Murder by Death

For me this is one of those "it's really good but..." reads.

Fantastically written, edited and plotted.  Smudge, of course, rules the pages and steals the scenes.  Great characterisations too.  I was able to lose myself in the story and forget for brief moments the back pain that has left me hobbled and cranky these past couple of weeks.  As a biblionerd it goes without saying how much I love the world-building Hines has done.

But...

Something failed to catch me completely; as engrossed as I was in the story, I never became emotionally attached to any of the characters.  I still really enjoyed it but it didn't leave me wanting more at the end.

Speaking of the end, while that final scene is definitely not my cuppa, in other books I've at least been able to walk away thinking "kudos for not being afraid of taking things is a different direction", but this time it just felt weird.  Personal inclinations aside, this whole conclusion didn't work for me; I came away feeling like it was purposely done to be all "look how progressive I am!", or worse, some sort of weird teen age wish fulfilment.  Neither is likely fair to a very talented writer, but for me, it just didn't work.

That scene with the moon - oh jeez; he almost completely lost me at that point.  Lots of eye-rolling on my end.

I thoroughly enjoyed this, but not enough to make an effort to read a second one.