There was a challenge to read the hist rom that's been on my TBR the longest, this was it--

but now I recall why I didn't! No follow-ups to this yet, right?? DANG. ( )

3.5 stars

Saul paid his dues for crimes committed during the war, and the only person who will hire him is a kook. Saul runs around at the Major's behest, attempting to find meaning in the events that start happening. Especially the fact that one particular person seems to show up everywhere Saul goes. Randolph also fought in the war, although his war was the War Beneath the War. The occultists and arcanists fought with magic during the war. As a result, the veil between the worlds is thinning, and Randolph is running around dealing with manifestations of the wrecked veil. He is suspicious that Saul shows up everywhere there is an event, but when something that can't be explained away happens, Saul comes to find Randolph and learns the truth about bumps in the night. Then they have to work together to fight whatever malignant forces are trying to take over the world.

It took me a looooonnnnggg time to get into this one. It just felt so dry, and I don't think that it was the result of not having read the "prequel", since the main characters from that book aren't in this one. It wasn't until Saul learns the truth of the what is happening that I actually started to get invested, and the book was close to being over by that point. I do have to say that I appreciated the fact that we don't just learn what Saul's crimes during the war were straight off the bat. We had to get to know him, to understand him, and then it was revealed. He did do wrong, but he definitely paid his debt, and as Randolph pointed out, there were people much higher placed who did the same thing and weren't punished as harshly, probably because of who he did it with. All in all, I was left feeling a little cheated, although the story was good, just because I couldn't really relate to any of the characters until so late in the story. ( )

Took me a while to get into this audiobook. I picked it up and put it down several times before I finally clicked with it.

I think, had I read The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal series, I might have been more prepared and in-tune with this book. ( )

A little over 3 stars.

Not my favorite from KJ Charles, It took me a long time to read the book and I really got into it at 45% . But as it may be partly because I'm going through a period of deep concerns and very little time to read, I think I will revisit this story when hard times have past. ( )

Excellent. Rich and weird and sweet and scary. Excellent. ( )