Not at all a bad book, just one I'm never going to like. I've tried a couple of times, a year apart, but something about the voice of the main character (warrior Dad, protector of daughters) just doesn't connect with me. The essentially-contemporary London street setting with psi powers and rival gangs and an Earth-spanning fungal network god is also not top of my favourite collections of tropes. It doesn't help that this is the second book of a series - not that it hindered comprehension at all, as the narrator helpfully recaps context of everything, but it does mean that I'm dropped into a bunch of pre-existing conflicts without having time to get to know or care about anyone first. All combined means the book became a slog for me, where it may well delight someone else who just happens to like different things. ( )

The Liminal War

I received this book from Library Things Early Reviewers in return for an honest review. This is the second book in this series but I have not read the first book.
I enjoyed this book but it took me time to find understanding of the characters and the history from the first book in this series. I think if I had read the first book “The luminal People” is would have given me a better insight into the characters and the history of this series.
This book center around Taggert and his two “daughters”, one of whom has been captured and sent back into time by the “Alters” and has become a negative influence in the world but not by her choice.
Taggert and his team of two travel thru time to rescue her from her capture and battle with multiple Demons of an alternate world.
It is a fast paced adventure with rapidly changing surrounding in different times of the past.. The battle is mental and physical and multiple characters are brought into play.
I enjoyed the book even though I have not read the first installation. I found the powers of each person/demon interesting and enjoyed that rapid action and pace of the book. ( )

I didn't love this book as much as the first, and I chalk that up mostly to having a whole bunch of new characters, concepts, and rules introduced in this volume. I found it challenging to keep everything and everyone sorted as the story unfolded, which was frustrating and detracted from my overall enjoyment.

I'm looking forward to the third volume! There's so much more to tell, and I want to know how it ends. ( )

I was given a copy of this book as part of the LibraryThing Reviewers program. However, the publisher only provided me with a version that was unreadable (in terms of formatting) on my Kindle - which is where I read all my books. So I haven't been able to read this yet. If I am provided with an actual Kindle formatted copy, I will read and review.

Hmmm, I think this is mostly a case of "middle book syndrome," but I didn't like The Liminal War as much as I liked The Liminal People. This book will be very hard to follow for anyone who didn't read the first book. All of the character work was in The Liminal People, and there isn't much exposition, even for the newly introduced elements. I get that the Alters are supposed to be mysterious and that Taggert is paying insufficient attention to the larger conflicts, but there was so little background or discussion of the "War" and what Alters are that there wasn't much sense of the stakes.

Pros: Taggert and Tamara are both still great characters (think superheroes, but without most of the heroism). They're charismatic, but with serious personality damage; no superficial character "flaws" here. And Mico is an interesting contrast; I really liked his character progression (the opposite of a religious epiphany? Music as a superior conduit for spirituality?). Plus, guest appearances by Bob Marley and Robert Johnson! This book should have an official soundtrack. The action sequences are fast and dirty, too, especially the first fight with Poppy (in my head, this made a glorious anime scene).

Cons: As I said, all the setup and world building are in The Liminal People, and I miss them here. Unfortunately, Prentis is basically a MacGuffin and we see little of her; I didn't have any reason to care about Samantha this time, either. Same for Nordeen, for all that he's the most personal and developed of the villains (he loses much of the menace from the previous book). Poppy was a good creepy monster at first, but some of that eventually wore thin. Also, the chaos knives are less interesting that Taggert's inherent powers.

Overall, it was a well-paced, quick read with good action and an engaging, complicated central character; the writing is tight and the "soundtrack" works well with the story. But it didn't hold up quite as well as The Liminal People. Like with many "superhero" stories (even the non-heroic ones) the detail that was lavished on the first chapter "origin story" went a little flat in the second act. I still will probably read The Entropy of Bones to find out what's up with Chabi and how/if this book's cliffhanger is resolved. ( )