Review: The Boy Who Saw

The Boy Who Saw by Simon Toyne
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

After reading and enjoying Simon Toyne’s Sancti books, I found myself more than willing to dive into more of his work. Thus, I was more than happy to dive into the Solomon Creed series. Although I did not enjoy the first book in the Solomon Creed series as much as I enjoyed the Sancti books, it left me more than willing to continue the series. In fact, I was rather desperate to see what happened next.

With so much curiosity about where the series would head, it is no surprise to find out I was happy to devour The Boy Who Saw. With this second book in the Solomon Creed series, there were plenty of things I was looking forward to – more of the questions and possibilities we were introduced to (in terms of both answers to questions and new questions appearing), more of our interesting main character, more of the mystery (the general mystery surrounding the character and the individual story level mystery), and more entertaining twists to keep me hooked.

Although some of these elements did exist, I feel as though they were not delivered to the same level as they were in the first book. If I’m being completely honest, The Boy Who Saw is my least favourite Simon Toyne read. It was entertaining and had me turning the pages – it’s more of a three-point-five-star rating than the rounded down three-stars I gave it – yet it did not quite pack the punch I had hoped for.

The way the book gave us more about the overall mystery was interesting, it has left me super curious about what comes next. The details we were given were not what I had expected, leaving me with questions pertaining to the veracity of the details characters shared, yet I found what we were given really interesting. I want more, I want to find out what is truth and what is fiction, and I really want to understand certain elements of the story better.

However, the individual mystery of this novel was a bit too predictable for my liking. I worked things out rather early on, and I was reading through a lot of information without much action only to have my beliefs confirmed. I’d been hoping for more action, for more surprises, and when I did not receive these things I found myself disappointed. The story did unfold in an interesting way, but I had been hoping for more from this second book.

Overall, an interesting second book in the Solomon Creed series, even if it is not my favourite Simon Toyne read.

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