of a demonic Babylonian deity, is now loose in Paris. He has joined forces with the villainous John Dee in a plan to destroy the world’s economy and plunge the entire world into chaos.
To fight this threat, Garet enlists the help of a modern-day band of knights who are dedicated to preserving the sanctity of the timeline. As she and her allies face this threat, new challenges arise in the form of a rival faction of knights who will stop at nothing to bring about the destruction of everything Garet holds dear.
Marduk, the ageless descendant of a demonic Babylonian deity, is now loose in Paris. He has joined forces with the villainous John Dee in a plan to destroy the world’s economy and plunge the entire world into chaos.
To fight this threat, Garet enlists the help of a modern-day band of knights who are dedicated to preserving the sanctity of the timeline. As she and her allies face this threat, new challenges arise in the form of a rival faction of knights who will stop at nothing to bring about the destruction of everything Garet holds dear.
400 pages, Paperback
First published March 5, 2013
10 people are currently reading
873 people want to read
About the author
Lee Carroll
5 books85 followersThere is more than one author with this name
Lee Carroll is a pseudonym for the collaboration between Hammet Award-winning mystery novelist Carol Goodman and her poet and hedge fund manager husband, Lee Slonimsky. Goodman and Slonimsky live in Great Neck, New York.
Lee Carroll is a pseudonym for the collaboration between Hammet Award-winning mystery novelist Carol Goodman and her poet and hedge fund manager husband, Lee Slonimsky. Goodman and Slonimsky live in Great Neck, New York.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
did-not-finish
December 10, 2013Couldn't do it. As many have said the first book was great, the second was ok, and this barely resembles the others. There was potential for a story here if it was told from one point of view in a continuous fashion, instead each chapter overlaps unnecessarily and by page 80 nothing much has really occurred. The premise is still a bit silly with Will staying in the past to redo his actions so he is worthy of someone's love and other characters in the past wanting to go forward and...really who cares. Anything that made Garet interesting was gone after book one, chasing after a lover and I guess trying to save the world kind of doesn't interest me. It doesn't flow and nothing endears me to these characters any longer. It's making me twitchy with irritation even trying to explain why I don't like it.
June 20, 2022
Quite good book. I'd like the authors' ideas, but the plot is a bit disappointing. Could be better, with more suspens. I thought this series would be thrilling, but the third book is really dull.
April 19, 2013
When we last we left Garet James, she had finally made it back to the present time to find that she had not returned to the present with her love the 400 year old Will Hughes, but a younger and human version of him. Will justified this decision by suggesting that he was giving Garet the best of himself by sending his younger version rather than himself, and thus dedicated the next 400 years to erasing his mistakes so that he wold be worthy of Garet's love. Unfortunately for Garet, dealing with a man 400 years out of time is not her only issue. In the infamous John Dee as well as Marduk - an ancient
Babylonian deity have followed her back and have vowed to collapse the world's economy and bring and end to the world as they know it.
Of all three of the books thus far, The Shape Stealer is by far the most convoluted and over written. We know that Will fancies himself a poet; however, the amount of bad poetry gracing the pages The Shape Stealer, was absolutely painful. It was enough to make wonder if the authors decided to use poems they were unable to otherwise publish.
The dank and murk of these four walls appall,
No matter if a jail, or woe-soaked tomb:
Time’s dreadful to me as it
slowly crawls,
Just like mites on
blackened walls. This
womb
Belongs to Satan' corpus;
we must flee
Or we'll be born again
as something foul,
And Garet, suffer Marduck. I
can see
In mind's eye how that beast
without a soul
Craves vipering her blood to
make him whole.
a thing of such malevolence
that Dee,
Though sinister himself, will
shriek and flee
Yet now, if only Kepler might
awake,
And use his genius for poor
mankind's sake,
We might be saved. and
Marduck take a Fall.
Did you find that painful? Well, there's a lot more of that in the book. I found myself just skipping ahead each time I came across a poem, thankful that the poems were in italics, thus warning me of the torture up ahead. If I had wanted to read a book of poetry, I would have bought a book of poetry. Though poetry was used as a way for both Wills to declare their love of Garet, such an expression could surely have come in a less tedious form.
Read More
Babylonian deity have followed her back and have vowed to collapse the world's economy and bring and end to the world as they know it.
Of all three of the books thus far, The Shape Stealer is by far the most convoluted and over written. We know that Will fancies himself a poet; however, the amount of bad poetry gracing the pages The Shape Stealer, was absolutely painful. It was enough to make wonder if the authors decided to use poems they were unable to otherwise publish.
