The Sinister Mystery of the Mesmerizing Girl

Acho que demorei outubro inteiro e esse começo de mês pra ouvir esse audiobook (a data abauxo é um chute, só a finalização está correta)

Meu pai.

No Cap 04 pela primeira vez na vida concordo com Diana: QUEM EM SÃ CONSCIÊNCIA QUER SER IGUAL A MARY?
Essa é a protagonista mais fraca e sem graça já escrita por qualquer um.
Ela não tem nem o mais leve dos relances do Holmes. Ela se esforça demais pra ser como ele, e no final não é ninguém.
É forçado.
Sem contar o romance que não tem, né?
Super forçadooooo.
Percebam que ela não serve pra nada. Nem o plano que ela fez. Porque foi inútil.

E lembrando: todas as meninas (até Diana insuportável) são mais interessantes que Mary.

Teve muitas e muitas e muitas coisas (urgh) erradas porque a ideia era tão boa. Com personagens marcantes. Icônicos. E tudo tão mal executado (?).

Dorian Gray (oh god) como par romântico de Justine. Oh God. Oh God. Justine merecia mais.

A autora escreve bem. Esse foi o volume melhor desenvolvido, a narrativa foi a mais envolvente até o momento.
A narradora fez milagres.
Mas não tem jeito. Não sei sequer qual é a faixa etária que essa autora escolheu para seu público.

O melhor foi o final. Não por ter acabado. Mas por ter realmente mostrado um relance do que o grupo poderia ser. Uma fraternidade.

Mas...

Urgh.

Ties up some strings from the previous books, but I found the transitions pretty clunky and jarring. It was definitely much slower and I had a hard time keeping interest through the first half. I did listen to the audiobook - maybe a physical read would be better.

I love this series, great characters smart writing, and all the genre mashups.

Where the first two books in this trilogy were based around Frankenstein andDracula, this last one is built around two lesser-known works of gothic literature: Arthur Machen's The Great God Pan and Bram Stoker's The Jewel of the Seven Stars. Here, the lack of familiarity with the originals may leave something out. I've not read either, and could easily follow the story, but there was none of the fun of seeing how the characters in the original novels were being reinterpreted that the first two volumes had.

The first half of the book is rather leisurely, as the villains hatch their plans and our heroes have little initial success in tracking them down. Indeed, at one point, there are two consecutive chapters consisting almost entirely of exposition, albeit from two characters with opposing viewpoints of the events concerned. The second half, as the fate of the British Empire hangs in the balance, is rather more dramatic, with noticeably stronger supernatural elements than the previous two books included.

The title character, who had a minor role in the previous books, does have much more to do here, and it does make for a nice change of perspective. Nonetheless, by the end of the book, the cast is perhaps growing a little large and it made sense to end the story where it does. Overall, this isn't quite as much fun as the rest of the trilogy, but it's still entertaining enough to nudge into four-star territory and anyone who enjoyed the first two should find plenty to like here, too.

Wederom een fantastische aflevering en een geweldige afsluiting van deze trilogie.
We krijgen nog meer nieuwe en meeslepende personages uit gothic-romans die mij bekend en onbekend zijn, terwijl we tegelijkertijd alle eerdere personages die eerder aan ons werden geïntroduceerd, bijhielden. Er waren genoeg verrassingen en het plot was spannend, geestig en opwindend.

Echter, het achter elkaar lezen van deze boeken was misschien niet de juiste keuze, aangezien het sommige grappen enigszins repetitief maakte en de intermezzo's met het commentaar enigszins vervelend.
Het einde voelde op een bepaalde manier ook een beetje schokkerig en gehaast, terwijl het tegelijkertijd een klein stukje deur open hield voor mogelijke nieuwe avonturen in deze wereld? (vraagt ze hoopvol)

Maar dat zijn allemaal kleine dingen vergeleken met het leuke avontuur dat in dit slotboek wordt verteld.