Blood Engines was described by a reviewer as sexy urban fantasy with a strong female protagonist, or something in that vein. The character of sorcerer girl Marla Mason sounded interesting based on the review at SF Site: “her do-anything, pragmatic attitude, and the casually cruel streak that runs through her actions. She’s violent, blunt, cautious, prone to making poor decisions as she pursues her own interests, loyal and yet capable of using even her closest friends as tools or weapons when the circumstances demand.”

I was expecting a complex, fun character (and book). But the whole package turned out to be flat, artless, dull, and cliched. The dialogue is downright embarrassing. There is no change in tone or mood, Marla is all attitude all the time, which gets boring very quickly. She has no personality apart from constant bossy snarkiness. And the book itself has no tone apart from Marla’s. She’s supposed to be racing against time to save her life and her town, and yet there’s no real sense of urgency, or danger, or excitement.

I gave up a third of the way through.

Amazon UK, Amazon US.