The dank and murk of these four walls appall,
No matter if a jail, or woe-soaked tomb:
Time’s dreadful to me as it
slowly crawls,
Just like mites on
blackened walls. This
womb
Belongs to Satan' corpus;
we must flee
Or we'll be born again
as something foul,
And Garet, suffer Marduck. I
can see
In mind's eye how that beast
without a soul
Craves vipering her blood to
make him whole.
a thing of such malevolence
that Dee,
Though sinister himself, will
shriek and flee
Yet now, if only Kepler might
awake,
And use his genius for poor
mankind's sake,
We might be saved. and
Marduck take a Fall.
Did you find that painful? Well, there's a lot more of that in the book. I found myself just skipping ahead each time I came across a poem, thankful that the poems were in italics, thus warning me of the torture up ahead. If I had wanted to read a book of poetry, I would have bought a book of poetry. Though poetry was used as a way for both Wills to declare their love of Garet, such an expression could surely have come in a less tedious form.
Read More
May 1, 2017
I thought the first book was great. Really enjoyed it. The second book was a bit of a let down, however i had high hopes for this book. Instead if bored me to tears. Too much talk of stock trading. I don't understand any of it. I was a little over half way when i decided to just skim and scan the book. If i had to read it word for word i would have died.
On the plus it's made one of my lists. "Worst Books Of All Time".
On the plus it's made one of my lists. "Worst Books Of All Time".
March 24, 2013
Only 9 days to go ...... So excited. Going to start book one again so it's all fresh in my mind.
January 23, 2018
It's been a long time since I first started the series, and much of the previous books has faded from my mind. I remember really loving the series, but a lot of my investment in it has drained away. I should have re-read the other books before embarking on this one. All the same, I enjoyed it, though I'm sure I would have gotten much more out of it if I'd read it soon after reading the others.
May 24, 2017
Finished the series just to be done with it, to be honest. Didn't much care one way or another what happened, I didn't feel like some of the story threads got properly resolved, and the happy ever after just felt a bit trite and contrived.
October 1, 2022
I really did not like this trilogy. Too many things happening just for the sake of making the story drag out. I feel like this whole trilogy could have been condensed to one 400-450 page standalone instead.
September 17, 2024
This book had the potential to be a great conclusion to this trilogy, but it deviated so far from the first book sadly. I feel like nothing major happened at all, and it had a mediocre and anticlimactic ending.
May 10, 2022
Awful, just awful.
June 11, 2013
Review crossposted to 238 books in 238 days.
----------
"The Shape Stealer" is the last book in a series. As usual, here's a (relatively) spoiler-free overview over the first two books before I start the review for this one.
Black Swan Rising tells the story of the young jeweller Garet James who discovers a fae world that exists alongside us in downtown New York.
Story-wise this is a fairly conventional YA novel, even though there are some moments of originality. What made this one stand out for me however was the collaboration between writer Carol Goodman and her poet husband Lee Slonimsky. With every sentence you could feel their love for language, and this made "Black Swan Rising" an utter joy to read. (You can see how much I loved it in my review here.)
The second book in the series, The Watchtower, was still nicely written (although not as beautiful as the first one), but it offered a somewhat convoluted plot, introducing time-travel and unnecessary historical figures that seemed like comic book characters.
I still liked it because there was enough of the interesting mythology and beautiful writing left (and Paris is at least as interesting as New York), but I wasn't too sure about the future of this series.
Unfortunately, "The Shape Stealer" continues the previous trend. Less focus on the beautiful language, the inclusion of poems seems rather forced now, and the plot is just a mess. A kitschy mess to boot, and here's my recommendation: Read the first book Black Swan Rising because it is truly beautiful. Give the other two a miss.
To get a bit more into spoilery details - young Will is a total disaster. He was supposed to be arrogant and cocky, instead he is a bit egocentric and extremely naive. Old Will is not better than in book two where he was a bit of a nuisance. (I'm not getting into Garet's constant use of "old Will/young Will" here, that was clearly a rubbish decision on the authors' part.)
The time-travel plot is getting completely out of hand. You need to make clear who is where and why and what they know, and this doesn't happen. I also highly doubt the science. I would have been alright with no science at all, but to make up science wrongly is not okay. (And I highly doubt Kepler would have been able to remark on "the universe not being multidimensional, but rather a multi-faceted cluster of not perfectly aligned polygones". It was the 17th century. I already disbelieved the atom-based explanation of the time-travel, but that one was too much.)
