Critique: Dangerous Deception (Caster Chronicles; Dangerous #3) (Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl)

 

This plot was far more structured than Dangerous Creatures. With Dangerous Creatures, the plot’s direction wasn’t clear from the start and it simply fell into place as characters went from task to task. With Dangerous Deception, the plot’s direction is clear from the beginning.

Ridley has been captured by Abraham so Link and co decide to rescue her. Later they meet Angelique, a caster and Abraham’s escaped lab rat. During this period, Angelique had gained the powers of a Catalyst and she’s pretty crazy.

Link being in Oxford is so painful and made me cringe. This is fine: it fits the character. But his culture shock was bizarre to watch. And then he takes the mick out of British food. Um, excuse me but you’re the one that eats something called ‘grits’. Grit belongs on the road in icy weather, not on a dinner plate.

At the end, Rid’s been completely changed by Abraham’s experiments. When Link comes for her, she steps on a lolly, wonders if she still loves him, and says she’s no longer sweet. This is a great passage but it would have been better is she smashed the lolly between talking of love and sweet.

 

There were a few problems.

In this book, an Evo is described as getting the powers of another caster by touching them. The thing is, these are the powers of an Empath.

As Liv talks, she mentions that Abraham is Silas’ grandparent. Yet Link still feels the need to say, ‘”his granddad, Abraham.”’ Yes, we already know.

When John comes back to America, he gets Doritos and says he missed them. But Doritos are very popular in the UK. There’s no way he couldn’t have seen them.

 

This book wasn’t as funny as the previous ones but it didn’t need to be. The plot was serious with the characters having needle-like determination and focus. Too many jokes would have ruined the severity of the atmosphere.

Floyd wonders how Liv knows so much and Liv replies, ‘”there are these remarkable things called books.”’ Best line of the novel.

There’s a possibility that Floyd could die and Angelique says she’s ‘”happy to cremate her body.”’ Morbid but hilarious.

 

It’s been a really long time since Dangerous Deception was written. It makes me wonder if the series will continue at all. I hate not knowing what happens next but a good story would be better than a rushed story any day.