This book is a DNF. I am listening to an audiobook from the publisher, and it just cannot keep my attention. It’s a sci-fi set in Japan, but at the same time involves castle and train travel and modern society, and it just is not working together well enough to keep my attention. I am 15% of the way in and have no idea what is going on and so for me this story ends

ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I wanted to like Pixies in the Mist. I made it 20% of the way through the audiobook and I gave up. I couldn't bring myself to finish listening to it. DNF

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* This overall wasn't a bad book but as an adult reading it, it was too simple? there was a lot going on but the story itself was just very, simplistic when it didn't have to be.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher/author for providing me with an ALC in exchange for my honest review.

This book was exactly what I wanted it to be! I loved it. I will make sure to check out other books by this author. When I requested this I was just intrigued by the concept of it and I loved how it turned out. This story had a great plot and if you have read this and enjoyed it, This was so much. It was such a great story. I would say give this one a try. I will continue to follow this author. Way to go to this author for not letting me down.

I highly enjoyed the narrator of the audiobook. Kept me listening.

Sadly I must say that I didn't like this story. I could not connect to any of the characters either in loving them or disliking them. And it was difficult to follow the plot.

DNF. Fairies and pixies have never been my thing but I thought I'd give it a go. Unfortunately, I simply couldn't get into the story. The narrator felt very monotone – sometimes it took a few moments to realise that the POV had changed. The weird racist undertones directed towards the Japanese characters didn't help either, given that the book parly takes place in Japan.

This book had a fantastic premise. It combines a unique mix of elements: Japanese culture, salsa dancing, and urban fantasy. However, the book has a very quiet start. I would have expected a book of this genre to have a high tension moment early on to pull me into the story, but this book took a quieter route. While there are excellent merits in a slower-paced, less tension-filled story, I kept wanting to feel more engaged with the plot.

Much like the plot, I expected to really enjoy the characters based on what I read from the summary. And while the characters themselves weren’t unlikable, I struggled to connect with them. The author did a great job showing character growth and development, but I wasn’t emotionally invested enough in the characters to want appreciate that growth throughout the story.

This book has an excellent setting and magic system. While non-Western European novels are becoming more and more common in the Fantasy publishing world, it’s still rare to see Asia-based stories so I appreciated the change in pace as well as getting to learn about another culture. The secret magic society existing without our familiar world was also a fun aspect of the story that I enjoyed discovering more about while I read this book.

Pixies in the Mist is the debut novel by Rasta Musick. I loved discovering the magic system in this book, specifically how this secret society of magic co-existed in our modern world. The book has an excellent plot premise and promising characters. However, either due to the writing style or the slow pacing of the story, I struggled to feel engaged and invested in the story or the growth of the main characters.

Overall, I enjoyed the story. Jake was overly impulsive, and Kenneth was too cautious and overprotective. These personality traits caused most of the conflict within the book. I would have liked more balance within the characters, and more variety in the cause of conflict.

I didn't find myself sucked into the story. I simply enjoyed it. Great narrator.

Thanks to NetGalley and Cinnabar Moth Publishing for the ARC.

This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review. But I wasn't able to listen to it as it was archived.

2/5

I picked this up and almost immediately put it down and didn't pick it up again before the download expired. Wasn't for me but some will definitely love this!

I received the Audio ARC book from Netgally in exchange for an honest review.

Please have a look at the blurb of the book before reading my thoughts as I won’t be talking about that here.

I wasn’t entórnele sure about the book from the beginning there were a couple of instances where I was uncomfortable for example in chapter 3 Jake is in his dancing club in Japan dancing with random people and he tells Kenneth “how can you remember everyone so easily? I can’t barely keep 2 or 3 people apart” So I was like Woooow hang on a minute and i rewind it to hear once again. And yeah our hero is a bit of a racist. Same chapter he gets annoyed because Latinos spoke to him in Spanish while in a salsa club (still in Japan) For me adding certain stereotypes can be kept out of book when they don’t have an specific intention or elaborate on it further? So why was this even relevant?
The story develops little by little and theres a lot of telling but very little happening. I felt there was a long time on world building but not much on the magic side and the characters don’t really develop much either.
As we follow Jake in his own magic discovery we are only starring at what he does, and lacking communication skills with his friend Keneth and hiding things from each other and the typical curiosity of the “chosen one” made me think it was a YA book but the target audience it’s actually adult.
I like the idea of the mist and controlling it and the different creatures within the world are a nice touch but then again I didn’t see much of a purpose on the first few chapters as they seem completely irrelevant by chapter 10.
In chapter 11 there’s a conversion where Jake confronts Keneth and tells him “you’ve been lying to me for years” and here I’m thinking the whole time it was just a question of weeks of friendship??
There are enough inconsistencies throughout the book that i felt they needed to do a little more work on editing the book and read again and maybe culling it a little more.
The ending is abrupt and rushed but I think that’s because they might want to do a series out of it. But I’m not interested in continuing.

