Deborah Turner Harris

I ended up with this book along with a number of others from a relative's collection.
From the description, I was really looking forward to this book. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a let down. I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting, but it was definitely not what I got.
I suppose I anticipated a bit more of the 'mystic detective' trope, ala Carnacki or so many other examples from weird and pulp fiction. And that's certainly present in a way...but there is an awful lot of almost Victorian/Romantic-esque nobility/rich person stuff here. Much like a lot of classic literature from that era, I find it a little off-putting. Its hard to feel sympathetic to or identify with people so wealthy they have no actual responsibilities or demands on their time. Even artists who benefit from their patronage (which are present here) feel similar to me. Combined with the fact that we get *VERY LIMITED* magic or mystical secret society action until about the last 50 pages of this book. In fact, there's very little action of any kind til that point. Until then, there's a lot meandering not really training, not really teaching, a new protege...a lot of description of rich people's homes and cars and oh so important activities, a *little* investigation...and that's about it. There's also some really heavy christian overtones to the magic, which I wasn't anticipating, but the author goes out of their way to let us know it doesn't *have* to be that way. Unless someone tells me the subsequent books have a pretty hard shift in tone and pacing, I'm out for the rest of the series.… (mehr)

Hmmm. Not as good as the others, even as fun fluff. There are two distinct storylines, which never seriously cross (aside from how the main characters have to deal with both) - Clare and Carnage Corridor, which is a happy/uplifting story as she learns to forgive, and the main storyline with the daggers, which is very much not happy. Several deaths, of innocents and bad guys (at various levels), and he gets away in the end. Bah! Adam learns some new abilities, which may come in to play later (I don't recall that they did, aside from in this book); Peregrine alternates between feeling sorry he's running out on his honeymoon and feeling like a fifth wheel in the adventure. Honestly, they could have left him to Julia without losing much (a picture of Raeburn...not much else). Julia reveals unexpected depths, though - nice. Not a favorite.… (mehr)

Not bad, not wonderful. A very rich story, with a lot of philosophy at various levels mixed into the tense and rather grim adventure that's the basic plot. A seal is stolen, and on rather thin (external, visible) clues Adam, Noel and Peregrine decide that it's the Seal of Solomon itself and that there's a great threat to all the world in its being in the wrong hands. They spend quite a lot of time struggling to figure out _anything_ - who took the seal, what they want, what the seal represents, what their next steps should be. The first clues require quite a lot of discussion with various ghosts - spirits, disembodied and otherwise. Each tiny step sends them off in another direction, for something else that has to be done before they can take the next step - it gets quite frustrating, for them as well as for the reader. The reader does have the advantage of the occasional scene from the POV of the thief, so we know who and why and something of what long before the Hunters do. And it comes down to a race through a rainy night, with our heroes always behind - which may be a good thing. And the Light triumphs in the end, though not before another death. Quite a good story, though not as enjoyable, for me, as the previous one. I'll keep it - as I noted in my review for the first book, these three keep being culled and re-bought, so I might as well hang on to it.… (mehr)