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iariaHardcore Twenty-Four by Janet Evanovich
Eh. It was okay.
+ She still has a fun breezy writing style I like but I think I may be coming to the end of my interest in the series. The fact that after 24 books nothing has really changed is annoying. Stephanie hasn’t gotten significantly more competent, she’s still torn between Morelli and Ranger with no forward movement with either, all the characters are the same. I like them but – eh.
Also I didn’t care for Diesel’s inclusion which didn’t help. His presence didn’t really add anything to the story and I think I prefer Diesel’s slightly more magical reality to stay in his own books/the novella’s instead of the main series. It doesn’t really fit? I also just like Diesel more in his own series, here he left me mostly cold. I also didn’t care for his high-handedness with Stephanie, her lusting over him or their ‘deal’. If he’s going to show up again and be added as another love interest… I think that might be it for me.
Decrypted by Lindsay Buroker
I enjoyed it.
+ I guessed the truth about the dark history of the Kyatt Islands as soon as they found the cave of skeletons and the skull with the arrowhead; although I had figured right from the beginning that it was something like that though I thought it would be that Kyattese ancestors had killed the natives.
+ I liked the submarine and the inclusion of Mee Nar in their final adventure.
+ I liked that Iweue was unexpectedly on their side and her collection of Admiral Starcrest books.
+ I wish the book had done something more with Elloil and maybe Aeli. I was expecting one or both to help with solving the mystery but then they stayed as background characters. I was annoyed by how Aeli was used. That we had Tikaya slut-shaming her (in her head) and then she wasn’t forced to reconsider.
+ I thought Tikaya handled a couple situations much more calmly than I would have. When she thought her father had had a part in killing/attempting to kill Rias and then later when Rias wouldn’t let her see what was in the chest.
Eh. It was okay.
+ She still has a fun breezy writing style I like but I think I may be coming to the end of my interest in the series. The fact that after 24 books nothing has really changed is annoying. Stephanie hasn’t gotten significantly more competent, she’s still torn between Morelli and Ranger with no forward movement with either, all the characters are the same. I like them but – eh.
Also I didn’t care for Diesel’s inclusion which didn’t help. His presence didn’t really add anything to the story and I think I prefer Diesel’s slightly more magical reality to stay in his own books/the novella’s instead of the main series. It doesn’t really fit? I also just like Diesel more in his own series, here he left me mostly cold. I also didn’t care for his high-handedness with Stephanie, her lusting over him or their ‘deal’. If he’s going to show up again and be added as another love interest… I think that might be it for me.
Decrypted by Lindsay Buroker
I enjoyed it.
+ I guessed the truth about the dark history of the Kyatt Islands as soon as they found the cave of skeletons and the skull with the arrowhead; although I had figured right from the beginning that it was something like that though I thought it would be that Kyattese ancestors had killed the natives.
+ I liked the submarine and the inclusion of Mee Nar in their final adventure.
+ I liked that Iweue was unexpectedly on their side and her collection of Admiral Starcrest books.
+ I wish the book had done something more with Elloil and maybe Aeli. I was expecting one or both to help with solving the mystery but then they stayed as background characters. I was annoyed by how Aeli was used. That we had Tikaya slut-shaming her (in her head) and then she wasn’t forced to reconsider.
+ I thought Tikaya handled a couple situations much more calmly than I would have. When she thought her father had had a part in killing/attempting to kill Rias and then later when Rias wouldn’t let her see what was in the chest.
