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Mortal Coils #1
Gemini - Der goldene Apfel
Die mächtige Magie der Zwillinge
Die Waisen Eliot und Fiona Post leben bei ihrer Großmutter ein schrecklich unspektakuläres Leben. Die Zwillinge werden zu Hause unterrichtet, und ihre größte Sorge ist es, gegen eine der »106 großmütterlichen Regeln« zu verstoßen! Doch am Tag vor ihrem fünfzehnten Geburtstag erfahren Eliot und Fiona mehr über ihre Herkunft, als ihnen lieb ist. Ihre Eltern leben! Doch ihre Verbindung war von allen Mächten des Universums verboten. Denn während ihre Mutter eine unsterbliche Göttin des Himmels ist, stellt sich ihr Vater als ein gefallener Engel aus der Hölle heraus. Mit der besonderen Abstammung der Zwillinge gehen einzigartige Kräfte einher, und die wollen nicht nur die höllischen Verwandten ihres Vaters für sich nutzen, auch die himmlische Familie ihrer Mutter will die Kontrolle über sie erlangen. Plötzlich ist es wichtiger als je zuvor, dass die Zwillinge zusammenhalten – denn wenn sie die falschen Entscheidungen treffen, werden sie die Ordnung der Welt erschüttern …
Die Waisen Eliot und Fiona Post leben bei ihrer Großmutter ein schrecklich unspektakuläres Leben. Die Zwillinge werden zu Hause unterrichtet, und ihre größte Sorge ist es, gegen eine der »106 großmütterlichen Regeln« zu verstoßen! Doch am Tag vor ihrem fünfzehnten Geburtstag erfahren Eliot und Fiona mehr über ihre Herkunft, als ihnen lieb ist. Ihre Eltern leben! Doch ihre Verbindung war von allen Mächten des Universums verboten. Denn während ihre Mutter eine unsterbliche Göttin des Himmels ist, stellt sich ihr Vater als ein gefallener Engel aus der Hölle heraus. Mit der besonderen Abstammung der Zwillinge gehen einzigartige Kräfte einher, und die wollen nicht nur die höllischen Verwandten ihres Vaters für sich nutzen, auch die himmlische Familie ihrer Mutter will die Kontrolle über sie erlangen. Plötzlich ist es wichtiger als je zuvor, dass die Zwillinge zusammenhalten – denn wenn sie die falschen Entscheidungen treffen, werden sie die Ordnung der Welt erschüttern …
769 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 1, 2009
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August 4, 2014
"We must not let the other family have such power over the future. We must make those children ours.”This book is epic in every sense of the word. I am pleased that upon a second reading, it was just as good as I had remembered.
“And failing that?”
“And failing that …” Lucia suddenly looked sad and tired. “Failing that, I will kill them myself
It's got:
Terrifyingly intelligent, yet spectacularly dorky and awkward 15-year old main characters
An awesome, complex relationship between twin siblings
Terrifyingly dangerous familial relationships where your beloved cousin might be plotting to kill you and eat your siblings
A battle between
An interesting spin on demonic mythology
A series of tests, in the form of trials and temptations
And the cherry on the cupcake...refreshingly little romance
Sometimes a book just clicks. This book was just what I needed to refresh my mind in between the terrible books that seem to enjoy bombarding itself at me.
The Summary:
Eliot Post and his sister, Fiona, would be fifteen tomorrow and nothing interesting had ever happened to them.Eliot and Fiona are the most socially stunted 15-year old twins in the entire world. And it's all thanks to their grandmother. They are orphans, parents mysteriously dead, oh, somewhere, somehow. The only family they've got now is a terrifying grandmother who is more military commander than cuddly old cookie-baking grandma.
It was Grandmother always. It was never Audrey or Gram, or any other pet name like they used with Cecilia. Not that it was forbidden, but Grandmother was the only thing they ever thought to call her. It was the only title that carried the authority her presence demanded.And a cookie-baking great-grandma who seriously can't cook anything for shit.
They've been home-schooled their entire lives. Their lives are dominated by rules, ranging from NO LISTENING TO MUSIC to NO READING BOOKS DEALING WITH MAGIC. Seriously, their grandmother has a fucking list of rules for them. They've been forced to work hard their entire lives, there's no easy ride for them. From cleaning the apartment unit when they were young, to working their asses off doing menial labor in a horrible pizza shop, Eliot and Fiona's life can only be described as miserable.
They can't even have candy. Even a half-eaten piece of chocolate, found in the trash, is considered a special treat. They wear homemade clothes (ugly ones). They never, ever go out. They have no friends but each other.
He and Fiona might as well have been corked inside a bottle, sailing nowhere on a tiny balsa-wood ship.But all is not as it seems. Eliot and Fiona...surprisingly...caught someone's attention. Someone who recognizes their potential, through the altogether normal appearance.
Yes, the boy’s eyes, the slender but strong bridge of the girl’s nose, the high cheekbones and arching brows on both. How could she have missed it? Whoever had camouflaged them had done a masterful job: they had transformed divine into dull.And with that, the dam bursts.
No shit, they're not who they seem. Neither is their grandmother. They have a newfound extended family they know nothing about. A family that's all sort of magical, but not altogether friendly. Eliot and Fiona might get killed just for being born. Unless they pass The Test.
“Let the record show,” Aunt Lucia declared, “that we shall test the children’s potentials with three heroic trials. This will illuminate their characters and determine their lineage. It will prove their possible worth to remain alive.”But that's not the only family they have to be concerned about. As bad as these relatives seem...there's the other side of the family...a side that may be even worse.
Meanwhile she had to prepare for the gathering of the Board. There were weapons to sharpen and armor to mend.
Indeed, one did not face one’s brothers and sisters without taking careful precautions against carnage and bloodshed.
Eliot and Fiona will fight for their lives. They will face tests, temptations. Crocodiles and chocolates. Yes, you read that correctly.
They will face attempts at seduction, they will discover powers they never knew they had.
Challenges abound. They will learn that there is so much more to them and their families than they ever knew. Will they conquer their challenges? Will they fall? Will they succumb to the light? Ok, the slightly shadowy...or will they fall to the darkness?
Above all else...they have to trust each other. They have to stick together.
She gently pushed them away. Tears were in her old eyes. “Be brave,” she whispered. “Do no let them separate you. You are stronger together.”Together, they are strong. May the best side win.
The Families:
Eliot stared into the darkness and wondered about his father’s side of the family. Why was no one talking about them? Uncle Henry, Aunt Lucia, and possibly Grandmother had murdered. Could the other family be somehow … worse?This book takes a number of mythologies and gave it an exceedingly interesting spin. There are demonic creatures from Christian mythology and other legends who come to life...and who become other characters here. It is half the fun guessing who the characters are. From the "dark" side, we have characters like the seductress Seeliah, the deadly beauty with a secret soft side, a fighter and a queen in her own rights.