What with the plot turning weird and Garet ignoring her position as watchtower to sort out her romantic problems, I will just direct you to my recommendation above. If you haven't yet read the second one, don't bother. Black Swan Rising is excellent on its own.
----------
"The Shape Stealer" is the last book in a series. As usual, here's a (relatively) spoiler-free overview over the first two books before I start the review for this one.
Black Swan Rising tells the story of the young jeweller Garet James who discovers a fae world that exists alongside us in downtown New York.
Story-wise this is a fairly conventional YA novel, even though there are some moments of originality. What made this one stand out for me however was the collaboration between writer Carol Goodman and her poet husband Lee Slonimsky. With every sentence you could feel their love for language, and this made "Black Swan Rising" an utter joy to read. (You can see how much I loved it in my review here.)
The second book in the series, The Watchtower, was still nicely written (although not as beautiful as the first one), but it offered a somewhat convoluted plot, introducing time-travel and unnecessary historical figures that seemed like comic book characters.
I still liked it because there was enough of the interesting mythology and beautiful writing left (and Paris is at least as interesting as New York), but I wasn't too sure about the future of this series.
Unfortunately, "The Shape Stealer" continues the previous trend. Less focus on the beautiful language, the inclusion of poems seems rather forced now, and the plot is just a mess. A kitschy mess to boot, and here's my recommendation: Read the first book Black Swan Rising because it is truly beautiful. Give the other two a miss.
To get a bit more into spoilery details - young Will is a total disaster. He was supposed to be arrogant and cocky, instead he is a bit egocentric and extremely naive. Old Will is not better than in book two where he was a bit of a nuisance. (I'm not getting into Garet's constant use of "old Will/young Will" here, that was clearly a rubbish decision on the authors' part.)
The time-travel plot is getting completely out of hand. You need to make clear who is where and why and what they know, and this doesn't happen. I also highly doubt the science. I would have been alright with no science at all, but to make up science wrongly is not okay. (And I highly doubt Kepler would have been able to remark on "the universe not being multidimensional, but rather a multi-faceted cluster of not perfectly aligned polygones". It was the 17th century. I already disbelieved the atom-based explanation of the time-travel, but that one was too much.)
What with the plot turning weird and Garet ignoring her position as watchtower to sort out her romantic problems, I will just direct you to my recommendation above. If you haven't yet read the second one, don't bother. Black Swan Rising is excellent on its own.
January 4, 2014
The Shape Stealer. Lee Carroll
ARC provided via Netgalley.
Written by husband and wife team Carol Goodman and Lee Slonimsky. Though I hadn't read the first two books in this trilogy I simply loved Carol's Fairwick Chronicles, and this looked to be a similar type of book. So I read the samples of books one and two – I usually find that's enough to allow me to keep up when I jump into an existing series – and went from there.
This book is really complex though, and in honesty I needed to read those earlier books to fully to appreciate the story. I found myself floundering over events, trying to understand the complex time travel machinations in the book, and not sure of the characters. I need to feel “there” in the book, usually I'd be Garet in my mind, seeing events alongside her, but I felt a bit detached because there was so much I just didn't understand. That's my fault for thinking I could pick up such a complex book. My Bad :( Still, for those who love a story that has more than just a boy meets girl romance, and who want snippets of history intertwined with vampires, and other supernatural creatures this trilogy may be what they're looking for. Just don't think you can pick up book three though as I did – you really do need to read books one and two to fully appreciate the story and the way its written.
Apart from the difficulties in following the story though, I had specifics I really wasn't keen on – the poetry...it didn't add anything I found, and in fact I ended up skipping it each time I came to it. Then the romance – it's not classed as a romance novel, but somehow I was expecting a bit more than we got. Young Will was just such a put off, he really read like a typical teenager, arrogant and foolhardy, and not the “better person” Old Will seemed to think he was. Then there was Old Will – we met him eventually, but there didn't really seem to be much closeness between him and Garet considering all they'd gone through to be together...it could have been though that I was skim reading by then, being so lost that I simply couldn't read the book in the way I usually would.
Stars: It's difficult to assess really – but on how I personally enjoyed it – and that’s how I always rate – this is just a two/three star. It is very well written, it is a sweeping, eventful story and yet I simply didn't gel with it.
