The Uncertain Places: A Rambling Review

The Uncertain Places by Lisa Goldstein

I feel like this book started out strong and then in the second half it got messy and kind of ridiculous. I liked the initial mystery surrounding the Feierabend family, but I think the source of the mystery was revealed too soon and lost some of its appeal. Also, the romance between Livvy and Will really isn't shown to the reader much at all; since this isn't a romance, that's okay, but the fact of the matter is that Livvy's wellbeing is Will's primary motivation for a good chunk of the book, which was hard to care about when we hadn't watched their relationship grow (and plus, I was kinda wary of Livvy for quite a while).

And then when they end up in the other realm everything just went Alice-in-Wonderland-y with bizarre, random occurrences happening and everyone being cool with them and going with the flow. That surreal sort of vibe tends to rub me the wrong way, as the logical part of my brain keeps yelling, 'Why would you go and do a thing like that?' It felt rushed towards the end, too, like the author was scrambling to tie up a whole bunch of storylines, without giving them enough time to breathe and feel like they were fully developed. Some things really weren't explained properly at all. Spoiler, highlight to read: Like why was Nell keeping the queen in that locked room? Was the queen Nell's prisoner? Or was she a guest in her house? I think the second half of the story definitely could have used some more editing.

I did like the whole notion of sacrifices and bargains, and the fact that these were an integral part of the other realm. I think the main villain, though, could have been made more cunning; she makes a pretty stupid error at one point that lowered her somewhat in my estimation. Spoilery details: The queen of the Fae doesn't realize that Will picks the sack so that he can conjure up Lizzy from it? I can't believe she wouldn't see that coming.

Overall I feel like this book had potential, but the slapdash execution of the second half of the story let it (and me) down.

3 shooting stars.