REVIEW: Mind Games

Carolyn Crane
Mind Games (Disillusionists #1)
Spectra
ISBN-10: 0553592610
ISBN-13: 978-0553592610
Urban fantasy
March 23, 2010

Description via Amazon:

JUSTINE KNOWS SHE’S GOING TO DIE. ANY SECOND NOW.

Justine Jones has a secret. A hardcore hypochondriac, she’s convinced a blood vessel is about to burst in her brain. Then, out of the blue, a startlingly handsome man named Packard peers into Justine’s soul and invites her to join his private crime-fighting team. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime deal. With a little of Packard’s hands-on training, Justine can weaponize her neurosis, turning it outward on Midcity’s worst criminals, and finally get the freedom from fear she’s always craved. End of problem.

Or is it? In Midcity, a dashing police chief is fighting a unique breed of outlaw with more than human powers. And while Justine’s first missions, including one against a nymphomaniac husband-killer, are thrilling successes, there is more to Packard than meets the eye. Soon, while battling her attraction to two very different men, Justine is plunging deeper into a world of wizardry, eroticism, and cosmic secrets. With Packard’s help, Justine has freed herself from her madness—only to discover a reality more frightening than anyone’s worst fears.

Slight spoilers.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and ask you, fellow readers….have you ever read an author’s work that was so wickedly imaginative that you wanted to set that imagination down and just…pick it apart? Go all Dr. Frankenstein on it and put it back together again? Dissect it? Buy it some flowers, maybe roll in it naked – OK, whoa! Sorry about that! Somebody let my Reader’s Fantasy Choice Awards out of the crazy closet. No worries. It’s totally safe to come back out, fellow crazies. I mean readers! Dammit.

Anyway! So how about this book, eh? Like some have noted in their own reviews of this one, I feel a little odd about reviewing it. I don’t know the author personally, but like many, I’ve enjoyed her online presence and found her to be an enjoyable, hilarious and genuine. I think it really goes without saying that a lot of us didn’t really worry if we’d like Mind Games or not, like absently patting a friend you know is ultra talented already – you just know everything’s going to be A-OK with their book.

I enjoyed Mind Games to a point, but there was a lot that I felt came across under the debut work category, as in, OK, this is the first book. The author has plenty of time to grow from here. I say this a lot about first in a series, but again, they’re hard. They can be too much or too little across all points that count: characterization, worldbuilding, dialogue, prose, etc. It’s hard to get that perfect balance. I wasn’t altogether convinced that this one achieved that balance.

What is most assured is that it is unequivocally one of the most unique urban fantasy books I’ve ever read. I love this book’s premise. Highcaps being the alternative to what we’ve known before as mentally talented folk like telekinetics, but also a few that I hadn’t heard of either. The idea behind the “psychological hit squad” that Justine takes up with. The other disillusionists that make up said team. I really enjoyed all these aspects.

That being said, I was truly dismayed to find myself loosing interest once the book passed about midpoint. The story isn’t particularly fast-paced. One reason could be is that we have to get to know Justine and the new life she’s slowly merging into. We are just being introduced to the building blocks of the series in this case, and it’s certainly true that the disillusionists aren’t the kind of action super heroes we’re more used to in urban fantasy. They attack via their own neuroses and insecurities, passing those toxic feelings off to their target in exchange for temporary freedom from their own obsessiveness. I loved the twist that is introduced to this aspect and it has everything to do with their leader, Packard, who owns the restaurant Mongolian Delights. I do love me some moral ambiguity in urban fantasy and buddy, let me tell you, this book is the Candyland of Moral Ambiguity. Everyone here has their own unique shades of gray (I said I was going to stop using that phrase regarding UF, but it really is so true in this case) that created this really intricate layer upon layer upon layer of conflict. You really have to think about the implications of what the disillusionists do and the consequences of their work.