On the "good" side, we have characters like the beautiful, deadly Lucia. The charming and conniving Henry Mimes. Good and bad are all relative here, no pun intended, because good or bad, each side is out for their own best interest, and no game is too dirty to play.
With families like these...who needs enemies?
Familial love: I absolutely love the portrayal of complex family relationships in this book. It is a battlefield, but above all else, there is loyalty. One may want to kill one's sister at times...but blood ties stand above all. It is a rather "Mafia"-like relationship. You wouldn't ever want to turn your back on a relative...but when it counts, you know they've got your back.
Sibling Love:
Fiona might have tried to drive him crazy, dreamed up the worst insults in the world to throw at him, but she’d never in a million years have snitched on him....Slash hate. I absolutely love Eliot and Fiona's relationships. They have only ever had each other. They have never had friends. They don't always get along...in fact, they hardly ever get along...but they're fiercely loyal to each other because of that fact. When you have lived your entire life a step up from abject misery, forbidden to have friends, forbidden to go to school, to be with your peers...you feel closest to the one who knows what you're going through.
They have an...interesting relationship. There is a considerable and constant amount of rivalry with each other, academically. There's seriously NOTHING else they can do to keep themselves entertained but to fight with each other. They compete by playing word games...seeing who can best insult each other using the most obscure words. Hey, we all have to get our fun somewhere.
As much as they claim to hate each other, Eliot and Fiona know they can rely on each other. Fiona is fiercely protective of her brother.
An image of Eliot, beaten and bloodied, flashed through her imagination—and her only thought was to protect him.Eliot, in turn, knows to be there for his sister when she needs him most, even if she seemingly doesn't want him there.
She yanked the rope.
They have an unspoken YOU ARE SO GROSS I HATE YOU DON'T EVER TOUCH ME pact. A pact that is broken when they need each other most.
She grabbed Eliot’s hand.I absolutely adore a good sibling relationship, and they don't come any better than this book, but that's not to say the twins themselves aren't excellent characters, alone.
Normally this would have violated their brother-sister-never-touch-me agreement, which had been in place since they had been toilet trained. But tonight, Eliot let her.
Fiona:
She wanted to be Fiona Post … whatever that was … shy and awkward … scared … but herself.The older twin, the wiser, more cynical twin. The warrior to her brother's poetic soul. Fiona is awkward, unsure of herself, wishing, like most teenaged girls often do, that she could be stronger, more confident, more beautiful.
Fiona would have given anything to be as confident. Every time she had to talk to strangers, her heart pounded so hard she could barely hear her own mouse voice as it tried to squeak out something clever.Throughout the book, we see her bloom. From a shy, stammering girl afraid of everything to a warrior goddess who stands up to challenges, who is capable of killing when she needs to, who finds strength to stand up against the most powerful of temptations.
If shyness were a disease, Fiona would have been rushed to intensive care and put on a social respirator.
What I love about Fiona is that she is not perfect. That she is bitchy on occasion, but she has a tremendous amount of loyalty and love for her brother and her family. That is a main character I can stand behind.
Eliot:
“I’m here,” he whispered. “I’ll always be here for you.”The gentle, soft poet. The musician who doesn't know what he's capable of. He is more compassionate than Fiona, weaker than Fiona, but at the same time, stubborn and strong in his own way. He, too, grows from a spineless boy who's all-too-conscious of being smaller, weaker than his twin, into someone who finds strength and power in a skill he never knew he had.
Behind the door, Fiona quietly started to sob again.
Eliot didn’t let go.
This is one of my all-time favorite book. It is a long book, but I assure you, it's so worth the time investment.
August 11, 2009
In the tradition of American Gods, fifteen-year-old twins Eliot and Fiona find out that they are the mortal offspring of Lucifer and the goddess Fate. It takes them around 300 pages to discover this fact (which is far too late in a 600 page book, IMHO), and that is the point the novel finally takes off. They come into their powers and have to pass challenges set by both the heavenly and hellish members of their new "family" to determine which side they will eventually belong to. While the language is accessible, the descriptions of the modern gods and their machinations deliciously diabolical, and the fight scenes well choreographed, this book is VERY slow to start and will no doubt lose most readers in the first 200 pages because so the build is so sluggish. Also, the cover is about as ponderous as the pacing and does nothing to enhance the story within. Footnotes takes from a "fake" famous book of mythology that explain the people and places the twins are experiencing are fun, as is the character of the evil seductress goddess Sealiah who wiggles her voluptuous curves at every male who walks by, chews up the scenery and ruthlessly curses teenage girls who get in her way. I would have rather had a whole book about her than this bloated grown up version of The Lightning Thief.
September 18, 2014
I can be such an idiot.
I hate to write this, I really do, but I must. Mortal Coils is a book that I saw on the Barnes & Noble shelf every time I entered the store. I always visit the fantasy/science fiction section, and for at least a year I would see this book. I'd pick it up,(at 675 paperback pages, it had a nice heft to it, which I love in a book, know what I mean? Yeah, of course you do), read the back cover (sounded like quite a story), read the blurbs (Publishers Weekly and Library Journal praised it). I'd consider buying it, take it with me to the snack area and sit with it (with a pile of other books), think about it, then would ultimately...put it back.
Yeah. I would put it back. Know why?
You sure you want to know?
(Here's the part I hate to write, but I must in order to present a truly honest review of this fine novel)
I would put it back because...well, um,...because it looked like it was a...a...yeah, you guessed it. A young adult novel.
And I, C. Michael Lorion, do NOT read young adult books. After all, I am an adult.
Like I said, I can be SUCH an idiot.
I finally relented one day. I took Mortal Coils off the shelf, hefted it to the checkout counter, paid for it, went home, started reading it, and thought to myself...(yeah, you guessed it)..."You are SUCH an idiot, Lorion!"
Once I had devoured the first few chapters, I discovered one of two things, possibly both things: either this was not a YA adult novel, or I enjoy reading YA novels. Whichever the case, I found myself entranced with the story, in love with the characters, and completely taken by the descriptive force of Mr. Nylund's prose.
I don't know if Mortal Coils is classified as young adult (it's hardly got any swearing, no sex scenes that I remember, no gory violence), but that doesn't really matter. The story is incredible, no matter what category it falls into.
The storyline (not the plot, mind you) is rather straightforward: Eliot and Fiona are the children of a goddess and Lucifer. A custody battle ensues between the two families. To determine which side should gain control of the fifteen-year-old twins, three heroic tests are presented to them.