I'm sorry. I don't really want to be too negative, but I think this was just not for me. There were so many issues that after awhile, I just couldn't help being continually being pulled out of the story.

You never know, maybe it was just a bad day, but this was very DIFFICULT to finish. But I did. I did not want to DNF and give it 1 star, so I made it to the end.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. The opinions above are mine and mine alone.

First of all I would like to say thank you to the publisher, the author and net galley for allowing me access to an advance reader copy of this book.

I think this is a simple story going through with a middle grade fantasy with happily ever after I think that the premise is really enjoyable and the adventure the children had on the way after finding out their parents left and that they were secretly involved in a fantastical world and the children are exploring it once they are attacked was great

This book is set in an interesting world. That's about the best I can say about it. There is no story. It's just all world-building without any real plot and with no real character growth. It could have been a cute romcom about two foreigners meeting in Japan and becoming close as they manufacture reasons to hang out together... But instead all the "romantic tingles" are chalked up to magic because "no Homo Bro".
The magical aspect is so underutilized. It serves almost no purpose beyond creating a reason for the boys to want to be together, but since this is not (apparently, I couldn't keep reading beyond the first 50%) a romance, there doesn't need to be a reason to bring them together.
The setting also serves no purpose. It doesn't *feel* like Japan. Why set a magical book in Japan if you aren't going to include any type of Japanese culture or mythology? Every character we spend any kind of time with is a foreigner.
I listened to this audio at double speed hoping to get to the good part, but by halfway it was still so boring that there was no reason to go forword. There's no plot, no point, and the characters aren't interesting enough to read a slice of life about them. There is simultaneously too much going on to be cohesive and not enough going on to be interesting.

I received an Advanced Reader Copy in audiobook form of this book from NetGalley and Cinnabar Moth Publishing LLC in exchange for my honest review of this book.

Jake and Kenneth meet while Salsa dancing. Jake contains magical powers, unbeknownst to him, until Kenneth comes along. Kenneth is a pixie working undercover to find magical humans, and his newest magical human ends up being Jake.

While the characters were built well, I never felt that pull of growing to know and love them. We were merely introduced, with no chance to learn who they really are. The story was good, though slower-paced than usual, and Andre Santana did a fantastic job in narrating the story. There were parts where the story seemed to fizzle out a little, but I hung on simply because the narration was so good.

I was intrigued with the world of Jake and Kenneth, and hope that there is more to come.

#NetGalley #PixiesintheMist

Okay for a young reader, early teens introduction into science fiction. The story is simple. I didn't care for either of the main characters. The attitudes were childlike; refusing to move in spite of being in an emergency situation. The pixies, mist, and creatures were not complicated, however I didn't feel a flow or connection to the storyline.

Thank you NetGalley for accepting my request to read and review this book.

Recieved via netgallery to give a honest review.
I was very excited to get in to this book, I loved the idea of magic being a plot base line. I found the characters hard to connect with as you never seem to fully get to know them, the story always seemed to just skim the edge of who they where.
Also when other characters are mentioned you never get a sense of who they are or what they may look like.I loved that it was set in Japan, it was based on magic and that you had 2 young people in to a hobby such as salsa. I’m pleased that there are more in the series and I still do look forward to giving them a go, as I feel more can come out of this reality. Hopefully connecting with the characters more.

I did enjoy the narrator, it was just a shame the characters didn’t have more in-depth description to bring them to life.

I couldn't get all the way through the book to be honest. Maybe it picks up pace and is less repetitive in the second part but I just couldn't keep my attention on it to find out. Its a great concept and has potential but reads like someone writing a daily journal where only small interesting bits change day to day and they feel the need to restate what seems important to them. Maybe I'd give it another shot if I know that some major edits got done to it.

I think I would have quite liked this as a book, but the narrator made the book/ characters sound bored and patronising. I didn’t realise this was a first book in a series (obviously my mistake), but hence it also never had the exciting ending I was hoping for. Overall good idea and I think I would have liked the book more.

I received the audiobook via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The premise of the book has potential, however, the two main characters were not very likable and were not very interesting. They were not developed enough for me to emotionally invest in their stories. Their interactions were awkward and I initially thought they might be awkwardly trying to flirt but that didn’t end up being the case. I think if the magical history of the book was more developed, I may have been more curious about the outcome.