REVIEW by Elley: Shrill Dusk by Helen Harper

Charley is a cleaner by day and a professional gambler by night.

She might be haunted by her tragic past but she’s never thought of herself as anything or anyone special.

Until, that is, things start to go terribly wrong all across the city of Manchester.

Between plagues of rats, firestorms and the gleaming blue eyes of a sexy Scottish werewolf, she might just have landed herself in the middle of a magical apocalypse.

She might also be the only person who has the ability to bring order to an utterly chaotic new world.

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About the Book

Shrill Dusk
by Helen Harper

Series
City of Magic Book One

Genre
Adult
Paranormal Fantasy
Urban Fantasy

Publisher
Independent

Publication Date
January 4, 2019

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Elley’s Review

I don’t know why, but the first half of this book reads like Charley is the side character and there’s some other book going on where the main characters are fighting to stop the apocalypse, and then here’s this side character going on about her side character/NPC business while the main characters do their apocalypse-stopping main character thing. Is there another series that runs parallel to this? Like there are some weird crossover episodes when the TV shows Buffy and Angel were running concurrently? Because I feel like that would have made sense.

It got much better in the second half, where it felt like Charley was actually (finally!) the main character of her own story. I liked Charley for the most part, and while I like that she retains her positivity and faith in the essential goodness of man, I also think she is incredibly naive for a character who is also at times extremely jaded. Still, she’s bad ass, so I’ll go with it. The world building is fun and the story is fast-paced, but there’s not always a lot of there, and the world-building and plot don’t feel fully fleshed-out and cohesive… Which is probably why I was left feeling so much like this was the story of a side-character and that there much be a “main book” about the “main characters” (and thus some world building and plot lines that are better fleshed out and that explain more) out there in the universe somewhere.

Still, Charley isn’t sure what the heck is happening most of the time, she’s just forced to roll with it, so I suppose it’s just an immersive experience for the reader to also need to roll with it? It was still an enjoyable read with some really creative elements, I just wish it had been a little more cohesive.

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Disclaimer

The review copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. All titles reviewed on this blog are a fair and honest assessment of the book. No monetary compensation was received in exchange for this review. For more information regarding our review process, please visit our Review Policy & Review Request Submission page.