And that's it.
But, yet, that's not it. This story, in the hands of a lesser author, could easily fall into a cliche-ridden monster that would gobble up every nuance and character development it could. Not so here. Nylund does a fantastic job of creating suspense and tension through subtlety and sleight-of-hand. He writes characters in such a way that you're not completely sure who's right and who's wrong, who's good and who's evil. The characters, as do real people, have open and hidden motives, secrets to uncover, desires to conceal, jealousies, loves, and everything that makes people real.
The only that disappointed me with this book (which I did not find out until I was almost done reading it) is that it's the first in a series. I've read the second installment All That Lives Must Die, and it's just as good, if not better, than Mortal Coils. However, the series isn't finished yet, and if you visit Mr. Nylund's website, it's unclear when it will be finished as there seems to be some kind of dispute with his publisher, which totally rots for the rest of us because I WANT TO FINISH THIS SERIES!
So you are warned. If you read Mortal Coils and its sequel, All That Lives Must Die, you may be waiting for a long time for the end of the story.
However.
I highly recommend Mortal Coils as a standalone novel. It's that good, it's that complete in itself, and I don't think you'll regret reading it (as well as the second installment).
So there you have it.
I hate to write this, I really do, but I must. Mortal Coils is a book that I saw on the Barnes & Noble shelf every time I entered the store. I always visit the fantasy/science fiction section, and for at least a year I would see this book. I'd pick it up,(at 675 paperback pages, it had a nice heft to it, which I love in a book, know what I mean? Yeah, of course you do), read the back cover (sounded like quite a story), read the blurbs (Publishers Weekly and Library Journal praised it). I'd consider buying it, take it with me to the snack area and sit with it (with a pile of other books), think about it, then would ultimately...put it back.
Yeah. I would put it back. Know why?
You sure you want to know?
(Here's the part I hate to write, but I must in order to present a truly honest review of this fine novel)
I would put it back because...well, um,...because it looked like it was a...a...yeah, you guessed it. A young adult novel.
And I, C. Michael Lorion, do NOT read young adult books. After all, I am an adult.
Like I said, I can be SUCH an idiot.
I finally relented one day. I took Mortal Coils off the shelf, hefted it to the checkout counter, paid for it, went home, started reading it, and thought to myself...(yeah, you guessed it)..."You are SUCH an idiot, Lorion!"
Once I had devoured the first few chapters, I discovered one of two things, possibly both things: either this was not a YA adult novel, or I enjoy reading YA novels. Whichever the case, I found myself entranced with the story, in love with the characters, and completely taken by the descriptive force of Mr. Nylund's prose.
I don't know if Mortal Coils is classified as young adult (it's hardly got any swearing, no sex scenes that I remember, no gory violence), but that doesn't really matter. The story is incredible, no matter what category it falls into.
The storyline (not the plot, mind you) is rather straightforward: Eliot and Fiona are the children of a goddess and Lucifer. A custody battle ensues between the two families. To determine which side should gain control of the fifteen-year-old twins, three heroic tests are presented to them.
And that's it.
But, yet, that's not it. This story, in the hands of a lesser author, could easily fall into a cliche-ridden monster that would gobble up every nuance and character development it could. Not so here. Nylund does a fantastic job of creating suspense and tension through subtlety and sleight-of-hand. He writes characters in such a way that you're not completely sure who's right and who's wrong, who's good and who's evil. The characters, as do real people, have open and hidden motives, secrets to uncover, desires to conceal, jealousies, loves, and everything that makes people real.
The only that disappointed me with this book (which I did not find out until I was almost done reading it) is that it's the first in a series. I've read the second installment All That Lives Must Die, and it's just as good, if not better, than Mortal Coils. However, the series isn't finished yet, and if you visit Mr. Nylund's website, it's unclear when it will be finished as there seems to be some kind of dispute with his publisher, which totally rots for the rest of us because I WANT TO FINISH THIS SERIES!
So you are warned. If you read Mortal Coils and its sequel, All That Lives Must Die, you may be waiting for a long time for the end of the story.
However.
I highly recommend Mortal Coils as a standalone novel. It's that good, it's that complete in itself, and I don't think you'll regret reading it (as well as the second installment).
So there you have it.
July 23, 2014
I liked a lot the only book that I read by Mr. Nylund maybe 10 years or so ago, A Game of Universes and I always kept an eye on his offerings, but he wrote mostly tie-ins and some near-future sf/thrillers which I generally avoid, but Mortal Coils sounded tempting so I got a copy and I have to say that Mortal Coils was a big positive surprise, funny and smart and with great characters.
Despite it's 600+ page length, it is also a very fast novel so I finished it much sooner than I expected.
It could qualify as YA with two twin fifteen year old protagonists, the twins Fiona and Eliot whose parentage is not usual.
The elder by ten minutes, Fiona is the cool, composed leader and when her special characteristics start manifesting, it's not surprising they include martial abilities. Eliot is gentler and that is also manifested in his supernatural abilities.
The book flows so well that the pages turn by themselves and you really want the twins to succeed in their "trials" and find their place between the two clans of supernatural beings they belong to by blood. Of course they may be that "new" thing that both clans are scared of since after all the Gods destroyed their predecessors the Titans "some time" ago, or they may be just regular mortals, or...
Highly recommended and the next installments - five books planned, two contracted so far - should be even more fun.
Despite it's 600+ page length, it is also a very fast novel so I finished it much sooner than I expected.
It could qualify as YA with two twin fifteen year old protagonists, the twins Fiona and Eliot whose parentage is not usual.
The elder by ten minutes, Fiona is the cool, composed leader and when her special characteristics start manifesting, it's not surprising they include martial abilities. Eliot is gentler and that is also manifested in his supernatural abilities.
The book flows so well that the pages turn by themselves and you really want the twins to succeed in their "trials" and find their place between the two clans of supernatural beings they belong to by blood. Of course they may be that "new" thing that both clans are scared of since after all the Gods destroyed their predecessors the Titans "some time" ago, or they may be just regular mortals, or...
Highly recommended and the next installments - five books planned, two contracted so far - should be even more fun.
February 17, 2020
I have found that I do not like books about gods and goddesses !!! No more for me! This was the hardest book to read. I was bored out of my mind!
March 22, 2009
Fiona and Eliot Post are two orphans on the cusp of their fifteenth birthday. Living with their grandmother in a strangely strict regimen of rules, their lives are relatively dull and uninteresting. The myriad non fiction books (fictional books are forbidden!) provide much of the entertainment and life for these homeschooled twins, whose only outside outlet is their work in a nearby pizza parlor.
