PopSugar Reading Challenge Book 6

Checking off 'has magic' on a book that really didn't feel that magical to me. In Simon R. Green's Ghost of a Chance, magic was a very subtle element in the overall story with the occasional spell or dark artifact. It blended in seamlessly with everything else going on which is ideal with urban fantasy.

Despite my love of the genre, I have mixed feelings about this book. The main characters are great and the banter is excellent. The events they were dealing with and the monster had hints of horror in addition to urban fantasy. The bones of a good series are here.

But I kept wanting to use the word 'contrived' over and over again. The Crowley Project agents were the best example of this. They're descriptions, dialogue, and wardrobe just did not feel natural. I couldn't tell if Green was trying to be tongue in cheek or sincere with his sociopathic villain in a pink leather cat suit. Either way it didn't work nearly as well as he or his editors intended.

I've heard good things about his other series so I'd give the second book a try and hope Ghost Finders found its footing. If you like the genre or his other work, this one will probably be worth a read but go into with low expectations. What I liked versus what I didn't balanced out to 'meh.'

This book and my last book were both disappointing. I know you can't love them all but it would be nice for me to actually like the next book on the list.