ARC provided via Netgalley.
Written by husband and wife team Carol Goodman and Lee Slonimsky. Though I hadn't read the first two books in this trilogy I simply loved Carol's Fairwick Chronicles, and this looked to be a similar type of book. So I read the samples of books one and two – I usually find that's enough to allow me to keep up when I jump into an existing series – and went from there.
This book is really complex though, and in honesty I needed to read those earlier books to fully to appreciate the story. I found myself floundering over events, trying to understand the complex time travel machinations in the book, and not sure of the characters. I need to feel “there” in the book, usually I'd be Garet in my mind, seeing events alongside her, but I felt a bit detached because there was so much I just didn't understand. That's my fault for thinking I could pick up such a complex book. My Bad :( Still, for those who love a story that has more than just a boy meets girl romance, and who want snippets of history intertwined with vampires, and other supernatural creatures this trilogy may be what they're looking for. Just don't think you can pick up book three though as I did – you really do need to read books one and two to fully appreciate the story and the way its written.
Apart from the difficulties in following the story though, I had specifics I really wasn't keen on – the poetry...it didn't add anything I found, and in fact I ended up skipping it each time I came to it. Then the romance – it's not classed as a romance novel, but somehow I was expecting a bit more than we got. Young Will was just such a put off, he really read like a typical teenager, arrogant and foolhardy, and not the “better person” Old Will seemed to think he was. Then there was Old Will – we met him eventually, but there didn't really seem to be much closeness between him and Garet considering all they'd gone through to be together...it could have been though that I was skim reading by then, being so lost that I simply couldn't read the book in the way I usually would.
Stars: It's difficult to assess really – but on how I personally enjoyed it – and that’s how I always rate – this is just a two/three star. It is very well written, it is a sweeping, eventful story and yet I simply didn't gel with it.
January 4, 2018
OK fantasy battling time and demons but not too much substance.
February 6, 2014
I enjoyed Black Swan Rising, the first in the trilogy (before my blogging days). You can find my review of The Watchtower (the second) as a guest on Sarah’s Book Reviews. When I saw The Shape Stealer on Netgalley I just had to request so that I could finish the trilogy!
The story starts where we left off. Garet has time-travelled back from 1602 with Will but it’s the wrong one! Not only that, they also brought back Marduk. Marduk doesn’t waste any time in causing chaos using the naïve Will so we’re off to an exciting start. Marduk is in partnership with Dee so you know they’re planning something diabolical!
Garet is directed to the Institut Chronologique which I loved. Such a great concept. I enjoyed finding out about the changes the Will who was left behind made to show Garet in the present time his love!
The clues were brilliant and following them gave everyone the chance to use their skills to work their magic. Garet is a lot stronger in this final book and although she is so disappointed that she brought the wrong Will back, her feelings grow and change. There was a very poignant moment in their relationship.
The ‘older’ Will is still around in the present time and even though he tries not to get involved, his role of protector is something else I enjoyed. Loved that he learnt how to manipulate atoms.
There is only one thing that didn’t work for me and that’s the ending. After turning those pages, loving being back with the characters, enjoying Garet’s quest (and loving the action), I thought the story just fizzled out.
I think you need to read the other books in the trilogy to have an understanding of the foundations.
If you enjoy the metaphysical and paranormal you will enjoy this trilogy. Personally, I would love to see a story from the authors with the Institut Chronologique at the heart of it.
I would like to thank the publishers for accepting my request to review via Netgalley.
The story starts where we left off. Garet has time-travelled back from 1602 with Will but it’s the wrong one! Not only that, they also brought back Marduk. Marduk doesn’t waste any time in causing chaos using the naïve Will so we’re off to an exciting start. Marduk is in partnership with Dee so you know they’re planning something diabolical!
Garet is directed to the Institut Chronologique which I loved. Such a great concept. I enjoyed finding out about the changes the Will who was left behind made to show Garet in the present time his love!
The clues were brilliant and following them gave everyone the chance to use their skills to work their magic. Garet is a lot stronger in this final book and although she is so disappointed that she brought the wrong Will back, her feelings grow and change. There was a very poignant moment in their relationship.
The ‘older’ Will is still around in the present time and even though he tries not to get involved, his role of protector is something else I enjoyed. Loved that he learnt how to manipulate atoms.
There is only one thing that didn’t work for me and that’s the ending. After turning those pages, loving being back with the characters, enjoying Garet’s quest (and loving the action), I thought the story just fizzled out.