Their fifteenth birthday, however, coincides with the discovery of them by outside powers, and the discovery by them that their parents are scions of competing supernaturally powered families. Now at the center of a custody fight between gods and demons, set on trials by the gods and tempted by the demons, Fiona and Eliot soon realize just how protected and safe their previous, constricted existence really was.
Wow.
The novel reminded me of L Jagi Lamplighter's Prospero's Lost. It's clear that both novels have read, and been influenced by Roger Zelazny. The tone and the worlds created, though, are somewhat different and I think a good analogy is to think of another pair of writers, C.S. Lewis and JRR Tolkien. With her explictly Christian framework to the mythology of her supernatural modern day universe, Lamplighter's Prospero's Lost is the C.S. Lewis in this formulation. Nylund's novel, on the other hand, does not have that explicit framework. In fact, the novel seems to suggest that the appearances of supernatural beings throughout history have all been members of the various families depicted and hinted at in this book. In this way, its a more, for lack of a better work, pagan formulation than Lamplighter's.
Turning aside from the comparison, the novel itself is replete with all sorts of delights. The twins are well drawn and have a complicated sibling relationship which I found believable and a delight. I particularly liked the vocabulary/reference game that the two play. Only having had years of non fiction volumes to read for recreation, the twins are perfectly comfortable in making obscure references. For example, early in the novel, Fiona refers to Eliot being sick by asking if he has Nagleria fowleri(a type of amoeba contracted in water).
Another delight in the novel is the footnotes. While he doesn't pepper the text with the frequency of, say, Jack Vance, the novel's text and narrative is replete and enriched by the occasional footnote which makes observations from what seems to be the future of the events depicted. This further enriches and complicates the world and its narrative in a way that helps suggest that the world "continues" beyond the borders of its pages. The Playground of the Imagination, as Larry Niven calls it.
The characters themselves, beyond the Twins, on both sides of their relations, are a host that are complicated, complex and completely well drawn. Not all of the Gods could be considered good by even the most charitable reading of the text, and not all of the Infernals can be considered completely and irredeemably evil.
The novel is clearly and explicitly the first in a series, and I do hope that the novel sells well enough that Mr. Nylund has the opportunity to write and publish more of the books. I definitely will be looking forward to reading the subsequent volumes. As I implied before, people like me, who love Zelazny are going to cotton to this novel very well. (Hey, it has a character named *Fiona* who winds up having supernatural abilities. How can you say no to that?!). Nylund, thankfully, has had his time in the wilderness of media-tie-in novels not go to waste. The writing is engaging, inventive and enthralling.
Highly Recommended.
Their fifteenth birthday, however, coincides with the discovery of them by outside powers, and the discovery by them that their parents are scions of competing supernaturally powered families. Now at the center of a custody fight between gods and demons, set on trials by the gods and tempted by the demons, Fiona and Eliot soon realize just how protected and safe their previous, constricted existence really was.
Wow.
The novel reminded me of L Jagi Lamplighter's Prospero's Lost. It's clear that both novels have read, and been influenced by Roger Zelazny. The tone and the worlds created, though, are somewhat different and I think a good analogy is to think of another pair of writers, C.S. Lewis and JRR Tolkien. With her explictly Christian framework to the mythology of her supernatural modern day universe, Lamplighter's Prospero's Lost is the C.S. Lewis in this formulation. Nylund's novel, on the other hand, does not have that explicit framework. In fact, the novel seems to suggest that the appearances of supernatural beings throughout history have all been members of the various families depicted and hinted at in this book. In this way, its a more, for lack of a better work, pagan formulation than Lamplighter's.
Turning aside from the comparison, the novel itself is replete with all sorts of delights. The twins are well drawn and have a complicated sibling relationship which I found believable and a delight. I particularly liked the vocabulary/reference game that the two play. Only having had years of non fiction volumes to read for recreation, the twins are perfectly comfortable in making obscure references. For example, early in the novel, Fiona refers to Eliot being sick by asking if he has Nagleria fowleri(a type of amoeba contracted in water).
Another delight in the novel is the footnotes. While he doesn't pepper the text with the frequency of, say, Jack Vance, the novel's text and narrative is replete and enriched by the occasional footnote which makes observations from what seems to be the future of the events depicted. This further enriches and complicates the world and its narrative in a way that helps suggest that the world "continues" beyond the borders of its pages. The Playground of the Imagination, as Larry Niven calls it.
The characters themselves, beyond the Twins, on both sides of their relations, are a host that are complicated, complex and completely well drawn. Not all of the Gods could be considered good by even the most charitable reading of the text, and not all of the Infernals can be considered completely and irredeemably evil.
The novel is clearly and explicitly the first in a series, and I do hope that the novel sells well enough that Mr. Nylund has the opportunity to write and publish more of the books. I definitely will be looking forward to reading the subsequent volumes. As I implied before, people like me, who love Zelazny are going to cotton to this novel very well. (Hey, it has a character named *Fiona* who winds up having supernatural abilities. How can you say no to that?!). Nylund, thankfully, has had his time in the wilderness of media-tie-in novels not go to waste. The writing is engaging, inventive and enthralling.
Highly Recommended.
September 16, 2010
I read this in one enormous gulp, and was left feeling vaguely dissatisfied. There were many things I really enjoyed about it, but it wasn't nearly as good as it could have been & that's always frustrating.
The premise is entertaining: Eliot and Fiona are twins, they've been raised in a bizarrely restricted household by their hyper-rational grandmother and their loving but frail and rather ditzy great-grandmother. When they turn 15 they find out that everything they thought they knew was wrong... but as other readers have commented, they find out Very Slowly. This didn't bother me in the moment because I was expecting some serious emotional payoff -- massive transformations, deep psychological work, etc etc -- which would have made sense out of the slow pacing. Alas, no such luck; it's the beginning of a series and so while the characters do develop, they do so in a frustratingly realistic manner, coming to new self-knowledge and competency only to immediately let go of it again. (A good example of this is Fiona's back-and-forth about the chocolates, that goes On and On and On. Quite realistic, but I was so disappointed by it!)
Also, Nylund's prose is perfectly adequate but never rises above that, even when it really needs to. I was particularly unhappy with the footnotes, which are all written in a very contemporary voice even when they purport to be from the 1950s or the 13th century. Nylund seems to be lacking the skill to do the sort of pastiche necessary to make that kind of layering work. By the same token, all of his characters tended to sound largely the same; he managed little quirks, but nothing that made me feel like the Really Old characters were actually really old.
