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So I finished reading Lies Sleeping
Spoilers herein! Mostly I liked it; there were just two and a half things I didn't like (but I really did like it, actually I think it was my favorite of the last few books).
And mostly I really loved it! Foxglove was WONDERFUL, all the scenes with her and Peter (I adored the way she bonds with him, and the whole thing where he could have escaped but decided not to be a dick to her and then it ends up paying off for him), and her reunion with Molly was gorgeous. I absolutely loved that fight scene with the speeding van and Peter rescuing Walbrook and Nightingale showing up in the nick of time. In general the Peter and Nightingale teamwork was really great in this book, and the supporting cast was great too. I was genuinely surprised that Carey turned out to be (at least so far) just a regular cop who had Seen Too Much and was starting to snap; I totally thought there was some kind of face-changing spy thing going on with him, especially when he vanished during the fight with Chorley in the van. Having him be just a regular guy who was having a bad day was actually a pretty neat twist! (Watch future books prove me wrong, idk.)
I still don't entirely know how I feel about the way the Lesley thing has worked out and her characterization in the last couple of books vs. the first couple, but revenge on Punch was actually a more positive motivation for continuing to work with Chorley after her face-heel-turn than some of the things I'd assumed. Punch's backstory - NOT AT ALL what I was expecting, and I am really all over the history-becoming-myth thing with the early days of the city; I liked that a lot, even if veering suddenly into Ghost War III at the climax felt like it detracted from the tension somewhat. Bev possessing one of ye olde tribesmen was great, though. XD
One thing that confused me in that part of the book was Peter's "Isis of the Walbrook" comment. I assumed at first that he meant that Walbrook and Oxley's Isis were the same person, but the physical description of Isis was completely different, so I just don't know what he meant, exactly. If anyone can explain it to me, I'd appreciate it!
So yeah, I liked it a lot!
The things I didn't like:
- I already talked about my issues with Peter/Bev in the previous post. Having him go through a week of captivity without thinking about her and then walk the dog before calling her when they were literally in the same house (well, complex of houses) didn't do much to help with that. (Though I get what people were saying in the comments to the other post that everyone does relationships differently, and what they have clearly works for them.)
- You know, I am pretty much lawful good and I STILL think Peter stopping Punch from killing Chorley was a monumentally, apocalyptically stupid decision. I get why he did it, but ... no. It's hard for me to see Peter seeking a legal resolution to the Chorley problem as anything other than Peter putting his own desire not to feel guilty ahead of everyone else's welfare, because Chorley is just so goddamn powerful. It'd be different if he wasn't so god-tier compared to everyone else, but no one except Nightingale can actually fight him, no cell can hold him, Peter himself was unlikely to be able to contain him long enough for Nightingale to get there if Lesley hadn't shot him, and he was actively trying to destroy London and/or the world. Honestly, letting one antagonist take out another one seems like BY FAR the more sensible decision in that case. (Plus it was what ended up happening anyway, except the burden of guilt was - mostly - taken out of Peter's hands by Lesley making the decision.)
- The "... and a half" mentioned above is Peter's little asides speaking directly to the reader to add information that he found out later. Once or twice, sure, to point out things we really need to know, but it was so frequent in this book (and about really irrelevant stuff, like which part of the van fell off or what Foxglove's knife was made of) that it kept jarring me out of the scene, because every one of those asides broke the illusion of being there in the moment with all of this happening "now".
And mostly I really loved it! Foxglove was WONDERFUL, all the scenes with her and Peter (I adored the way she bonds with him, and the whole thing where he could have escaped but decided not to be a dick to her and then it ends up paying off for him), and her reunion with Molly was gorgeous. I absolutely loved that fight scene with the speeding van and Peter rescuing Walbrook and Nightingale showing up in the nick of time. In general the Peter and Nightingale teamwork was really great in this book, and the supporting cast was great too. I was genuinely surprised that Carey turned out to be (at least so far) just a regular cop who had Seen Too Much and was starting to snap; I totally thought there was some kind of face-changing spy thing going on with him, especially when he vanished during the fight with Chorley in the van. Having him be just a regular guy who was having a bad day was actually a pretty neat twist! (Watch future books prove me wrong, idk.)
I still don't entirely know how I feel about the way the Lesley thing has worked out and her characterization in the last couple of books vs. the first couple, but revenge on Punch was actually a more positive motivation for continuing to work with Chorley after her face-heel-turn than some of the things I'd assumed. Punch's backstory - NOT AT ALL what I was expecting, and I am really all over the history-becoming-myth thing with the early days of the city; I liked that a lot, even if veering suddenly into Ghost War III at the climax felt like it detracted from the tension somewhat. Bev possessing one of ye olde tribesmen was great, though. XD
One thing that confused me in that part of the book was Peter's "Isis of the Walbrook" comment. I assumed at first that he meant that Walbrook and Oxley's Isis were the same person, but the physical description of Isis was completely different, so I just don't know what he meant, exactly. If anyone can explain it to me, I'd appreciate it!
So yeah, I liked it a lot!
The things I didn't like:
- I already talked about my issues with Peter/Bev in the previous post. Having him go through a week of captivity without thinking about her and then walk the dog before calling her when they were literally in the same house (well, complex of houses) didn't do much to help with that. (Though I get what people were saying in the comments to the other post that everyone does relationships differently, and what they have clearly works for them.)
- You know, I am pretty much lawful good and I STILL think Peter stopping Punch from killing Chorley was a monumentally, apocalyptically stupid decision. I get why he did it, but ... no. It's hard for me to see Peter seeking a legal resolution to the Chorley problem as anything other than Peter putting his own desire not to feel guilty ahead of everyone else's welfare, because Chorley is just so goddamn powerful. It'd be different if he wasn't so god-tier compared to everyone else, but no one except Nightingale can actually fight him, no cell can hold him, Peter himself was unlikely to be able to contain him long enough for Nightingale to get there if Lesley hadn't shot him, and he was actively trying to destroy London and/or the world. Honestly, letting one antagonist take out another one seems like BY FAR the more sensible decision in that case. (Plus it was what ended up happening anyway, except the burden of guilt was - mostly - taken out of Peter's hands by Lesley making the decision.)
- The "... and a half" mentioned above is Peter's little asides speaking directly to the reader to add information that he found out later. Once or twice, sure, to point out things we really need to know, but it was so frequent in this book (and about really irrelevant stuff, like which part of the van fell off or what Foxglove's knife was made of) that it kept jarring me out of the scene, because every one of those asides broke the illusion of being there in the moment with all of this happening "now".