SPFBO (Cassidy's Version)

https://www.instagram.com/p/CpQTj40gISz/

MYSTERIOUS WAYS by Abbie Evans is set in a world where women are in charge, from the Goddess who rules overall, to the queen, to the commanders of the city watch. Isabella is such a commander, tasked with solving many crimes over the course of her career. She has always gone with the flow, arresting those she is directed to, but lately she’s beginning to question things. When she must arrest someone who feels a little too convenient, Isabella has more questions than answers. She begins to subvert the natural order and consider more and more changes in her investigation techniques.⁠

⁠

This book is a mixture of mystery and fantasy with a goddess and demons along with very human plots and crimes. This gives Isabella a lot to navigate. It was fun to follow along with her as she begins to raise more questions about her work and their policies as a whole.⁠

⁠

The politics of the world being set up in a matriarchal society were interesting and I think the author explored them well. There were a few times when it felt a little bit on they heavy handed side as she discussed Isabella’s male counterpart wanting to consider advancement in the ranks which would result in discrimination against him as a lesser man. We do get a world where same sex relationships are standard and accepted without it being made a big deal on page.⁠

⁠

I enjoyed the concept of a world which believes that the goddess’ mysterious ways are not to be questioned with a main character opening her eyes to the ability to actually question. This allowed us to follow along in her tracks and get answers to some of our own questions as well. There were certainly parallels to be drawn to religions from our world, but not in a way where this felt too much of an exact translation.⁠

⁠

Overall, I did enjoy this read, but there was something that fell short of fully pulling me into the story. My full review and rating for the #SPFBO8 @coverswithcassidy version are available on my blog

Not my favourite read but I do think it has its audience.

I found the book to be VERY heavy handed and I prefer my books to be a little more nuanced. This really affected my enjoyment. But not only that I found the characters to be very one dimensional they existed to be their message. Not to be themselves.

More thoughts in my vlog

https://youtu.be/yeAVfoZmVkg

I read this book as part of a commitment to read all the finalists of SPFBO8, however it is not one that I would normally pick up off my own back, and so, out of fairness, I am not going to give it a star rating.

I thought the story had some okay elements to it, with an investigator and her nemesis, elements of corruption, and essentially a "good cop" trying to put away the right people for the right crime. The world was also okay, despite not being my thing, with angels and demons, and Satan and her sister, the Goddess. The angels are not goodie-two-shoes types as can be seen in the angel bars where pleasure, including that of the flesh, is the primary service. There are also demon bars on the other side of the scale, where you can find all manner of nefarious beings making illicit deals.

I didn't like the actual characterisation of the angels and demons, particularly the demons, who just irked me whenever they were on the page. Early on, I started to equate their mannerisms with Discord from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (thanks to my young daughter for that introduction...) and after that, I just saw that character and heard all their dialog in that same voice.

Overall, I thought the story and the characters were a bit flat. Typically, an angels and demons theme doesn't work for me, and this one was no exception. Those who like it when the book title comes up in the text will have a field day here, but for me it was just too repetitive.

Sadly, this one did not work for me. I felt that everything was very surface level: the characters, the plot, the world. This is definitely more of a "fun" story than an attempt at epic fantasy. I was hoping for a lot more banter between the characters and more insight into the underworld, demons, and politics in the realm. The writing for me was quite repetitive and choppy, hurting the flow in the story.

https://youtu.be/VhDGy1jXbH4

https://youtu.be/XlWwdjEZlHM

Unfortunately I don’t have much to say about this book other than I don't think this was a Rachel book. I don’t like books that remind me of Earth unless it is blatant that it is Earth.

So what worked for me?

Worldbuilding: I do think the author did a good job of crafting the world and concepts. There were different ideas with angels, demons, and mortals living at the same plane.

What did not work for me?

Writing: The writing was very repetitive and if I read “The Chief” one more time I was going to throw my kindle across the room. I also was taken out of the story when there was mentions that did not fit into the setting like Ice Tea but that just be me.

Similar Media?

I have seen this compared to Dante’s Inferno and I can see that comparison.

Score: 5.1/10

Character: 4.5

Plot: 7

World-Building: 7

Writing: 5

Enjoyment: 2

Some of this was fun, but a lot of didn't really work with me. Feeling mid about it, but not terrible either!

I read this for SPFBO (Cassidy's version). Watch my reading vlog with more thoughts here:

https://youtu.be/xFK7zjfW6AQ