All that being said, I did devour the book in under 24 hours, and I'll read the next one, too. Nylund was good at making me care about his young people, and good at keeping me turning the pages, and that in itself is a pleasure, even if the experience feels hollow at the end. And who knows? Maybe the next one will be more substantial.
The premise is entertaining: Eliot and Fiona are twins, they've been raised in a bizarrely restricted household by their hyper-rational grandmother and their loving but frail and rather ditzy great-grandmother. When they turn 15 they find out that everything they thought they knew was wrong... but as other readers have commented, they find out Very Slowly. This didn't bother me in the moment because I was expecting some serious emotional payoff -- massive transformations, deep psychological work, etc etc -- which would have made sense out of the slow pacing. Alas, no such luck; it's the beginning of a series and so while the characters do develop, they do so in a frustratingly realistic manner, coming to new self-knowledge and competency only to immediately let go of it again. (A good example of this is Fiona's back-and-forth about the chocolates, that goes On and On and On. Quite realistic, but I was so disappointed by it!)
Also, Nylund's prose is perfectly adequate but never rises above that, even when it really needs to. I was particularly unhappy with the footnotes, which are all written in a very contemporary voice even when they purport to be from the 1950s or the 13th century. Nylund seems to be lacking the skill to do the sort of pastiche necessary to make that kind of layering work. By the same token, all of his characters tended to sound largely the same; he managed little quirks, but nothing that made me feel like the Really Old characters were actually really old.
All that being said, I did devour the book in under 24 hours, and I'll read the next one, too. Nylund was good at making me care about his young people, and good at keeping me turning the pages, and that in itself is a pleasure, even if the experience feels hollow at the end. And who knows? Maybe the next one will be more substantial.
July 28, 2017
*2017 book challenge- book named after a song: https://youtu.be/HFWKJ2FUiAQ* (cheated a bit, it's the name of a band, not the song)
I really don't understand how this book isn't more popular. It's an absolute gem! Nylund is a superb writer. I mean, the world building, the interesting plot- you won't be able to put this one down.
If you still have doubts, I'll just say that there are footnotes with completely made up, yet world legit-sounding sources. That's how complex and well thought out this book is. Freaking awesome.
I really don't understand how this book isn't more popular. It's an absolute gem! Nylund is a superb writer. I mean, the world building, the interesting plot- you won't be able to put this one down.
If you still have doubts, I'll just say that there are footnotes with completely made up, yet world legit-sounding sources. That's how complex and well thought out this book is. Freaking awesome.
January 22, 2024
Great book! Hope he makes the third!!
July 21, 2025
2.5
czytałem to ponad rok i myślę, że ten fakt mówi sam za siebie
czytałem to ponad rok i myślę, że ten fakt mówi sam za siebie
July 5, 2012
Mortal Coils may not be the best book I've ever read, but it's the best *kind* of book: one that starts small and grows more and more complex and exciting until you can't put it down for the last third of its length.
It's like that.
The problem I had with Mortal Coils is that it starts a little too slowly. Its premise is intriguing, but it takes almost 200 pages for the book to get really interesting, and then probably another 50 for it to get GOOD. But from that moment on, it's unputdownable.
(I just want to take a moment to note that, according to my spell-checker, "unputdownable" is an actual word, and that is awesome)
Eric Nylund is a master of high-stakes storytelling, but this is the first time I've seen him build his own world -- and what a world it is. This effort, unfortunately, is what makes the first third of the book so slow. He has a lot of characters to introduce, and none of them is particularly relatable at first. Even the main protagonists. They may be introverted 15 year olds, but they've been raised in such a bizarrely dispassionate and repressive environment that I couldn't connect with either their behavior or their thought processes.
It's all necessary, though. This is the story Nylund is telling. And while it may be distant or slow-going in parts, that's just because nobody has ever been through what the twins have been through, or what they're about to go through, before. What's ironic is that as the story goes on and Elliot and Fiona start going through their trials, the extreme emotions that come out of them make them much more relatable and sympathetic, because it's tapping into the human emotion we all feel. While being tested for godhood, the twins become more human. I liked that.
And the tests are really where the story takes off. It may take 200 pages for the pieces to all be put in place, but once the first moment of peril is reached, it's like a snowball rolling downhill. It's like Nylund spends almost a book's length proving to himself that he can worldbuild with the best of them, and only then does he allow himself to do what he does best: thrill us.
The lead-in may be long, the characterizations flawed, but the result is an investment in the world and all the characters that makes the amazing payoffs all the more satisfying, and to his credit, Nylund doesn't put a single detail in this story that isn't recalled in a meaningful way by the end.
The one actual flaw may be the handling of both twins' love lives, which seemed more like the writer was going through the motions rather than actually feeling out the romances the way he feels out everything else in the story. Even that was forgivable and got a little better by the end.
I'd highly recommend this book for anyone who is a fan of the supernatural, the mythical, the adventurous and the contemporarily fantastical. It may be a challenge, but the rewards are worth it.
It's like that.
The problem I had with Mortal Coils is that it starts a little too slowly. Its premise is intriguing, but it takes almost 200 pages for the book to get really interesting, and then probably another 50 for it to get GOOD. But from that moment on, it's unputdownable.
(I just want to take a moment to note that, according to my spell-checker, "unputdownable" is an actual word, and that is awesome)
Eric Nylund is a master of high-stakes storytelling, but this is the first time I've seen him build his own world -- and what a world it is. This effort, unfortunately, is what makes the first third of the book so slow. He has a lot of characters to introduce, and none of them is particularly relatable at first. Even the main protagonists. They may be introverted 15 year olds, but they've been raised in such a bizarrely dispassionate and repressive environment that I couldn't connect with either their behavior or their thought processes.
It's all necessary, though. This is the story Nylund is telling. And while it may be distant or slow-going in parts, that's just because nobody has ever been through what the twins have been through, or what they're about to go through, before. What's ironic is that as the story goes on and Elliot and Fiona start going through their trials, the extreme emotions that come out of them make them much more relatable and sympathetic, because it's tapping into the human emotion we all feel. While being tested for godhood, the twins become more human. I liked that.
And the tests are really where the story takes off. It may take 200 pages for the pieces to all be put in place, but once the first moment of peril is reached, it's like a snowball rolling downhill. It's like Nylund spends almost a book's length proving to himself that he can worldbuild with the best of them, and only then does he allow himself to do what he does best: thrill us.
The lead-in may be long, the characterizations flawed, but the result is an investment in the world and all the characters that makes the amazing payoffs all the more satisfying, and to his credit, Nylund doesn't put a single detail in this story that isn't recalled in a meaningful way by the end.
