Review: Okay, but seriously lacking in character development
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 01 25, 2013
In Zero Sum, Mr. Shier continues the story of Dieter Resnick, and more stuff involving happens to him involving the convoluted magic system the author employs.Why to buy this book: The writing technique is sound, and the voice is good.  If you liked the first in the series, you're probably not going to absolutely hate this one.Why not to buy the book: Though a lot happened in the first book, it still felt character driven.  For this book, I felt the characters got lost in all the plot development.  My biggest indictment is that a lot of major events happened to the characters that should have evoked emotional responses.  Truthfully, I felt nothing.  Side rant with minor spoiler ahead - If you're going to introduce a potential romantic relationship, the reader has certain expectations.  I think it's fine that the two didn't get together in the first book.  Drawing out a relationship can be a good thing.  However, the lack of development of that relationship throughout the second book just got tedious.  Readers (or, at least, I) will accept character stasis for only so long.Bottom Line: Overall, it was a solid read but left me disappointed at the lack of emotional development.  It wasn't bad enough that I'm giving up on the series, but it wasn't good enough that I'll buy the next one without reading reviews first.  That leaves me at 3 stars.