Bronze Gods
Apparatus Infernum, Book #1)
By A.A. Aguirre
ISBN# 9780425258194
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Sammy
Synopsis:
Hy Breasil is grimmer than it used to be.
Before the Architect closed the door, there were regular crossings, and a great war decimated both humans and Ferishers. The native fae who refused to treat with the invaders faded; their bodies withered and died, stranding them as hungry, angry spirits that haunt the countryside.
That means there’s always trouble brewing in Dorstaad.
Janus Mikani and Celeste Ritsuko work for the Criminal Investigation Department, keeping citizens safe from things that go bump in the night. He’s a hardboiled cynic with an uncanny sixth sense; she’s determined to justify her promotion as the first female detective in her division. Together, they’re trying to keep a black tide from drowning the city.
But when the second body surfaces, murdered with the same type of infernal device, the entire CID must face the truth. There’s a madman on the loose, twining magic and blood… and only Mikani and Ritsuko can unravel the intricate, lethal conspiracy before the Royale killer completes his macabre plan, unleashing old, forbidden magic on an unsuspecting populace. If the maniac succeeds, it could mean the end of everything… (Goodreads)
Review:
This is a very well written story, that had the potential to be amazing, but for me it dragged and was very slow all the way to the end. I think it suffers from the first book in a series syndrome with to much information making the story convoluted in a confusing way.
I so wanted the heroine to be a strong kick butt, take no prisoners kind of gal and the synopsis makes it seem like she will be, however, shortly into the book she comes across as soft and femininely needy several times. The “romance” aspect of the story was plain and simply uncomfortable.
The word ‘partner’ was used so many times I wanted to scream, seriously we know they are partners not only was it used in a chummy Benson and Stabler way, but good lord it was said so often in a way to make them set boundaries between themselves. arrggg
One other thing that for me personally was very distracting were the names Mikani and Ritsuko during most of the book the characters first names are not used so using the last names even though they are lovely out of the ordinary names there was no feminine and masculine flavor to the names. Which for me made it so I had to concentrate on who was who when the dialog went back and forth. Again, a flow issue for me.
I know this book got many 5 star ratings and folks are gushing how wonderful it is, but I thought it was almost boring in parts and had to make myself pick it up several times after putting it down. It was written well, just missed the mark for me.
I’m not sure who I would recommend this to….before I’d recommend to anyone I would need to read the next book in the series, to see if it was the 1st book in a series information dump and slow confusing pace or the style of writing.
