Lora Hates Spam

by Amy Kuivalainen

I got into this one a little slowly. It starts with a bizarre ritualistic murder, followed by an introduction to Penelope Byrne, archaeological researcher with an obsession with Atlantis.

The story quickly picks up and I got drawn in with interest. The story is part mystery, part fantasy magic. Some of the reveals feel a little clumsy and cliffhangers at the end of chapters were a little overdone, enough to feel contrived, but I liked the author's use of smell to create associations.

I'll admit what first got me interested in this story was that it was set in Venice, Italy. I've been there once for not long enough and was looking to capture the feel of the city. In that I wasn't entirely satisfied and felt a lot of things could have used more description, especially the reactions of the characters to events or things people said to them.

I felt the writing was around average. The story drew me in, but so many plot points felt under developed! The magic was also too Harry-Potter-fantasy to fit with an otherwise historical mystery feel. It was an original take on Atlantean mythology though and deserves points for that.

As it got close to the end, I couldn't help thinking it was getting set up for a 'next book'. I did like the ending, but the set up for the next book makes me feel the story is unfinished and that's a sore point with me in this age of series mentality. I prefer stand alone stories in general so that I get a complete story without having to buy more books!

This one could have had me for the next story if it had given me that feeling of being in Venice. The characters showed distinctive personalities and apart from a little too convenient magic, it was mostly believable on a fantasy level.