The Serpent

I see Claire North recommended a lot; I tried The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August but it wasn't my thing. The Serpent is the first of a three-novella series, so I figured I could blow $1.99 on it easily enough. I enjoyed it, but didn't love it; it's certainly elegantly written, especially in terms of the setting, 17th-century Venice, but there's barely any characterization. The plot itself is intriguing but action is nonexistent; it's all tell-don't-show. I found myself occasionally thinking, "Oooh, this is just like The Lies of Locke Lamora!" or, "Oooh, this is just like a Dorothy Dunnett thing!" but after a while I gave up thinking that. * sigh * (I just looked at the reviews on Goodreads, and I'm wondering, "Did we even read the same book?")