Shortlisted: Romantic Novel Awards 2015 - Young Adult Romantic Novel
| Misty Falls by Joss Stirling | |
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| Category: Teens | |
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Reviewer: Robert James
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| Summary: Characters acting with no common sense make this one not one I can really recommend. A shame, as earlier Savant stories from Joss Stirling were so enjoyable. | |
| Buy? No | Borrow? No |
| Pages: 304 | Date: October 2014 |
| Publisher: OUP Oxford | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-0192737359 | |
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Misty is always getting into trouble thanks to the Savant ability which means she can't lie and causes people around her to be brutally honest if she's not careful. Can she find happiness? Or will the serial killer stalking the Savant community strike at Misty or one of her friends?
A brief round-up of my feelings about Joss Stirling's books previously. Finding Sky came out at a time when we were flooded by paranormal romances but was engaging enough to make me recommend it even to people who were getting fed up with the genre. Stealing Phoenix was even better, but Seeking Crystal lost me somewhat with characters changing 'in virtually the blink of an eye'. I wasn't planning on continuing with the series after this disappointment, but got given Storm and Stone and loved it, so decided to have look at this first in the spin-off series from the original Benedict trilogy.
I wish I hadn't, to be honest. It feels hypocritical to be complaining about the two leads having issues with each other given I usually moan about insta-love, but one of the strong points of this series is that the soulfinder concept is a great explanation for insta-love. I think Stirling has actually made her world much less interesting with Alex seeming to take less notice of Misty than I'd have ever expected him to.
Also, the same problem we saw in Seeking Crystal pops up again here - none of these people seem to have any common sense. I don't want to get into specifics for fear of spoilers, but there are decisions made by people who, in the first two books, seemed intelligent and cautious, which are completely staggering given the situation they're in. Given they've managed to work out pretty much exactly what the killer's savant power is before the halfway point of the book, and seem to be taking the threat seriously, it's incredibly simple for the villain to strike. On that note, the villain is so easy to spot that he may as well have turned up wearing a black hat and twirling his moustaches. This makes it hard to take the plot seriously, and really affected my enjoyment of the book.
So, unfortunately, I don't think I'd recommend this, but that's not to say you shouldn't check out Stirling. If you haven't read this series before, don't despair. Go back to the start, read Finding Sky and Stealing Phoenix. Then switch to Storm and Stone, and cross your fingers that the second in that series is a return to form."
As well as the Joss Stirling books I mentioned earlier, I think fans of this would like Maggie Stiefvater's stunning The Raven Boys series, which are some of the finest paranormal books around.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Misty Falls by Joss Stirling at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Misty Falls by Joss Stirling at Amazon.com.
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