**I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.**
3.5 Stars
Unfortunately for Penumbra, I started reading this when I was in a reading funk. Not listening - audio books continued to flow quickly - but reading. And Penumbra just didn't have what it takes to pull me out. But it was a good book. It just took me about three weeks to read because of my funk.
Note: Penumbra is the third book in the series, so there will be some spoilers in this review.
To avoid letting my funk contaminate Penumbra, I'm going to give you a quick list of what worked for me and what didn't.
What did work for me:
- The mystery. Technically there are two, one for this book and one for the series so far about what/who Sam is. For me, the latter mystery really took over. Which was fine because it was good.
- The world. As usual, I love the world Keri Arthur built. Its complex and believable all in one. There's unique twists and fascinating supernatural types. This is made even better because you've got military scientists trying to breed new breeds. Enter fun genetic twists!
- The characters, for the most part. I really like Sam(antha) and, for the most part, Gabriel. Sam is independent, spunky, and goes for what she wants. Gabriel is deeply caring.
What didn't work for me:
- The characters, to a lesser degree. Sam starts acting kind if dumb halfway through Penumbra. I think its supposed to be that she doesn't WANT to see the truth more than that she doesn't, but annoying. Gabriel just spent months pushing Sam away because he doesn't want her hurt. Now he wont leave her alone. Annoying.
- The pace. Even though it took me a really long time to read Penumbra, I think the pace was actually too fast. Everything felt rushed. Too much was being figured out too easily.
- Lack of suspense. Because of the pace, I wasn't ever anxious. Just turn a page and whatever worried me would be resolved. Probably why I never felt pushed to finish.
- Lack of development of Sam's powers. Again, this probably had to do with the rushed feeling, but we've got a girl connected to the weather! Lets exploit that and see some major action scenes! The action we did have was definitely anti-climatic after Generation 18's pretty great action moments.
So it wasn't my favorite, but Penumbra was a pretty good read. And, even though I haven't seen anything about future books yet, the ending is definitely open for more. And I'd definitely read them - as long as I'm not in a reading funk.