Indexing: Reflections

Indexing Series, Book 2

By: Seanan McGuire

Narrated by: Mary Robinette Kowal

Length: 12 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

"For her to love me, she had to be willing to kill me. Anything else would show that her heart was untrue."

The struggle against not-so-charming storybook narratives isn't the only complicating factor in Henrietta "Henry" Marchen's life. As part of the ATI Management Bureau team protecting the world from fairy tales gone awry, she's juggling her unwanted new status as a Snow White, dealing with a potentially dangerous Pied Piper, and wrangling a most troublesome wicked stepsister - along with a budding relationship with Jeff, her teammate.

But when a twisted, vicious Cinderella breaks out of prison and wreaks havoc, things go from disenchanted to deadly. And once Henry realizes someone is trying to use her to destroy the world, her story becomes far from over - and this one might not have a happily ever after.

Indexing: Reflections is New York Times bestselling author Seanan McGuire's continuing new urban fantasy, where everything you thought you knew about fairy tales gets turned on its head.

©2015 Seanan McGuire (P)2015 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Fun follow up to first book in series

Very enjoyable follow up to the first book. It did hurt my head at times if I tried to think too hard about the details of the "story" controlling and changing people's lives. I just had to go with the flow, so to speak, without thinking about it too deeply. I definitely would not recommend anyone start the series with this book. You really need to read book 1 first. I loved the humor in the book which was only enhanced by the reader of the audiobook. The narration was excellent with the minor exception of the male characters. Her male voices were weird and not so good but her female voices were varied and fantastic. Luckily there are more female characters than male (or they speak more, at least). If you enjoyed the first book, you should like the second as it's more of the same.

Even better than the first

This is a great series! I'm really looking forward to third book. ( Please, please let there be more books)

Absolutely wonderful!

This is my favorite author and she NEVER disappoints! I’m getting to start the next book in another series of hers and I’m so looking forward to it.

Wonderful and unpredictable follow-up.

Seanan McGuire delivered again. This second installment of the Indexing series is just as funny and heart-felt as the first. We get to meet a few new characters, delve deeper into old ones and see what's on the other side of the magic mirror. This novel splits the main character focus between Henry and Sloane allowing the reader a glimpse into the past of everyone's favorite unwilling, wicked step-sister. McGuire managed to maintain the delicate balance between humor, suspense and emotion that she set up in the first book. As with Indexing, reflections provides a satisfying ending but also opens enough doors to leave the reader hoping for more.

Mary Robinette Kowal remains the perfect narrator for this series, bringing extra life and interest to the words. She continues to demonstrate versatility in her style and portrayals.

Overall, I enjoyed this from beginning to end and might even say it was stronger than the first book. An excellent read that kept me interested and left me guessing what might happen next.

Loved These Books

Let me know when you do another one. Also, I saw a review where they down rated the performance because Sloane was so annoying. I agree, 100%. But I think that's part of the reason the performance needs to be 5 stars.

That said, please don't give Sloane that big of a narrative next time around. Love the character, but she does get on the nerves.

Great 2nd book for the series.

My rating: R (language); A++ for originality
Favorite character: Sloan again (The Valley Girl accent is grating, but the character is so redeeming of it!)

The ATI is still dedicated to stopping the Narrative, and our team members are still the same, Henry, Sloan, Jeff, Andy, and Demi (though others join the team at some point in the story and those characters are very interesting). I'm still greatly impressed by the world building here. So much thought (and so much background) goes into the idea behind the plot and the... If you'll excuse the pun...narrative of the story. I had no idea there were that many Snow White variations, though I'm intrigued enough to look into it myself.

We find out a LOT more about how the Narrative works, we find out Sloan's past (and just how long she's been with the ATI), and we find out more about our Bluebeard character. We even find out more about the Deputy Director (and possibly his reason for joining the ATI). There is so much information packed into this book that I'll likely have to listen again before the next one comes out (if another is coming). There is enough here that this could easily be the final installment, and enough that isn't explained that this could be the beginning of the series. Yes, the author is just that good.

Overall, I highly recommend this book, though to understand what is going on, I strongly suggest reading the first book in the series. This one is not a stand alone book.

brilliant!

I loved this story, as well as the first book in the series. Well written, well narrated and fun. I particularly enjoyed getting a second layer of understanding by looking up the Aarne-Thompson index and reading the original tales when I could. Fairytale and folklore are deep wells from which to draw, and Seanan McGuire does so well.

Great as always

Seaman McGuire continues his world of people forced into fairy tales and the sometimes terrible results. After all, Bluebeard always cut off his wife’s head if she opens a forbidden door. Although there is an overall problem with escaped prisoners, the team must respond to additional stories in progress. The narrator is excellent, easily allowing the listener to discern characters. Highly recommended.

great and fun story

I did listen at 2x which may have improved the narrator's voice since I've seen that as a complaint. still a great listen don't pass it up because of that!

Wonderful continuation of this series.

Well done continuation of this urban fantasy series where fairy tales come to life and disrupt our everyday lives. I really enjoy this series; it's very creative and I love how deep McGuire digs into the history of fairy tales.

I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook was very well done. The narrator did a great job with characters voices and with portraying emotion. My only complaint is that Sloan’s voice gets a bit grating at times.

A large part of the this story (maybe half) is told from Sloan’s POV. We learn a ton about what drives Sloan, her history, and how she got to be part of the Bureau. I really enjoyed this and loved learning more about Sloan.

The story also spends a lot of time with Henry as we delve deep, very deep, into the Snow White mythos. I enjoyed this alot and it really made me want to go and dig deeper into this story myself. This isn’t your Disney fairy tale princess (although Snow White does echo aspects of that variation as well) but is the tale that always ends in blood on the snow.

All of the wonderful characters from the first book were back and some new ones were added. I loved the addition of Bluebeard’s Wife; she was awesome. There was a great mystery here and things were wrapped up nicely. I would love to see future books in this series; it’s the kind of series that could keep going for a long time.

Overall a wonderful addition to the Indexing series. I love the world, the characters, the mystery, and all the fairy tale madness in these stories. I really enjoy McGuire’s exploration into the history of fairy tales and enjoy how she makes that a driver in the modern world. I would highly recommend to urban fantasy fans who love fairy tales.