The one actual flaw may be the handling of both twins' love lives, which seemed more like the writer was going through the motions rather than actually feeling out the romances the way he feels out everything else in the story. Even that was forgivable and got a little better by the end.
I'd highly recommend this book for anyone who is a fan of the supernatural, the mythical, the adventurous and the contemporarily fantastical. It may be a challenge, but the rewards are worth it.
April 5, 2010
I've been a fan of the subgenre of fantasy, urban-fantasy, for a long time. However, in recent years I've been dismayed with the changing currents of the urban-fantasy world, where every monster is beautiful, and thinly veiled romance novels run abound next to Charles Lint and Neil Gaimen novels. I'm a romantic, but the stilted dialogue and writing styles of recent urban-fantasy novels leaves a lot to be desired. But I can't really complain. As long as people are reading, and more and more urban fantasy gets turned into tv shows, hey, that's always a positive.
Mortal Coils falls into the type of urban-fantasy novels I like, where ordinary people are set upon with extraordinary circumstances, as greater forces fight over their destiny and every city has its own unique smell and life. Just good vs. evil with very (if any) romance. The book is a tad long, and it felt like I was watching the last Lord of the Rings movie, with endings on endings. Still, the writing is crisp, the story moves incredibly fast for a 700 page novel, and the characters are all likable, although the two main twins whining can be a bit tiresome, but I guess that's what it means to be a kid. However, it's because of the two main characters and all of their whining that I consider this more a YA novel, then a regular urban-fantasy novel.
Author Eric Nylund is best known for his novels in the Halo video game universe, but for me, Mortal Coils has made me stand up and take notice of him. A 3.5 starred read. I look forward to the forthcoming sequel this June.
Mortal Coils falls into the type of urban-fantasy novels I like, where ordinary people are set upon with extraordinary circumstances, as greater forces fight over their destiny and every city has its own unique smell and life. Just good vs. evil with very (if any) romance. The book is a tad long, and it felt like I was watching the last Lord of the Rings movie, with endings on endings. Still, the writing is crisp, the story moves incredibly fast for a 700 page novel, and the characters are all likable, although the two main twins whining can be a bit tiresome, but I guess that's what it means to be a kid. However, it's because of the two main characters and all of their whining that I consider this more a YA novel, then a regular urban-fantasy novel.
Author Eric Nylund is best known for his novels in the Halo video game universe, but for me, Mortal Coils has made me stand up and take notice of him. A 3.5 starred read. I look forward to the forthcoming sequel this June.
July 28, 2011
Twins Fiona and Elliot lead a boring life with their grandmother and great-grandmother. Grandmother has developed 106 rules the twins must abide by including no music (not even humming), no fiction stories, no dancing, no dating; in other words, none of the things that most teenagers live for. Their only break from their routine is their jobs at a pizzeria although even this is not much different than home. Then, on their fifteen birthday, the twins discover that they are the offspring of a goddess and Lucifer, Prince of Darkness and a custody battle is about to ensue between their mother's family and their father's. For their mother's side they must pass three heroic quests while the fallen angels on their father's side have three temptations for them. Unfortunately, all of grandmother's restrictions haven't exactly prepared them to deal with all the dangers that are being thrown at them including urban legends, serial killers, and possibly the most scary of all, a first kiss.
There is a whole lot going on in this book: gods and goddesses, the fates, fallen angels, talking animals, and urban legends and in a less capable hand, this could become very confusing. But Eric Nylund is very capable and Mortal Coils is a terrific read. And perhaps the best part of this book are the twins themselves. These are two of the most likable characters I have come across in a long time and it is impossible not to root for them.
So definitely a huge recommendation from me for Mortal Coils.
There is a whole lot going on in this book: gods and goddesses, the fates, fallen angels, talking animals, and urban legends and in a less capable hand, this could become very confusing. But Eric Nylund is very capable and Mortal Coils is a terrific read. And perhaps the best part of this book are the twins themselves. These are two of the most likable characters I have come across in a long time and it is impossible not to root for them.
So definitely a huge recommendation from me for Mortal Coils.
July 10, 2012
Kind of the step between the Percy Jackson series and the Preacher comics, except dull. This was a fun idea, poorly executed. It might be better as a movie because then the actors could make us care about thee characters. As is, there just isn't an interesting person in the book... I hoped I'd care, but I didn't. I gave it more than one star because the author used footnotes as a device to attempt to give the book the feeling of an historical biography. That was more interesting than the story... I found myself skimming the pages and just reading footnotes for a hundred pages or so.
I won't be bothering with the next in the series.
I won't be bothering with the next in the series.
February 9, 2012
The premise sounded promising and I gave this one a pretty good go, getting over 200 pages into it. But by that point I was completely bored. I didn't experience any real suspense. And when I got to the scene with all the rats, I thought things were looking up. But the denouement of that scene was anti-climactic and that sort of clinched my decision to abandon this book about 1/3 read. I realize this is a YA book, although it wasn't classified as such where I bought it. Even so, I'm no stranger to reading YA as an adult. But this obviously didn't grab me.
July 6, 2009
This is one of those books that just clicks. The prose is excellent, pacing is just tight enough to create tension without feeling rushed, and characters are given good voices. The blend of mythology is superbly done, and the details bring it to life.
June 6, 2017
I don't get all the rave reviews on this one. It's at least 200 pages too long & to me, got worse as it went on. I barely skimmed the last 25 pages because I just did not care anymore. And it was also no surprise who the mother turned out to be.
August 8, 2018
Two twin siblings, Fiona and Elliot, brought up and home schooled in a small town in California, discover that there's a reason their grandmother has kept them isolated all their lives. Their paternal and maternal family lines discover their covert existence; all very mysterious, until one discovers that they are rival magical families who decide it is very important to make the twins choose which family they "really" belong to.
There's a lot to like in this. Being the story of 15-year-olds who discover they're very special after all, and their bookish learning can pay off in tangible power, this is an ideal YA book. But it's a lot more mature than, say, the Percy Jackson series (which is an obvious comparison point). There's also a distinct patina of gray over everybody (even their parents turn out to have somewhat compromised feelings, balancing their positions and abilities with protective feelings towards each other and their children).
I re-read this recently because it stuck with me; sadly I discovered there is a dispute going on between the author and the publisher; this means that the first two books (of a planned five) are the only ones that are likely to ever see the light of day.
There's a lot to like in this. Being the story of 15-year-olds who discover they're very special after all, and their bookish learning can pay off in tangible power, this is an ideal YA book. But it's a lot more mature than, say, the Percy Jackson series (which is an obvious comparison point). There's also a distinct patina of gray over everybody (even their parents turn out to have somewhat compromised feelings, balancing their positions and abilities with protective feelings towards each other and their children).