I think you need to read the other books in the trilogy to have an understanding of the foundations.
If you enjoy the metaphysical and paranormal you will enjoy this trilogy. Personally, I would love to see a story from the authors with the Institut Chronologique at the heart of it.
I would like to thank the publishers for accepting my request to review via Netgalley.
January 6, 2016
(2.5 stars) This is the third and final book in the Black Swan Rising series. Garet has returned to the present day with the younger version of Will Hughes, while the older version has remained in the past, determined to right his wrongs and become a better person, distancing himself from Garet in the present day. They are pursued by the unleashed demon vampire Marduk who has joined forces
with the historical figure, John Dee with the goal of wreaking havoc and destruction on the world. Garet joins forces with a group of time agents who defend the timeline in order to battle against Marduk and Dee. Marduk has his own agenda and with his power to be able to take on the form of any person whose blood he drinks, is working on his vendetta against Will. There is also a rogue/anarchist band of time manipulators whose plans may or may not help Garet and her friends. The strain of the two Will’s on the timeline affects both of them and they must come to a resolution before it is too late. While this book ties up the story lines, I felt that this series lost its way somewhere in the second book, and did not live up to the promise of the first book in the series. I’m glad I finished it, but it was no up to the excellent standard of the other books written by one of the authors (Carol Goodman, for this series, writing with her husband as Lee Carroll).
with the historical figure, John Dee with the goal of wreaking havoc and destruction on the world. Garet joins forces with a group of time agents who defend the timeline in order to battle against Marduk and Dee. Marduk has his own agenda and with his power to be able to take on the form of any person whose blood he drinks, is working on his vendetta against Will. There is also a rogue/anarchist band of time manipulators whose plans may or may not help Garet and her friends. The strain of the two Will’s on the timeline affects both of them and they must come to a resolution before it is too late. While this book ties up the story lines, I felt that this series lost its way somewhere in the second book, and did not live up to the promise of the first book in the series. I’m glad I finished it, but it was no up to the excellent standard of the other books written by one of the authors (Carol Goodman, for this series, writing with her husband as Lee Carroll).
February 16, 2014
Although I am not averse to a bit of poetry now and again, and I can understand the the author wanting to bring attention to the art of poetry, however I felt it was detrimental to the flow of the story.
The poetry was good, it just did not fit in context with the story and there was too much of it. I question whether it was written with the intent of creating a setting for the poetry, which was why the actual story within the book was given less attention.
A pity really, the two entities should have been presented individually to give them both justice.
As for the story, well there was so much going on it felt as if an explosion of ideas had been crowded into a confined space.
The old Will new Will sub-plot could have been explored a little more. It was certainly one of the more interesting ideas, although I still don't understand why old Will would have thought the new Will would be more suited to the woman he apparently loves.
I would suggest reading the previous two books in the series to get a better feel of the events and characters.
I received a copy of this book via NetGalley.
The poetry was good, it just did not fit in context with the story and there was too much of it. I question whether it was written with the intent of creating a setting for the poetry, which was why the actual story within the book was given less attention.
A pity really, the two entities should have been presented individually to give them both justice.
As for the story, well there was so much going on it felt as if an explosion of ideas had been crowded into a confined space.
The old Will new Will sub-plot could have been explored a little more. It was certainly one of the more interesting ideas, although I still don't understand why old Will would have thought the new Will would be more suited to the woman he apparently loves.
I would suggest reading the previous two books in the series to get a better feel of the events and characters.
I received a copy of this book via NetGalley.
June 13, 2013
I really enjoyed the first book in this series, found the second to be so-so, and can't finish this one. I find myself no longer invested in what happens to the characters, so I just don't need to find out how it all ends.
I know that some people really hate the first person narrative (I am not one of those people) but this is told in third person and I think it would probably have benefited from a first person focus. There is too much jumping around from character to character. And what I really didn't care for at all, was when it was told from the evil character's perspective. I really didn't care what he was doing and why.
I know that some people really hate the first person narrative (I am not one of those people) but this is told in third person and I think it would probably have benefited from a first person focus. There is too much jumping around from character to character. And what I really didn't care for at all, was when it was told from the evil character's perspective. I really didn't care what he was doing and why.
September 5, 2014
I think maybe because I had waited so long to read this after the other two, I just wasn't as into it as I was the previous books in this series.
