I received a copy of The Elusive Elixir courtesy of NetGalley, who unfortunately didn't mention this was the third book in a series. I got the feeling this was the case almost as soon as I started reading: there were many little asides in the narrative explaining things that had happened before. At first I thought "oh this is useful, I can still understand this without reading the previous two books". Unfortunately these little asides carried on and on until I got to 30% of the way through and had to put it down. The asides started not only to recap on (what I assume is) past books, but on stuff that happened a couple of chapters, or pages, or paragraphs ago.

Honestly, this felt like watching a sensationalist documentary where they tell you what happened five minutes ago, what will happen five minutes in the future, and then give you five minutes of new content. I don't watch TV like that, and I'm not going to start in fiction.

It's a real shame, because the five minutes of original content is actually pretty fun. Zoe's a 300 year old woman who discovered alchemy and the Elixir of Life. She's trying to save her best friend from reverting to the stone gargoyle he was 150 years ago. She's also been recognised as someone who doesn't age, and implicated in a murder in Paris. Lots of interesting stuff with potential, just frustrating to read.

I guess if you have a bad memory or don't get the chance to read more than a chapter or two at a time, you might love this book.