I just wish that said conflict had remained interesting to me. For one, I had this overwhelming feeling at one point that I would’ve loved a little more fantasy in this one. Yes, we have the highcaps, the disillusionist talents, and there’s even the Brick Slinger serial killer that terrorizes Midcity via exactly how his name sounds. None of this ever came across to me as particularly UF to me, though, as it all felt…well, a little muted. I’m not saying this because it wasn’t the usual high-action, butt kicking leather and weapons. I’m actually glad to have read an UF different from that norm (How often do we here UF is all the same? Hello, you can stop saying this for good now, not that you couldn’t before though.), but maybe it was the matter-of-fact way Justine accepts her new role with the disillusionists. Yes, she has nerves about the jobs she has to do, but I never really sensed many highs or lows in emotion from her unless it was her hypochondria coming out to play. The whole tone of the book felt very even across the board. If a relationship was destroyed, if a bad guy was stopped, If some highly suspect techniques were needed to get the job done, if there was some big realization – I just never felt as if any of the characters reacted particularly, well, big enough for the situations in question. Sure, there’s a lot of internalized thoughts from Justine on what this all means, but when it came to the characters reacting, showing how this affected them, I didn’t feel much.

There’s a romantic angle to the book, and I’m also even more dismayed about it because of how I ended up feeling. And that was disappointed. There’s been the longstanding protest against any kind of romance in fantasy, let alone urban fantasy. I always say that’s bunk. Love makes the world go round and all, and it would actually seem more unrealistic to me to have a main character that never ever connected romantically with another, even if it was just some really intense looks and near-brushes with romance over several series books. In Mind Games, tough, Justine manages to go through three rather confusing romantic scenarios. One is with her boyfriend, Cubby, who she’s with as the book opens. Then there’s Packard. And then there’s police chief Otto Sanchez. It was interesting how Justine’s relationship with Cubby was tied into her insecurities. My interest was piqued by Packard. I was clued in a little too early about Otto because Justine, whenever she talks about how good a job he’s doing cleaning up the city’s crime, she talks in this really enraptured way that made it clear he’s something other than what he appears. It also was a big ‘ole clue that Justine just might have a secret, unrealized desire for the chief. At some point, this all became too much for me. I didn’t find any of Justine’s own involvement in these relationships to be particularly genuine, nor the involvement of the men in question. Cubby was a selfish asshole, and I wanted better for Justine. Packard was obviously a manipulative jerk – again, let’s have something better for Justine. Then there’s Otto – gorgeous, charismatic, accomplished, very successful. But Justine’s relationship with him is built on deception, just as most of the book is. These aspects of the book didn’t really do anything for me. After she engages with Otto on a more serious romantic level, I think this is where the book really started to go downhill for me. Because even though their actions were serious, again, there wasn’t the depth of commitment or emotion that I wanted to see.

The amusing thing to me after finally talking about what didn’t work for me is that I don’t know how to rate the book. It’s one of those where what happens in this installment is in no way measurable until we find out what happens in the next book (and I do want to read the next despite my reservations). This one set forth events that aren’t really fully realized yet. It’s one big continuing series arc. And there’s nothing wrong with that…except my hesitation on how to grade it. So I will take into account that the book is truly unique and exceptional for urban fantasy today; the characters, while I wished they’d been fleshed out more, are at least interesting and clearly have a lot more to offer; a highly clever and enviable premise that shows off a lot of smarts on the author’s part; a disappointing array of romantic relationships that honestly were a little depressing; worldbuilding that needed a little more oomph. Thins like that. And in all fairness, there’s a lot of very good things about the book, but I had to focus on why it became a little disappointing for me. And that’s just because I wanted to love it so much.

Mind Games is not a bad book by any means. It’s a decent series first with a few hangups, but I look forward to seeing how it pans out in the second book, where I suspect it will stretch its wings a little more.

Rating: Three Scoops

Book 2, Double Cross, releases September, 28, 2010, and has yet another fabulous cover. Visit the author’s site for more details.