And the introduction of the new villains and the chronologists, made it confusing and difficult to keep everything straight. And Marduk was not a very well written demon - he'd go from rampaging and killing to trying to outsmart the stock market in only a few pages with out a lot of description of his motivation for either - I just didn't dislike him enough for the way the protagonists were scared of him.
And the introduction of the new villains and the chronologists, made it confusing and difficult to keep everything straight. And Marduk was not a very well written demon - he'd go from rampaging and killing to trying to outsmart the stock market in only a few pages with out a lot of description of his motivation for either - I just didn't dislike him enough for the way the protagonists were scared of him.
June 22, 2013
Having read the previous two novels in the series, I was expecting this to continue along the same lines. However, I found the 'bad-guy' a weak, 'cardboard cut-out' type which lacked depth and behaved in a way that didn't seem plausible. Arrogant and reckless? fine, but dim? It didn't 'feel' right. The authors also needed to do a little more Biological research as some of the 'facts' were sketchy to say the least. The whole novel gave the impression that it had been rushed, which was a shame, as the series had so much more potential.
October 30, 2013
This is nowhere as good as the first two, felt disjointedfrom te previous plot. Kept waiting for it to get to the good part but realised i was more than halfway through and seemingly nothing had happened! Not really impressed with this one whig is a shame as i did enjoy the other two. 2 stars as some parts seemed o show promise, with the chronologists and time travel mission but then i reached the end without anything ever eventuating! Shane about this one.
April 18, 2013
3,25 stars. Well, it was better than book two, but not that good as book one. It was fast paced. It was gripping and i wanted to know how this thing would end and if "the old Will" will come back. But at the end i can safely say that i will probably forget this series next month because it didn't have any impact on me.
August 9, 2013
I don't know if there will be more to this series but I think I am done with it. My primary complaint with this, the 3rd book in the series, is that the story keeps switching between to many chararcters and perspectives. Sometimes a chapter or two was spent on one character and then it would flp back to someone else and not get back to the other person until much later.
October 7, 2013
I started this one and have been really disappointed so far. The narrative is choppy and stilted, and I have not so far been impressed by any of the characters. It -might- have helped if I'd read the other two books first, but I'm a believer in books being able to at least balance on their own, and this one... isn't.
October 17, 2013
This one wasn't good. It felt garbled and having the ancient evil turn out to be a spoiled brat was a really weird choice. And, oh look! That's not the main issue in this book!
The whole thing felt very anticlimactic. I got to the end and went, wait, what? Did I miss something?
My advice is to give it the Matrix treatment; read the first one and pretend there weren't any more.
The whole thing felt very anticlimactic. I got to the end and went, wait, what? Did I miss something?
My advice is to give it the Matrix treatment; read the first one and pretend there weren't any more.
March 16, 2014
Book 3 in this series started off better...and it was definitely better than book 2. But the story was rushed in the end, and it's an all-too-familiar pattern that I sense in most trilogies. It's like the author gets bored with their creation, and so they rush us to the finish. It wasn't a bad ride, but it could have been better.
February 24, 2015
I really felt that this book didn't have a proper ending. It just stopped. I even looked to see if there where plans to add to the series...doesn't look like it.
I didn't dislike this book, I just felt that it was weak.
I loved the first book, I love the do much of the ideas and villains introduced in the second and this book, but I just felt that there was a lot more left undone in the plot.
I didn't dislike this book, I just felt that it was weak.
I loved the first book, I love the do much of the ideas and villains introduced in the second and this book, but I just felt that there was a lot more left undone in the plot.
June 22, 2013
This is a catastrophically awful attempt to blend science fiction time travel into an urban fantasy setting with vampires and fairies to spread the load.
http://opionator.wordpress.com/2013/0...
http://opionator.wordpress.com/2013/0...
July 29, 2013
Glad to read more about Garet James and her faery world adventures. Good escapist read .
Shame I didn't have a copy of book two to read before this, but perhaps there's no need to read the middle book now I know the end!
Shame I didn't have a copy of book two to read before this, but perhaps there's no need to read the middle book now I know the end!
July 13, 2014
Really enjoyed Black Swan Rising. The Watchtower was ok. This was so painful to read. I felt I had to finish it because I read the first two but oh my lord what a pile of baloney! Very poorly constructed and written. Such a shame because Black Swan Rising had such potential for a good series.
January 1, 2014
I felt this one in the series was not quite as good as the first two. This book I feel got off to a really slow start and did not start to get really good until more than half way through. I still like it but definitely not as good as the others.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews