2 out of 4 stars
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A Mirror Among Shattered Glass by Romarin Demetri
Book One of the Supernatural London Underground
2 out of 4 stars
Romarin Demetri has degrees in English and Psychology and uses them to her advantage in her first novel: A Mirror Among Shattered Glass. Romarin hopes to continue the series called The Supernatural London Underground.
The protagonist of this story shares her name with the author: Romarin Demetri. She has moved to London from the United States to learn more about her biological family, but finds herself in trouble and malnourished. Romarin lives off of blood and absorbs the personality and memories of the person she has drunk blood from. She loses her identity in the beginning of the story (by drinking the blood of a suicide casualty) and makes her way through London to try and find out who she is, why she is in London, and who can help her.
Romarin is, by turns, arrogant, sultry, naïve and manipulative. She retains knowledge from the blood she drinks, so she can fake accents or familiarity with London. However, her internal dialogue betrays her inner dilemmas, fears and desires. The author reveals a little bit of her past throughout the story, and we find that Romarin was an outcast and loner until she found a castle full of people like her in London.
The author’s writing style is characteristic of a new writer. She is very descriptive, which makes for a fun visual experience, but she can put too many extra nouns and adjectives. For example: “I could see oil paintings of mostly women, their sad expressions leering down at me from the second story of the building.” The result is a cluttered narrative that can make it difficult to find the main idea of the paragraph or chapter. There are minimal spelling and grammar mistakes. This book is written for a teenage audience who is willing to read about fantastical monsters who stalk the night. The story can’t seem to decide if it wants to be a romance novel, horror, or fantasy. I enjoy the author’s use of diverse characters, and I learned a few things about Europe’s history and supernatural creatures.
I give this book 2 out of 4 stars because this was a slow book to read. Most of the transitions from one moment to another are difficult to follow, and the minute to minute timeline is unclear. One moment they are in the castle, and in the next paragraph, they are in a bar, with little to no segue. There is a lot of fluff written into the narrative which detracts from the story. I feel little to no connection with the character; she seems erratic and illogical. I do not recommend this book to adult readers because of its lack of depth and character development.
In conclusion, A Mirror Among Shattered Glass is a lengthy book with very little depth to it. The characters are one note and difficult to relate to. The imagery is done well but segues are lacking for transitions.
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A Mirror Among Shattered Glass (Book One of the Supernatural London Underground series)
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