I re-read this recently because it stuck with me; sadly I discovered there is a dispute going on between the author and the publisher; this means that the first two books (of a planned five) are the only ones that are likely to ever see the light of day.
October 21, 2018
3.5 stars to be exact. I liked the concept of this book. Anything similar to American Gods or Gods Behaving Badly is going to hook me immediately. It was also still unique enough to keep me interested. For one thing the main characters are 15 year old twins who don't even know they're gods. I liked all the side characters too, they were extremely complex and well written. Although I did feel at times there may have been too many characters as I had a hard time keeping track. This book was also really long. At some points I felt like too much info was given, and others not enough. It took me a long time to read and I had to push through at a few points. The ending was relatively satisfying, but also left me with a lot of questions. Given how long and detailed it was, a lot of those questions could have been answered. Alas we can't win them all. I have flagged the sequel as to read, and I intend to get around to it eventually. I'm curious to see what happens to the Post twins next.
January 10, 2021
If I were a few years younger I feel like I would have enjoyed this book a lot more. While the concepts, plots, and conflicts were strong, I had an extremely difficult time connecting with the characters. The talents of each twin were unique and it was interesting seeing how their individual differences paired with each other while in perilous situations, however, I felt the love interests to be a little unnecessary. I found that I enjoyed the book most when the twins were in the middle of a life-or-death trial or when the perspective flipped to focus on secondary characters. The in-between parts seemed to slow the plot down a decent amount. This book seems to me like a step up from The Lightning Thief in complexity and general maturity. Overall, I would recommend this novel to a younger reader who might connect more with the characters while getting lost in a mythical story that takes place in our world.
April 13, 2021
Didn't think I'd like it, but I did. Two teenagers live an incredibly restricted life with their grandmother and great-grandmother. Their lives are bound by the Rules (at least 106 of them). They live surrounded by books, no phones, TV, or computers. On their 15th birthday, their lives change irrevocably when they discover they are related to two families of Immortals, the Infernals and the
League (the bad guys and the less bad guys). Each family imposes three challenges to Fiona and Eliot; the results of the challenges will determine which family has the most claim to them. Lots of adventure, as should be expected when your dad is Lucifer. There is a second book in the series when Eliot and Fiona get sent to a Hogwarts sort of school. Fun!
League (the bad guys and the less bad guys). Each family imposes three challenges to Fiona and Eliot; the results of the challenges will determine which family has the most claim to them. Lots of adventure, as should be expected when your dad is Lucifer. There is a second book in the series when Eliot and Fiona get sent to a Hogwarts sort of school. Fun!
August 25, 2023
I really don't know why this book is not more well known. In fact, I don't know why this was not optioned for TV...it seems such an obvious choice. Specially if you are a fan of American Gods or such books.
Solid 4 stars and cannot wait to read the second installment.
Nylund shows you his world instead of telling or being info dumpey and the gimmicks employed as way of clarification to the main plot are endearing.
All of the characters are either morally ambiguous or straight up monstrous. The heros are flawed, the immortals are awfull as they should be and meanwhile you cannot help but to want to see where it all will lead in the end.
I consider Eric Nylund one of the best finds of the year where fantasy is concerned.
Solid 4 stars and cannot wait to read the second installment.
Nylund shows you his world instead of telling or being info dumpey and the gimmicks employed as way of clarification to the main plot are endearing.
All of the characters are either morally ambiguous or straight up monstrous. The heros are flawed, the immortals are awfull as they should be and meanwhile you cannot help but to want to see where it all will lead in the end.
I consider Eric Nylund one of the best finds of the year where fantasy is concerned.
November 24, 2015
'Mortal Coils' is a bit of melody Eliot picks up from 'Louis Piper' p 203. So? I don't like anybody much. For most of book, Dad is "Pied Piper of Hamelin" p 196 to me, tale illustrated later in manuscript "pristine work of a monk" p 196 "Mythica Improbiba" p 197.
Mum is obvious. Not her vicious hatreds, of succumbing to male, of messenger bringing unwanted news. She acts thoughtless, childish, careless.
Welmann "black-coffee guy" p 63, "closest thing he'd [Robert] had to a father" p 48, is caring, good guy. Rob is keen on Fiona and vice versa. Is young love excuse for Rob to recover from grief so fast?
"Birthday" Section 1. "Two Little Nobodies" Ch 1. With such intriguing titles, I would prefer Table of Contents up front. I soon ignore confusing footnotes that foresee home destroyed, major events. Ick for predestination, ordained by (divine) Fate.
Author mixes myths, names, of divinities, invents designations, I promptly and permanently forget. Premise, style, Welmann - I like. Generally people may have some redeeming traits, but I don't have to like them, and don't.
"Eliot Post and his sister, Fiona, would be fifteen tomorrow and nothing interesting had ever happened to them" p 13. No parents, "no pictures" p 35. The elders isolate teens from peers and mundane world, constrain their activities.
'Grandmother' does home schooling, tapes up Rules: "Rule 89 .. no shampoo", music, technology, "Rule 55: .. fantasy" p 34, "Rule 11 .. artistic methods", not much of anything. Cee Cecelia great-gran "her sense of smell and taste had dried up some time around the Second World War" p 53 concocts lye cleansers, herbal remedies, inedible treats, sews costumes too strange to be clothing. "Not interesting"?
Do unexpected progeny mean "the end of the long truce between the clans" p 209, open break of "truce between his people and ours" p 45? Rather than kill the pair outright, Immortals design three heroic Trials along classic lines. I give up trying to connect their times and ours.
Similarly, Infernals offer three Temptations. Boy and girl are sent to distract targets. Fiona gets addicted to a bottomless box of incomparably fine chocolates, spiked by 'Sealiah, Queen of the Poppies' p 132.
"She threw the dice .. Destiny was writ" p 138. I can't remember spellings, let alone 'Abby, the Destroyer' who I connect to India's Shiva, or sort out whether choices override detestable Fate. Eating only drugged sweets for days, Fiona gets dangerously dehydrated and malnourished.
"The two families were like the Capulets and the Montagues" p 140 parents. Big revelation. Bah.
Does Cee hold soft feelings Audrey forgoes to be strongest possible protector? Reminds me of how unhappy true orphan Harry Potter https://www.goodreads.com/series/4517... was. Why don't guardians see?
Cee's "vaporous spider" p 209 from teacup divination reminds me of Harry Potter's Prisoner of Azkaban, where Sybill Potter in deep voice predicts 'Death'. Is sequel worth finding out?
"You will learn that musical instruments are not the only things that can be played .. You will be stronger than I am when you grow up" p 203. Louis gives Eliot violin. Eliot instantly plays any instrument or tune. Unbelievable tricks, poof, interrupt more than ease action along.
