For the life of me I could not connect with any of the characters. Some of them, I don't even know why they are there. Actually, I don't know why half the book is there.

I don't understand the world, there are bits of this and that and a glimpse of something else.

But why is the sun not shining outside the city? Why do soldiers (that's what angels are) live at the very top guarding warehouses, why not the richest and most privileged strolling through their high rise palaces?

Where is Rocco? I hoped Gabriel would recognize him in one of the other angels, or other modded. If Rocco loved Gabriel, he would have followed him and met the same (or almost) fate.

Jeff... nothing solid on him either.

I mean, you take every single character and they are just floundering around, barely afloat, flicking in and out of their cartoon-ish existence.

Someone told me not to bother with this book. It was on "my friends said no" shelf for a long time. But then I needed it for a challenge *ugh* I will NOT be buying book 2. 

I tried, I really really tried :/

I made it to 60% (barely) and it was either me or the book. Guess who had to go.

Originally I gave this book 1.75 stars. Let me correct that now. Book, you're demoted. 1 star. I was bored to tears by the pity fest and the long lists of who did what and where and only sometimes how they felt while doing it.

PS
A warning: brush up on your French and German before you read this book.

I dislike the use of foreign languages without translation immensely, no matter if I know the language or not. It's disruptive and annoying. Worse, if the author gets the foreign language wrong.

But I get it, Johann is Austrian, he is a foreign element in this book, so it's OK for him to speak German, I guess.

Conny, tho? WTF? He is French. We know he speaks French even if it's written in English, cause - obvious reasons. So why does he switch from his (English) French and to (French) French within one paragraph? I know why - to annoy the crap out of us :(

I liked this story. I truly did. Why three stars?

- Here is a good piece of info for anyone starting the book. Last name Scoth is pronounced same as "both", not "moth". BUT ... busy with the ramblings the author only gets a chance to mentioning it 30% into the book.

What? You didn't know? @.@



- The romance is almost non-existent. The MCs get "together" together while intoxicated. They are cute while doing it, but - really? I don't mind the lack of romance, however this clumsy attempt at it was nearly a turn off for me. There isn't much chemistry between the two anyway.

- The mystery is almost lost in overwhelming amount of unnecessary details. The book is bursting at the seems with them and the story's momentum, slowly and painfully gained through numerous attempts, keeps getting buried under pointless deviations from the plot to describe this or that or ...



- To make us feel ...scandalized? A child (a girl) from a respected family, smart, well mannered, was forced (by the author) to describe an orgy in the neighbour's garden. That orgy was already described by her aunt and her father 3 or 4 times. WHY???? What is the purpose of this? Not to mention, that said aunt should have removed children (there were more than one) from the garden at once the moment the party started.

Oh, I must mention a girl with a shock collar on her. It zaps her every time she raises her voice. Sure, she breaks glass for a hobby that way, but did the author have to even write her in? She wasn't relevant to anything in this story.

Child services, please!



- The Seer, Jesco. He sees people or rather he becomes them by touching their belongings. As a result, Jesco avoids coming in contact with objects that belong to other people, so not to be overwhelmed by their owner's personalities. For his own use he prefers items that are brand new, without anyone's imprint on them. Which makes no sense once you think about it. What about manufacturers? What about tailors, who spend hours, days making a suit. What about furniture? Someone has to cut wood, put together a frame, stuff and upholster it. And so on.

On the bright side:

- Cut 10-15% off the page count and the book is priceless.

- Hasten Jibb. A man-child with wild imagination. Love him. He is my favorite character in this book.

I like this book, but at the same time why does it have to be so wordy?

Sure, it adds to the universe, but it takes away from the flow of the story. Narrative is like molasses - sweet and delicious, yet slow and thick. Info dumps are clunky and often awkward (one character talks to the other about certain customs, but aren't they from the same universe/town/block? - ugh!)

The only picture that could be found is that of the whole anthology in which the Warlord and the Nightingale is a part of.  The Warlord and the Nightingale is a mini tale of the Steampunk genre set in feudal Japan. 

I won the little minibook in a giveaway that the author Jeannie Lin had for those who subscribed to her newsletter, and I was ever so stoked to get the book.  =)  I wanted to read the story sooooo bad but I didn't want to cough up the money to buy anthology when I just wanted to read one story.

Yeah, I'm a tad picky like that.  

Anyway.  

Kanakuri no Hanzo is a Kanakuri maker who is summoned by the warlord, Lord Mitzunaga to create a Kanakuri, which is a type of mechanical puppet of sorts, created elaborately and as wondrously as one can.  Innocently he accepts the challenge and request unknowing of the hidden motives of the feudal lords.  

While staying at the compound of Lord Mitzungaga, Hanzo meets Lady Yura of Edo.  A woman of great beauty and a voice of one who could only put the Warlord to sleep, Lady Yura and Hanzo develop a cautious friendship of sorts that leads to more that could mean death for more because Yura is fiercely protected by the Warlord and murders those who would even casually mention her name in front of the Lord Mitzuangaga.

Okay.  Stopping there I may end up giving the whole story, and for such a short story, it is so beautifully woven.  The detail and imagination just takes you there and you're just caught up so that by the time you finish the story you're left wanting more.

Needless, to say, the ending was very surprising to me and very satisfying.  But it left me wanting more.  =)

It's a good thing I have more of Ms. Lin's works to read.=) 

Thanks Ms. Lin for the book!!