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.