Tag Archives: The City Between series

Between Kings (The City Between 10) by WR Gingell

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Stars: 4 out of 5

What a great ending to a great series. All the different threads carefully hinted at during the previous books finally come to play and are resolved in a satisfactory manner. All the friendships Pet has cultivated in the previous books come to play as well.

You can really see just how much Pet has grown up between book one and book 10. In the first book, she might as well have been a ghost. She was so afraid of loosing her house that she lived only in order to earn enough money to buy it out. Nothing existed beyond work and hiding in her own home. We watched her gain confidence, both in herself and her abilities. We watched her make friends and stick by them in difficult moments. Most importantly, we watched her open her heart to other people and actually enjoy life instead of trying to exist as a ghost in her own house.

I loved that all the friends she collected along the way came to her help in the end, even the leprechaun. This was a nice juxtaposition to the idea Behindkind has that friendship is a burden and that anyone can stab you in the back, or that there is no such thing as freely given aid. Pet helped all of those people at one point of the other, and didn’t ask for anything in return. So they all showed up to help her, and to save the other heirlings stuck in the King’s arena. Heck, even the old butler had a redeeming moment.

I was surprised by the twist in the end. Not going to mention it to avoid spoilers, but let’s just say that the new King of Behind is… an interesting fellow.

My only complaint is that this book dragged in the beginning. There is a lot of running around doing mostly nothing for the first 50% of the story. So much so that I had to put it down and walk away for a few days because I was getting bored. Once the action picks up again, it’s a fun ride to the end, with satisfactory conclusions all around. The way Pet defeated the former King is a stroke of genius.

I am glad I found this series, and I will definitely check out other books by this author.

Between Family (The City Between 9) by W.R. Gingell

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Stars: 5 out of 5.

Well, that was an explosive start of a book. Our characters are still reeling from the revelations that happened in the previous book, and the bloody betrayal and massacre that they culminated in. They are all copping with this in their own broken and twisted ways. In the case of Zero, by struggling with emotions that he’d spent a lifetime trying to suppress. And then the heirling trials start…

This book was fast-paced and full of tension. Pet and Zero were literally in a life and death situation for most of it. I am glad to see that even when push comes to shove, Pet doesn’t abandon her convictions and her friends. It was rewarding to see her try her best to save everyone she considers family by gathering them all in the only safe place she knows – her house. It was also rewarding to see that those friends returned her friendship and stayed true. There were no further betrayals apart from the one at the end of the previous book. 

I am also glad that this almost love-triangle deal between Pet, Zero, and Jin-Yeong. Pet finally sorted her feelings and understood who was dear to her heart. I also loved her rationale behind it. That Jin-Yeong always saw her for who she really was, and trusted her implicitly, with his life sometimes. He didn’t see her as a pet or damsel in distress. He believed in her abilities even more than she did sometimes.

It was also rewarding to see her finally get a better grip on her powers. Her solution for ending the trials was rather ingenious.

And of course, it was extremely satisfying to see Zero’s dad finally bite the dust in such an… undignified way. Oh how low has the mighty fallen. Killed by two beings he considered so beneath him that they were no more than animals – a human and a vampire.

The ending was another punch in the gut though. The stakes are higher than ever, and the war has been declared. I can’t wait to pick up the last book in the series and see how Pet will be able to resolve this situation.

Between Homes (The City Between 5) by W.R. Gingell

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Stars: 5 out of 5.

This was the best book in the series so far, at least in my opinion. Mostly because the ending of the last book brought home that it’s not all fun and games anymore. Pet made a serious choice and must live with the consequences in this book. I’m glad to see that she is sticking to her guns and decides to do what’s right, and to help where she can, even if she doesn’t have the looming presence (and protection) of two fae and a vampire at her back. Well, she has the vampire eventually, but that’s a different story.

