Rant & Rave- The Ivy League Chronicles: 9 Squares by E.K. Prescott

Hello Everyone! This past month has been pretty slow-going on the reading front. I finished Jade Fire Gold by June C. Tan, the Owlcrate book from last month, as well as The Ivy League Chronicles: 9 Squares by E.K. Prescott from Paper Raven Books. This book was a break from my usual fantasy novels- a 1920's period murder mystery. Jade Fire Gold was of the calibre I've come to expect from Owlcrate. The plot was engaging and the characters were well-written. I particularly like that the characters bore the weight of their ancestry. I wish the book had ended a few chapters earlier. Spoiler alert- skip the parentheses if you dont want spoilers. (Why can't any of these characters sacrifice themselves and then STAY DEAD? They don't have to come back to life. Just have an epilogue that closes out the storyline without them.) Anyways, my only other complaint is that I wish the worldbuilding was more involved. I felt like there was a lot of name dropping and not enough fleshing out of the regions. E.K Prescott's The Ivy League Chronicles: 9 Squares follows Professor Detective Richard Wikki and Maize Judson as they attempt to solve a fifty year old mystery in the early 1920's. Professor Richard Wikki is missing the excitement of his life a detective, so when the opporunity to investigate a skeleton found on the beach arises he jumps at the opportunity. He soon discovers that there is much more to the story than a simple murder. Richard and Maize soon find themselves in imminent danger as they begin to piece together an elaborate conspiracy. So let's rant... My biggest complaint about this book was the complete lack of connection with the characters. It seemed like the characters and their actions were analyzed or judged, instead of simply described. This might have been driven by the 3rd person narration, or just the word choice. Either way, in my opinion, it took away from the reader's ability to relate to the characters. On the other hand, the characters all seemed psychologically accurate to me, just not relatable. My other issue with this book is the slow start. Part of this was on me- I tend to lose some of my reading motivation around this time of year, so I was already reading slowly. However, a lot of it had to do with my inability to connect with the characters and the fact that, up until Professor Wikki's trip to Boston, the book felt slow. There were brief parts, such as the very beginning section with Mr. Davenport and the discovery of the skeleton, that upped the excitement a bit, but it quickly died down again in the dribble. Hopefully, this was only to introduce the setting and personality of some of the key players so it won't be present in future books. And let's rave... I think this book does an excellent job of portraying the 1920's and the town of New Haven. The setting is clearly well-researched, and I really appreciated learning real facts about a specific time and place. I don't get that opportunity often as an avid fantasy reader. Another positive in this book was the plot. Without giving too much away, the plot was interesting and the end result was worth the slower start. Although, I don't think the slow start was necessary for the plot to shine. I'm undecided about reading the next book in the series, The Ivy League Chronicles: The Sins of Man, which came out in early October. While I've enjoyed this brief break from fantasy books, I'm not sure that period mysteries are for me. Let me know in the comments if you have read any of these books, and what you thought about them or my review. I love hearing from you guys! Dana