Fiona "supposed to [kill].. would not take a life without a better reason" p 233. They need to vanquish trope giant crocodile beast in sewer for Trial 2. Heroes are warm-hearted, do not kill; villains kill everyone in the way. Which are the twins? Hint: remember the lion with the thorn in his paw? Croc could make fine comeback?
First trial is "crazy guy in a carnival", third is precious apple in Area 51 "hundreds of guards with guns on a military base" p 429 US Army. I get confused by mish-mash where book actions are forced into myth outlines. There are too many threads for me, now and left dangling.
"It felt good" p 512 Eliot throws strange red dice to decide "even .. Fiona first .. odd .. help Louis .. forever changed Eliot's world" p 513. That's how the plot goes. Arbitrary seeming hops I do not like.
I like how youngsters outwit adults. Or do they? Some grownups (from both sides?) sneak in artifacts, aid, harm? 'Board' is 'League'? or is it? or do I care? I haven't decided whether to continue this exercise in cleverness (I mean that in a good way).
Hard to rate. Usually I like people who live throughout, retain questions I want answers for. Louis and fine collection of eccentricities are unforgettable highlights of reaching the end.
Mum is obvious. Not her vicious hatreds, of succumbing to male, of messenger bringing unwanted news. She acts thoughtless, childish, careless.
Welmann "black-coffee guy" p 63, "closest thing he'd [Robert] had to a father" p 48, is caring, good guy. Rob is keen on Fiona and vice versa. Is young love excuse for Rob to recover from grief so fast?
"Birthday" Section 1. "Two Little Nobodies" Ch 1. With such intriguing titles, I would prefer Table of Contents up front. I soon ignore confusing footnotes that foresee home destroyed, major events. Ick for predestination, ordained by (divine) Fate.
Author mixes myths, names, of divinities, invents designations, I promptly and permanently forget. Premise, style, Welmann - I like. Generally people may have some redeeming traits, but I don't have to like them, and don't.
"Eliot Post and his sister, Fiona, would be fifteen tomorrow and nothing interesting had ever happened to them" p 13. No parents, "no pictures" p 35. The elders isolate teens from peers and mundane world, constrain their activities.
'Grandmother' does home schooling, tapes up Rules: "Rule 89 .. no shampoo", music, technology, "Rule 55: .. fantasy" p 34, "Rule 11 .. artistic methods", not much of anything. Cee Cecelia great-gran "her sense of smell and taste had dried up some time around the Second World War" p 53 concocts lye cleansers, herbal remedies, inedible treats, sews costumes too strange to be clothing. "Not interesting"?
Do unexpected progeny mean "the end of the long truce between the clans" p 209, open break of "truce between his people and ours" p 45? Rather than kill the pair outright, Immortals design three heroic Trials along classic lines. I give up trying to connect their times and ours.
Similarly, Infernals offer three Temptations. Boy and girl are sent to distract targets. Fiona gets addicted to a bottomless box of incomparably fine chocolates, spiked by 'Sealiah, Queen of the Poppies' p 132.
"She threw the dice .. Destiny was writ" p 138. I can't remember spellings, let alone 'Abby, the Destroyer' who I connect to India's Shiva, or sort out whether choices override detestable Fate. Eating only drugged sweets for days, Fiona gets dangerously dehydrated and malnourished.
"The two families were like the Capulets and the Montagues" p 140 parents. Big revelation. Bah.
Does Cee hold soft feelings Audrey forgoes to be strongest possible protector? Reminds me of how unhappy true orphan Harry Potter https://www.goodreads.com/series/4517... was. Why don't guardians see?
Cee's "vaporous spider" p 209 from teacup divination reminds me of Harry Potter's Prisoner of Azkaban, where Sybill Potter in deep voice predicts 'Death'. Is sequel worth finding out?
"You will learn that musical instruments are not the only things that can be played .. You will be stronger than I am when you grow up" p 203. Louis gives Eliot violin. Eliot instantly plays any instrument or tune. Unbelievable tricks, poof, interrupt more than ease action along.
Fiona "supposed to [kill].. would not take a life without a better reason" p 233. They need to vanquish trope giant crocodile beast in sewer for Trial 2. Heroes are warm-hearted, do not kill; villains kill everyone in the way. Which are the twins? Hint: remember the lion with the thorn in his paw? Croc could make fine comeback?
First trial is "crazy guy in a carnival", third is precious apple in Area 51 "hundreds of guards with guns on a military base" p 429 US Army. I get confused by mish-mash where book actions are forced into myth outlines. There are too many threads for me, now and left dangling.
"It felt good" p 512 Eliot throws strange red dice to decide "even .. Fiona first .. odd .. help Louis .. forever changed Eliot's world" p 513. That's how the plot goes. Arbitrary seeming hops I do not like.
I like how youngsters outwit adults. Or do they? Some grownups (from both sides?) sneak in artifacts, aid, harm? 'Board' is 'League'? or is it? or do I care? I haven't decided whether to continue this exercise in cleverness (I mean that in a good way).
Hard to rate. Usually I like people who live throughout, retain questions I want answers for. Louis and fine collection of eccentricities are unforgettable highlights of reaching the end.
July 7, 2020
I really love the concept of this, and I enjoyed the main characters, particularly Fiona. Unfortunately, there were too many subplots going at once and it left me feeling like I was struggling to keep up. The pace also dragged a bit toward the middle of the book, which put me off being all that interested in continuing with the series.
June 29, 2025
This was a really fun book! I really really enjoyed this book a lot, it’s also possible that I had a greater sense of enjoyment with this book cause I started reading it after I DNF’d my first book. I liked the characters in the book and the mystery of the parental linage of the kids. Overall I really enjoyed the story line, abilities, characters, and ambiance of the book
August 22, 2018
I love it when close familial bonds actually exist in a book, never mind being crucial to survival. I want to hug, shake, strangle and kiss the characters in this book and it's always great when your protagonists actually make you care about them. Very well written, engaging book.
July 17, 2020
This book was an interesting take on a concept I feel is so popular right now. There was nothing wrong about it (except the ending was a bit 🙄 but I suppose with the sequel it makes sense). I think if I hadn't have read a lot of this genre in a row, I would have enjoyed it more.
January 27, 2023
This book had a lot of potential but ended with a lot of plot holes. It seemed to hint at another book but left me feeling like much was not resolved and explained about main plot points or characters.
March 17, 2017
Incredible. Elliot and Fiona make a great duo, and this author's pros are extremely evocative. Great read.
June 22, 2018
Excellent read.
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