I love that Pet continues to accumulate friends and found family around herself. Now she has Morgana and Daniel, and a whole werewolf pack to book, and mysterious kids on the roof of a mysterious house. I think this ability to empathize and make friends with the underdogs is her real magical power, not the fact that she can pull stuff out of Between into human world. She has a keen sense as to who is fundamentally a good person even if they did something stupid or harmful, and who isn’t, and she hasn’t been wrong so far.

The two cases that are investigated in this book are also very interesting. One is a killer that attacks fae and that nobody can see it seems, and the other is the case of a child that the Behindkind took a particular interest to. We learn a bit more about heirlings and harbringers and maybe who Pet really is and why she and her parents lived like they did. Hopefully, this will be explored further in consecutive books. 

I also liked that Pet managed to get her point across to Zero in the end and explain why helping humans mistreated by Behindkind maters to her. And maters enough that she was willing to live her home and the safety that the Troika offered her because staying would have betrayed her moral principles on that matter. 

Between Shifts (The City Between 2) by W.R. Gingell

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Stars: 4.5 out of 5.

This series is a delight to read so far. The first book introduced us to this bizarre world and the trio of not-so-human psychos, and we are getting better acquainted with all of them in this book. Also, werewolves are real. Oh, sorry, lycanthropes. They don’t like being called werewolves.   

Pet has a knack of picking up strays and getting emotionally attached to them. In the first book, it was detective Tuatu (who is decidedly more friendly in this book) and the old mad bloke. In this one it’s Daniel, the lycanthrope with a plethora of werewolf issues on top of the usual pile of teenage raging hormones issues. And you know what? I really like that about Pet. Her good heart and compassion is a nice foible to the callous disregard the other three display towards humans. 

My suspicion is also growing that she isn’t a simple human, and I think that the trio is aware of that, but chose not to tell her anything for reasons. I mean why did her parents raise her in such secrecy that there were almost no records of her, and nobody even thought to look for her when they were murdered? Also, a simple human wouldn’t be able to yank objects from Between, or persuade them to be something other than they appear in the human world. Not to mention see Between and be able to navigate it. No, there is more to Pet that meets the eye, and I am looking forward to discovering what it is.

The story itself was pretty straightforward, at least to me, but I still had a blast reading it, mainly because I love the interactions between Pet and her three psychos. The side characters are also pretty engaging. I mean detective Tuatu was a bit of a prick in the first book, but he is growing  on me. Ultimately, he his heart is in the right place. 

I am definitely looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

Between Jobs (The City Between 1) by W.R. Gingell

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Stars: 4 out of 5.

This is the strangest book I’ve read in a long time. Oh, don’t get me wrong, it’s strange in a good way, and I absolutely loved it, but it is weird.

It starts in a slightly usual way for an urban fantasy, with an ordinary girl and three beautiful strangers that aren’t human… But wait, because the strangers are much more interesting than the usual urban fantasy fare, and the girl… well, I’m still not convinced she is entirely human. And together they form this weird dysfunctional family that is rather fascinating to read about.

The world itself is also pretty original. Not only does the action happen in Tasmania, instead of the usual USA / UK setting, but the supernatural elements are rather original. We have our real world, that the humans inhabit. then we have the Behind, where fae and other creatures originate from. And linking them together is the Between, a strange ever-changing place that is not really here, but also not really there, and where time, space and even shapes are malleable. Fae can travel the Between to go from our reality into the Behind and back again. Humans can’t, unless they are taken in by a fae, or slip accidentally into an opened passageway.  Most of those who end up Between don’t come back, or if they do, the experience drove them to madness. 

I really liked this book. I loved the story itself, but also everything else that was alluded to but never clearly explained, because it feels like there is a whole vast world to explore, and this book only scratched its surface. I also really loved Pet. This girl has no fear or sense of self-preservation, but her interactions with the three psychos are really fun to read about. I’m sure there is a bigger mystery about the murder of her parents and how she managed to survive hidden in that house for four year without anyone even being aware of her existence. I hope this will be explained in later books, and I will happily be there for the ride. 

I should also mention that these books are fairly short, so it’s a quick sweet read between heftier books just for a change of tone and pace.