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A review by zoes_human
Girl in the Box: A Paranormal Mystery Thriller Series by Robert J. Crane
adventurous
3.0
This new adult series has incredible pacing which tends to snowball until each book climaxes with an intriguing end. Though a series, the individual books can stand on their own as concise and clear recaps are contained in each and all end with closure to the tale contained within that particular volume. Real-life events and myths are tied into the universe's reality in a delightful and sometimes surprising manner. The ever-present romance one tends to find in the NA genre has been kept to a tolerable level.
At times the sarcasm of the lead role is a touch overdone and cheesy, but that's a minor detraction from a book with a capable heroine who has a healthy and credible body weight and is ultimately quite realistically written. At times the protagonist is juvenile, foolish, and self-centered, but she's also relatable, and, despite certain fantasy elements in the story, achievable in character.
Untouched, book 2, did drag a bit for me as it dealt more with Sienna's emotional development and recovery from the events of the first book. Unfortunately this means she goes through a lot of self-indulgent and self-pitying behaviors. If you've ever been around anyone going through that, you know it's fairly obnoxious. Crane's portrayal is accurate enough to be as annoying as being around the real thing. The romance factor also increased in this volume but still did not take over the story.
Though I intend to read the 4th book at some point, by the end of Souless, I find my interest has waned somewhat. For one thing, I started to dislike the main character a bit. Her behavior is perfectly normal for a teenager; however, I didn't much care for teenagers when I was one and my patience for them is even lower as a non-parent 43 year old. The emotional drama is just a bit wearing for me. It's a necessary stage of life, but one I'm grateful to be well out of. With that said, I think many people will love it all the more for exactly the same reason.
The second issue is a problem I find I have with these sorts of "police" series. It stops being surprising. I get comfortable with the universe and the patterns become apparent. "Oh, no way!" moments become "Oh yeah, sure." moments.
And last but not least ... *steps onto soapbox*
Robert J. Crane, I beg of you to please stop having characters casually throw away food without it being portrayed as the careless, decadent, and disgusting habit that it is. People are starving to death. People are dying from diseases that probably wouldn't kill them if they weren't already malnourished. Meanwhile industrialized nations waste 222 million tons of food a year. I realize that much of that comes from businesses not individuals, but change begins when we all start to treat food as a sacred object and the idea of wasting it in anyway becomes culturally ingrained as immoral. Artists are the forefront of change, not politicians. Please be a part of that change.
*gets off soapbox*
At times the sarcasm of the lead role is a touch overdone and cheesy, but that's a minor detraction from a book with a capable heroine who has a healthy and credible body weight and is ultimately quite realistically written. At times the protagonist is juvenile, foolish, and self-centered, but she's also relatable, and, despite certain fantasy elements in the story, achievable in character.
Untouched, book 2, did drag a bit for me as it dealt more with Sienna's emotional development and recovery from the events of the first book. Unfortunately this means she goes through a lot of self-indulgent and self-pitying behaviors. If you've ever been around anyone going through that, you know it's fairly obnoxious. Crane's portrayal is accurate enough to be as annoying as being around the real thing. The romance factor also increased in this volume but still did not take over the story.
Though I intend to read the 4th book at some point, by the end of Souless, I find my interest has waned somewhat. For one thing, I started to dislike the main character a bit. Her behavior is perfectly normal for a teenager; however, I didn't much care for teenagers when I was one and my patience for them is even lower as a non-parent 43 year old. The emotional drama is just a bit wearing for me. It's a necessary stage of life, but one I'm grateful to be well out of. With that said, I think many people will love it all the more for exactly the same reason.
The second issue is a problem I find I have with these sorts of "police" series. It stops being surprising. I get comfortable with the universe and the patterns become apparent. "Oh, no way!" moments become "Oh yeah, sure." moments.
And last but not least ... *steps onto soapbox*
Robert J. Crane, I beg of you to please stop having characters casually throw away food without it being portrayed as the careless, decadent, and disgusting habit that it is. People are starving to death. People are dying from diseases that probably wouldn't kill them if they weren't already malnourished. Meanwhile industrialized nations waste 222 million tons of food a year. I realize that much of that comes from businesses not individuals, but change begins when we all start to treat food as a sacred object and the idea of wasting it in anyway becomes culturally ingrained as immoral. Artists are the forefront of change, not politicians. Please be a part of that change.
*gets off soapbox*