Tags
author, book reviews, book, books, characters, clay Griffith, clay Griffith and Susan Griffith, fantasy, fiction, literature, novel, plot, read, reader, review, stories, story, Susan Griffith, the shadow revolution, the shadow revolution by clay Griffith and Susan Griffith, urban fantasy, write, writer, writing, young adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Steampunk
Pages: 320
Point of View: Third (Simon, Kate, Gretta, Malcolm)
Released: June 2nd 2015
Series: Crown & Key 1
Predictability: 3 out of 5 (Where 1 is totally unpredictable and 5 is I knew what was going to happen way ahead of time.)
Source: Netgalley
My Rating: 7/10 Stars
My Summary:
A werewolf is loose in London and Simon, a magician and playboy, is after it for personal reasons.
Kate, the daughter of a rich adventurer, intends to discover what’s been done to her sister.
My Review:
This book took me longer than I expected since I couldn’t read it at night. (Nightmares) It’s rather violent, gruesome, and has scary monsters. (Although I am a wuss.)
At the beginning some of the lines were so over the top I couldn’t tell if the authors were serious, (Grins that blazed in the darkness, and striking cavalier poses) but the writing quickly improved.
Simon’s a party boy, and a womanizer, and at first I couldn’t stand him, but over the course of the book he grew on me.
Malcolm said it best:
“Once I thought little of you, but I was wrong. You are an honorable man, and while there are times I would as soon throw you through that window, I’d stand with you if you need me.”
Kate’s fiery and strong, and exactly my kind of heroine. I wasn’t sure about her judgment, being attracted to Simon and all, but she proves herself to be a smart woman. My favorite character was Simon’s best friend Nick. He’s a slob who would rather use magic to change his appearance than dress up and he always calls Simon on his failings. I wish he had a point of view too! He’s a much needed bit of comic relief. Malcolm the solemn werewolf hunter and Penny the spunky mechanic were also nice additions.
Simon’s potentially the last scribe, and uses runes to invoke magic. Nick’s a jack of all trades when it comes to magic and is Simon’s teacher. Kate practices alchemy, but despite her father’s vast travels, she’s never encountered magic before. If you ask me, magic needs limits. Those limits were unique here, as Simon acts drunk when he’s used too much magic!
There wasn’t much mystery, but I didn’t have a clue what the villains were up to. (And still mostly don’t) I prefer a little more story with my action, but the action well done so I can’t complain.
All three books of this trilogy come out in the month of June!
I probably should’ve rated this higher, but the gruesomeness was a bit much for me. I always feel guilty rating a good book lower for personal reasons. Do you rate based on your personal opinion?
Woven Magic Books 
I like to read a gruesome book every now and then, so this would be my type of read. I believe I added this to my tbr last month. Great review!
I’m glad that I managed to make the book still sound good even though some parts weren’t my cup of tea. Thanks!
So glad you liked this, I really did too and am so glad that books two and three are just around the corner!
I can’t wait to hear what you think! Maybe I’ll give them a shot after all. I was afraid when one mentioned zombies.
Awesome, awesome review Molly! I really enjoyed this also. The blood and gore didn’t bother me to much. I worship Stephen King after all!
Haha! Yeah, I’ve never read Steven King, too afraid. I’m glad you enjoyed this one.
Have you read the other two in the series?
No, I stopped after the first one. Have you read them?
I have them on my Kindle from Netgalley so I really need to get cracking!
I hate getting behind in review books. Good luck! I hope they’re good!
I can’t watch anything with zombies so I hear ya. I have wicked nightmares
Zombies scare me too! I’m glad I’m not the only one. One of the sequels to this mentioned zombies, and I’m like nope!
Reading is very subjective.it’s about what you understand, can appreciate, or at least respect. I don’t think possible to rate a book without some personal bias.
That’s true. I just feel guilty when I know the book was better than I rated it.
And you still got me and others interested in it.
That’s good! Thanks. 🙂
Now I’m curious about the gruesomeness. I can pretty much take gruesome just as long as it makes sense and not just done to add more to the plot. Like if you take it out, it won’t make a difference to the book’s depth, you know? I haven’t read steampunk in awhile and Kate does sounds a really interesting character and sometimes characters that you grow to like becomes the most special of all, so Simon is interesting as well. Lovely review Molly! 🙂
There is a mad scientist and he creates homunculus which used to be human.They’re killed and remade. I hope that explains the gruesomeness. It’s really light steampunk, but it might get heavier in the sequel. Thanks!
sorry to see it wasn’t more than that for you in the end. I heard so many wonderful things about this book that it made me really curious but I’ll have to try to see how it is.
Yes, this is a good book. It’s really a personal reason why I didn’t care for it as a whole. I hope you like it!
You are speaking to my heart Molly, truthfully speaking? I do measure and rate the books I read based on my worldview, I don’t know how to rate them otherwise! I don’t think it’s a bad thing per se, since we are all entitled to our own opinions, and our diversity is what makes the world a better place wouldn’t you agree? 🙂
Still though, I do struggle immensely whenever I stumble upon even-handed writing, but clash with the context within the book.
#booknerdproblems
Yeah, usually rating books on my enjoyment is fine, but sometimes I know the book is better than what I rated it. We all have personal per peeves and yes sometimes (like this one) that just taints my rating.
Most good review, Molly! Opinions are the way to go. I’ve only ever abandoned one book because of gruesomeness, that was Stiff by Mary Roach; something about cadavers kind of sickened me halfway through, and my fingers started to tingle whenever I touched the book.
Speaking of book reviews, I finally updated my Pacific Performances review. What d you think? https://thatssojacob.wordpress.com/2015/05/25/pacific-overtures/
That’s not good! I’ll have to remember that book and stay away from it. I don’t handle cadavers well either.
Totally fine to rate a book lower for personal reasons! As long as you explain your rating, I think pretty much anything is fair game! I mean, if I didn’t like an aspect of a book, I cant overlook that, you know? Plus, other people may feel the exact same way, and you’ve helped them out!
Thanks! I always feel guilty lowering the rating because I didn’t like something personally. (Usually dark and intense book lol)
When I rate books I always base it on my opinion. For me, that’s kind of the point. I don’t really like gruesome either, so I’ll probably give this one a miss, though there do seem to be interesting elements in it. I often think that maybe there should be something on books that warn about things like graphic violence and sex, like for films, that way you don’t get a horrible surprise.
I rate on opinion too, but I feel guilty when I rate a book lower than I know it deserves. It is a good book, but I’m not a grewsome reader either. Yeah, I agree that would be awesome if books were rated that way. I like when reviewers include that stuff for wusses like me.
I feel a bit guilty when I rate a book low as well. But I can’t lie. It’s hard, reviewing, I’ve discovered.
I always rate books based on my own opinion! How else would I rate, haha? I’m not all into gruesome books because I’m the wimpiest person you’ll ever meet, so I’m not too sure if this one would be my cup of tea!
I guess I’d like to be able to rate a book so anyone would know how good the book is, not just how much I liked it.
There’s nothing wrong with being a wimp. Join the club! I’m glad I saved you from this one then. I totally had nightmares!