MadgeWhitlin

I have conflicting feelings about this, now that I've finished it. It took me a long time to really get immersed in the story (which isn't unusual for me when I'm starting a new series, but I felt like it took a little longer than normal with this one for some reason), then I spent about 35% really enjoying it, and then I was kind of let down by the last few pages.

I might be too tired to articulate my thoughts right now in any detail, but I'm going to try.

I really liked the world Lia Cooper created, with supernatural beings being known by normals. I just generally enjoy that more than the hidden, secretive thing or some reason. I think I like the way things work (definitely for the weres), but I don't think I learned enough in this one to be certain. The magic system seems really interesting, though, and I'd like to know more about the other supernatural beings in this world.

Ethan and Patrick were pretty good characters, but I didn't love either of them. I liked them both, mostly, but they could be petulant and kind of stupid (or willfully ignorant, I'm not sure which). I think I liked Ethan a little more, probably because I generally like the magic-user character(s) the most in urban fantasies. I just didn't feel like there was much character growth. Both of them seemed to be making progress, but then at the end...I'm not sure.

The writing itself was good, and I was a little surprised to find out this was Lia Cooper's debut novel. It could use one more quick edit (there were a few misspellings/misused words, a couple of words and phrases doubled in a sentence, and a few instances of a word missing from a sentence, I think), but it wasn't bad.

I might not continue the series, but I'm not sure yet. I do want to know what else happens because there were loose ends I want to see tied up. I also want to know more about this world, now that I'm familiar with it and will hopefully be less confused with the next book. (I found myself re-reading a few parts to try to figure things out, and I think I mostly did, but I still have some questions.)