Escaping from Houdini has to be one of the most frustrating YA books ever written (Rant Review)
Adult reader here. No I'm not giving this book a free pass just because it was marketed to the YA age bracket. That's not an excuse for anything. If I could insert a thousand screaming gifs right here because GOOD LORD was this an experience and not a positive one. I enjoyed Stalking Jack the Ripper despite its flaws, and even with Audrey Rose acting like an idiot for the first half of Hunting Prince Dracula (which I ranted about here a little while ago) I did find parts of it entertaining enough that I managed not to ragequit before the end. But this book? THIS BOOK?????? It's now on my list of Books I Consider My Archnemeses next to Fourth Wing (apologies to any fans) which is still in the #1 spot. This is a great dishonor and any book that ends up on this list really managed to infuriate me, which doesn't actually happen that often so it's a big deal when it does. Again, it's not the age bracket that was the problem - I read all sorts of books for all age groups without prejudice and enjoy them if I think they're written well, but I think would've crashed out even worse if I'd read this book as a teenager. It feels like it was written solely to cure the "I want to write a book with magical circus vibes too but creating an aesthetic is going to supercede crafting a good plot" bug that bit everybody in the wake of The Night Circus (trust me I have just as many grievances against the Caraval trilogy because of this). Because seriously WHAT was this 😭
List of Complaints in No Particular Order
-There was absolutely NO reason for this book to be over 400 pages long. The vast majority of it consisted of what turned out to be a somewhat pointless and extremely meandering subplot involving Audrey Rose (AR) and Mephistopheles (M). Nearly all if not all of it entirely could have been cut out because the "bargain" between them barely even made sense and only existed to manufacture unnecessary drama between AR and Cresswell (C). Two thirds of the way through I was like "What even is the point of this?" and couldn't come up with a sufficient enough answer to justify it being a major plot point. I am amazed the editor didn't have anything to say about this because it really dragged the book down and distracted from the mystery, and then didn't really even end up being relevant to the murderer reveal
-Splitting AR and C up for nearly the entire book was a MASSIVE mistake. Part of what got me through the weaker parts of the previous two books was the banter and the working relationship between the two of them. Even in AR's most frustrating moments, the banter between them was fun to read. This book by contrast was such a slog because the author just had to create an unnecessary love triangle (that barely even was one because AR was only mildly interested in M so you never really believed she was legitimately going to dump C for good). AR and M had no chemistry, the banter was annoying, and every time they had a scene together I felt like tearing my hair out because...
-MEPHISTOPHELES IS THE MOST OBNOXIOUS ROMANTIC RIVAL IN THE HISTORY OF ROMANTIC RIVALS 🤬 Okay yes I'm exaggerating, but THAT'S how much I hated this guy. Setting aside AR losing all of her deductive brain cells for no reason because the plot said so (seriously he was so off from the very beginning that there was NO way any sensible person would've made any kind of bargain with him), he was seriously the absolute worst. First off, he KNEW AR and C were together from the moment he met them and yet decided to interfere with their love life for...what? Shits and giggles? There was never any clear reason for it, he just did it because again, the plot said so. Also talk about the disrespect - SIR THE WOMAN WAS ALREADY TAKEN. LEAVE HER AND HER FIANCE ALONE!!!!!!! Yes, I get that the point was to "explore" AR's fear of being trapped in a marriage and needing to overcome that by recognizing that C would never try to cage her, but it was so horribly executed I wanted M himself to be murdered by the end.
This guy literally took advantage of her emotional vulnerability by intentionally confusing her about her feelings and dangling "what if you could have REAL freedom with ME" in front of her all for his own satisfaction apparently. Then he purposely tried to make C jealous - again, for his own apparent satisfaction - by waving his fake relationship with AR in front of his face, even when C was trying to help him save his carnival in investigating the murders. He never even thanked C for helping to save his ass in the end? Like bro your carnival survived because he and AR figured out who the real culprit was and thereby took the heat off of you??????
In addition to this, he was extremely creepy when pushing not one but TWO kisses on AR when she was still confused and HE WAS TAKING ADVANTAGE OF HER CONFUSION!!!! And then when all was said and done he was framed as being a good guy all along and was never held accountable for any of his shitty behavior by either AR or C?????? If I was AR I would've slapped the life out of him both for assuming "oh yeah she actually wants me to kiss her even though she's engaged to some other guy and is extremely conflicted right now" and for inadvertently almost getting my fiance killed. Because it was his shenanigans that got them too embroiled with the carnival in the first place. Plus the fact that he insisted on continuing the performances even though someone ended up dead after every single one iirc? I get that he had a business to run but what an ass! Also, again, the "I know you wanted it" attitude towards the kissing, like wtf no! C should've thrown him overboard after finding out about the dumbass bargain
-The Liza/Houdini plotline was barely relevant even though the book made it out to be a big deal at the beginning. Again, the AR/M plotline overtook EVERYTHING including
-The actual mystery. I thought the culprit made more sense than the one in the previous book, but there was so much meandering in the middle of it that the reveal lost all of its impact by the time it happened. Referring back to point #1: the book was WAY too long. Most of the middle chapters felt like needless dramatic filler where the case didn't go anywhere and existed only to pad out the word count for seemingly no reason. I guessed the killer's motive pretty early on and there was no point to dragging out the investigation for so long when it was obvious either a carnival worker or a crew member on the ship had committed the murders. It felt like the author was trying to make it more convoluted than it actually was and ultimately it ended up becoming kind of a snoozefest. Which is unfortunate for a book that was primarily billed as a murder mystery
Anyway that's it for now. I have too much respect for books to hurl them across a room in a rage but the desire to do so is VERY real with this one 😭 Unfortunately for me I am a fiercely dedicated completionist (to the detriment of my sanity) so I will still be subjecting myself to the 4th book just to see how the series ends. If that gives me more to rant about, mark my words you will likely see me again lmao