The Fear of Moncroix

<div>I liked this book. It was fast-paced with great action scenes, vampire court intrigue, and an intriguing world. The writing sucked me in and I finished the book in 2 days. There is a lot to like in this book and I think there will be plenty of people who read and love it. For my personal tastes however, the book didn't quite meet its potential. Many of the strengths of the book were also what kept me from enjoying it as much as I wanted to.<br><br>The fast pacing unfortunately crossed the line into feeling rushed for me, especially the ending. I really enjoyed the fights, especially with the vampires, and I thought they were done very well. It's mostly the vampire court intrigue that I feel was rushed. We spend a significant portion of the book with different vampire royalty playing political games with each other and I would have liked the story to slow down some and take some time to develop in these parts. Instead we keep up the same breakneck speed of the rest of the book, and it just didn't work for me. The political traps, word games, and clever maneuvers didn't have the room to take me by surprise or intrigue me like they were meant to, simply because of how fast the story progressed. For my taste I think the book could have benefited from being a little longer, to give the plot some room to grow while still keeping it relatively short and fast-paced.<br><br>The world building was another area that I loved but in the end detracted from my reading experience. I am a huge world building fan and I can usually tell when the author has a deeply fleshed out world or only what is needed for the novel. And in this one I felt like the author really knew his world and all the details; there is interesting magic, fantastical creatures, and a unique concept of flying nations. It all sounds like something I would normally love, and I did love what I saw. Unfortunately, again due to the fast pace and short length of the novel, there was at once a bit too much of the world shown, and not enough. In this world there are spirits that "snare" humans and grant them a portion of their powers, thereby turning them into vampires, werewolves, and other magic users. I think this is super cool and interesting, and at one point we even meet was is presumed to be one of these spirits briefly. The spirit does something confusing to the characters and then is never relevant again. There are other details given that tease larger parts of the world and magic that left yearning for more, but are never given. This would be fine if it was the first book of a series and there were more books coming to explore these parts but this book is a standalone. So I was left feeling more confused than anything. I believe the author has said that characters in this book may show up in future novels as part of their interconnected universe so I have some hope that I will get the answers I'm looking for.<br><br>The author's take on vampires might be my favorite that I've read in fantasy. I'm often wary of novels with vampires these days but I thoroughly enjoyed the vampires of Moncroix. Their magical origins sound fascinating, their powers/weaknesses are a refreshing combination of vampire tropes and new takes, and the concept that they are farming humans with different diets for unique tasting blood was hilarious. The author's writing is also enjoyable. It was crisp to match the fast pacing of the novel and each character had a distinct feeling. I was drawn into each action scene and could easily picture the fights in my mind. So while this particular novel didn't work as well for me as I had hoped, I will absolutely be checking out other books by this author. And if we ever get more in the world of Moncroix I will be sure to jump right back in. I think this book will appeal to a lot of readers and I recommend giving it a try if it sounds like a book for you.</div>