Urban Fantasy Review: Seven Kinds of Hell by Dana Cameron

Seven Kinds of Hell by Dana Cameron (Fangborn #1)

Egalley thanks to Amazon Publishing

Synopsis from Goodreads
Archaeologist Zoe Miller has been running from a haunting secret her whole life. But when her cousin is abducted by a vicious Russian kidnapper, Zoe is left with only one option: to reveal herself. Unknown to even her closest friends, Zoe is not entirely human. She's a werewolf and a daughter of the Fangborn, a secretive race of werewolves, vampires, and oracles embroiled in an ancient war against evil. To rescue her cousin, Zoe will be forced to renew family ties and pit her own supernatural abilities against the dark and nefarious foe. The hunt brings Zoe to the edge of her limits, and with the fate of humanity and the Fangborn in the balance, life will be decided by an artifact of world-ending power.


Amazon  US/UK | Amazon kindle US($4.99)/UK(£0.99) | The Book Depository US/UK | Fishpond

6.5/10

* * *

I have very mixed feelings about this book.

It took me two weeks to go through the first third of the book, and another couple of days to finish the other two thirds. I was tempted to DNF, but then it actually became entertaining.


So, it's good and it's bad at the same time, that's why it's so hard to decide what to write in this review.

Good parts: travelling through so many countries and archaeological aspects of the research, the sheer amount of the players in the field, the constant evolution of the goals in the plot. Zoe travels quite a lot through London - Paris - Berlin - Venice, Greece and Turkey. She's got a lot of people around her that she needs to deal with, and they are pretty interesting characters.

Bad parts: No clarity in the main plot line, which left me feeling confused through the whole book. Most of Zoe's decisions are mysteriously taken from her with people magically appearing at every step she was making to do things that needed to be done for her. First I was annoyed, then it just became ridiculous.

 I couldn't get the feel of good and bad guys, they were vague and ambiguous. Someone you thought bad suddenly would turn around and help Zoe, and someone else will lose mental brownie points you gave them.

The ideas are certainly good, but it's the execution and the character depth that suffer in the end. I have a feeling that quality was sacrificed to quantity, but don't just take my opinion for it. I did see good reviews of this book, it just wasn't for me.

* * *

По большей части, в Семи Степенях Ада, больше недостатков, чем достоинств.

Во первых, начало читается тяжело. Первая треть книги заняла у меня 2 недели, и я очень хотела книгу забросить и недочитывать, но с того момента, как главная героиня - Зои попадает в Лондон, действие закрутилось и на дальнейшее прочтение у меня ушло не больше дня.

Достоиства книги:

путешествия Зои (она проезжает по всей Европе с Лондона в Париж, Берлин, Венецию, Грецию и Турцию); археологический детали поиска статуэток и ящика Пандоры, и интересные персонажи.

Недостатки: 

неясное направление сюжета; очень большое количество персонажей, кторые постоянно меняют ориентацию с союзников к злодеям и наоборот, да так что сильно запутываешься; у Зои - главной героини, не остаётся шанса принять решение самой, так как как только она чего-то желает, появляется рояль в кустах и её желание магическим образом исполняется. Сначало меня это раздражало, потом начало веселить.

В общем, несмотря на интересные идеи, поворотов сюжета очень много по количеству, а надо было бы сосредоточиться на качестве. Мне не понравилось.