Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

"…Try another stunt like that phone call, and I'm putting you in bracelets. We are clear?"

"Tell me, Hoffman, are you always such a flirt?"

"Screw you," he said. "You're the one who looks like a fruit." I followed his glance down at my rented tuxedo, complete with cummerbund. He might have a point.

I wanted to make a note before going any further that this book, at least at the time of this review, is available on Kindle Unlimited to read for free. This was the medium I chose to read to this book.

Significant like-dislike vibes were felt this entire book� There are things that I like, really like even, and then there are the things that either make me sigh disappointedly or want to outright jump into the pages of the book and slap the characters around with a raw fish. I found myself more and more desiring the fish slapping the more I advanced through the story.

Encouraging a glass half full, let me discuss the aspects of the book I like: The characters, despite the muppetery, are lovable in many ways. I find myself, despite them making painstakingly stupid choices constantly, in their corner, rooting for them. All in all, Everson Croft is a mostly decent guy who just seems to have a bigger string of luck than most protagonists in most novels. That said, despite being shortsighted and dimwitted in his responses to deadlines and situations he gets pitted in, he means well. That has to count for something, right?

"Who are you supposed to be?" Gert asked in a New York-sharp accent, giving me a quick up and down. "Bruce Wayne?"

The Prof Croft series has tremendous amounts of promise. The author has built up a handful of strong characters � Croft himself, Detective Vega, Tabitha the oversized succubus cat, creepy vampire Arnaud, and even arguably Caroline. However, the biggest thing that needs to be done is to branch away, far away, from being a cookiecutter cutout of the Dresden Files and add more to its originality. If a little more effort to separate itself from being another knockoff Dresden Files series was completed, it has an enormous chance to go beyond where it is now.

When reading, I typically theorize what will happen by the halfway point of the book. A good portion of time, I'm either spot on or nearly there. With this book, I'll concede that the twists towards the end of the book were ones I had not even remotely considered. Additionally, I suspect based on the way the story ended that we may see our favorite creepy vampire, Arnaud, again sooner than later. Perhaps we would see him in a different light as opposed to just being a jackass semi-villainous character.

"Not such a smartass now, are you?" He said. "I don't know," I answered blearily, buildings whirling overhead. "My reserves are pretty impressive."

Negatively speaking, I feel that despite liking the characters, they are outrageously constant in making very stupid choices, not listening to one another, and/or not trusting one another. In the first book, I liked Detective Vega because even though she was more stubborn than anyone I've met in person, she also had a heart bigger than the numerical value of money in a typical bank's vault.

That heart of hers shone even brighter in this book, though her shortsighted, bullheadedness was also keyed up in equal measure. Clearly, in the first book, it took Vega a long time to come around and trust Croft, but I had thought maybe after putting himself out there and enlightening her to his truth, that she would have extended more trust to him and vice versa. It appears not, though, as the majority of the conflict in the story revolved around Vega being stubborn and not trusting Croft as well as Croft not trusting Vega enough to let her in on a big secret. They circled issues more than water circles a damn drain.

I've mentioned it before, but since it is unbearably irksome, I'll state it again: I feel that this story has mammoth-sized potential, but continuously seems to idolize Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files too much. More originality is needed, both in the storylines and in the character's personalities and actions, respectively. Personality-wise, Everson Croft is nearly indistinguishable from Harry Dresden to the point where it borders insulting. The only major differences between Detective Vega and Detective Murphy are that Vega has a child and is even more headstrong and relentless than Murphy is. Of all the characters in the series so far, they are the two that need to be branched off from their Dresden Files doppelganger.

I wish the issues with Detective Hoffman that arose in the story (trying not to spoil anything) was resolved in this book. I get that during the time of it occurring, there were way more massive things occurring, but when everything had started wrapping up at the end of the book, a scene between Detective's Vega and Hoffman could have occurred. Instead, we get a random scene with Croft and Caroline that only made me dramatically and disappointedly sigh. I totally could have done without that. Quite frankly, while I don't hate Caroline, I don't have a reason to like her, either. I'm lukewarm towards her, currently.

When he turned back to face me, I drove a fist into his nose. "That's for this morning," I said. Floyd staggered back, a hand to his spurting nose. "Y-you broke it!" "Believe me, it's an enhancement."

My last and second-largest dig against the series so far: Thelonious. Supposedly, if Croft swings around too much magic at once and drains himself too much, his alcohol loving alter-ego will sneak to the surface to wreak some havoc for awhile. I thought that would lead to some interesting or humorous parts to the series, as that essentially means that Croft doesn't have an unlimited supply of magic at his disposal.

Unfortunately, however, after him making an appearance in the first book, Thelonious has only been mentioned and come to see more of an awkward piece of baggage that makes no sense with no consistency. Far too many times in this book, Croft mentioned that he was drained, running on empty magically, and was sensing that if he used more magic, Thelonious would emerge� Yet then a paragraph or two later, Croft is swinging spells around? It makes zero sense. Why bother painting him as having an empty tank, magically, and being on the verge of passing out with Thelonious about to make an appearance just to have Croft spontaneously have more magic in his reserves two minutes later? At this point, Thelonious just seems like an excuse to try to humanize Croft more, which would be cute if it was consistent, but it isn't.

Don't get me wrong, it isn't a terrible book or anything. It has promise. I liked the majority of the characters and hope to see a few things that didn't get resolutions answered in the next book. To put how I feel about the book into perspective, I like it enough to want to read the third book, but I'm going to be taking a short break before beginning said book.

"Well, cheer up. That's about to change," I said, thinking of Arnaud's warning. "Out. Now." When she didn't move, I exercised the nuclear option. "No more goat's milk until you do."