The second Splinter Angel novel is essentially the second half of the first arc and ends up just as good as the first. Not seeing any continuation available for pre-order I moved on to the web novel version from there.
The third novel is not as good and begins to show some rather worrying trends that ultimately get doubled-down on in the fourth, which is where I dropped it. The author very much seems to be stalling, as if they don’t know where to take the story after leaving the initial splinter. They also seem to be doing that thing where they want the protagonist to be overpowered but also still a struggling underdog and that just does not work.
It’s been… a little over five months since I picked up the first published Practical Guide to Evil novel and with still no sign of the second I decided to risk the disconnect and read the web novel version. Fortunately the transition turned out to be nowhere near as severe as originally thought.
The remainder of the initial first novel stands out mostly for feeling unfinished. I very much see why the author wanted to do an extended rewrite of this section, as there are some rather severe timeline gaps. Which, incidentally, makes the gap between it and the published version seem insignificant in comparison. The second novel’s much better in all respects and is practically perfect. The third though begins to drift the other way, feeling as though it’s been padded out beyond its natural length… which ends up being a persistent flaw that only gets worse toward the series’ end; I would’ve dropped it early in the last novel had it not already been concluded.
Aside from the pacing there’s really only one other flaw: A large number of technical errors. While almost all are minor things like typos or missing/misplaced words (there are only a handful of plot-relevant ones, a miracle considering the amount of content), they are very much noticeable and can break the flow of otherwise poignant scenes. Although personally, I also took issue with the Intercessor’s abilities being continuously buffed/expanded as the series progressed and how in the later novels the protagonist frequently flip-flops between eldritch powerhouse and impotent bystander.
On the positive side of things the characters are to a one fantastic and the dialog in particular is flawless. When someone speaks you can usually know who’s speaking without there having to be a name attached, and the banter in particular is eminently memorable. That alone makes this series well worth reading and I do not regret for a moment the time spent working through the roughly 21 normal-sized novels worth of web content.
