The 1920s setting is very interesting, because we see how much the war had changed people and society, and there is a great parallel between this and Spectred Isle. There was the same theme of "the War was wholesale murder of a generation, and our own leaders were the ones who sold us out." It wasn't a coincidence that there were a lot of anti-establishment/revolutionary sentiments going around (some more extreme than others).
And Will who was just a normal 18-year old country boy a few years ago is now an experienced killer -- not just an ordinary soldier, but in fact a kind of assassin. And then he returns home and feels totally overwhelmed by a bookshop. So when the thugs turn up and start making trouble, he's not nearly as intimidated as they think he's going to be. And at the same time he's not a psychopath - he doesn't *like* to hurt people, he's just good at it. (I love his interactions with Kim where he makes it clear that he has no interest in doing something that they don't both enjoy; that he in fact prefers it when that's the case.)
Kim is... ah, poor man, a really damaged person. So charming and competent and calculating and vulnerable and so utterly unreliable. Except when he isn't. And then he is again. I think Kim has probably a lot of character development coming in the next two books.
I was a bit worried about it being the first in a trilogy and just a HFN, but I liked the end a lot. It wasn't a cliffhanger or a contrived conflict, but a genuinely hopeful "Let's see how this goes". Will is really a forgiving kind of person, isn't he? I mean, yes, Kim did rescue him, but even before then Will had already kind of failed at hating Kim, however much he wanted to.
The virus mcguffin, though! Poor KJ! That must have been terrible, to write a book about an engineered virus that would turn into a pandemic if released, and then have the real world erupt in a pandemic shortly before the book release. I mean, what are the odds?
I have more to say, but it's late where I live and I'll leave the field to others.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2020-05-21 11:15 pm (UTC)And Will who was just a normal 18-year old country boy a few years ago is now an experienced killer -- not just an ordinary soldier, but in fact a kind of assassin. And then he returns home and feels totally overwhelmed by a bookshop. So when the thugs turn up and start making trouble, he's not nearly as intimidated as they think he's going to be. And at the same time he's not a psychopath - he doesn't *like* to hurt people, he's just good at it. (I love his interactions with Kim where he makes it clear that he has no interest in doing something that they don't both enjoy; that he in fact prefers it when that's the case.)
Kim is... ah, poor man, a really damaged person. So charming and competent and calculating and vulnerable and so utterly unreliable. Except when he isn't. And then he is again. I think Kim has probably a lot of character development coming in the next two books.
I was a bit worried about it being the first in a trilogy and just a HFN, but I liked the end a lot. It wasn't a cliffhanger or a contrived conflict, but a genuinely hopeful "Let's see how this goes". Will is really a forgiving kind of person, isn't he? I mean, yes, Kim did rescue him, but even before then Will had already kind of failed at hating Kim, however much he wanted to.
The virus mcguffin, though! Poor KJ! That must have been terrible, to write a book about an engineered virus that would turn into a pandemic if released, and then have the real world erupt in a pandemic shortly before the book release. I mean, what are the odds?
I have more to say, but it's late where I live and I'll leave the field to others.