I’m actually fascinated by the fact I didn’t hate this book… I read the first in the series via audio a couple of years ago and absolutely despised it. Was the audiobook really so bad that it made me hate a good series? Is the first book just poor quality compared to the rest? Did I not pay proper attention to the first book? 

But holy shit am I glad I picked this up (thanks to BooksWithEmilyFox).

Actually being in the abandoned world?? Divine. I was a little disappointed when I figured out those sections were set in the past, rather than present, but it was still amazingly done.

 

Also loved that my predication while reading the first book about Fetch being

immortal

was proven right. 

There were a couple of things about this that mean I can’t give it a full 5-star rating, and I think both are to some extent products of the time these books were written (not that that’s an excuse). 

One is that Brenna was almost always referred to as ‘the albino’. The way it was written was very much othering just because of her albinism, whereas any number of other descriptions could have been used in place which would have been much more effective and less damaging to anyone reading the book with albinism. 

I also thought Kelsea’s physical changes often verged on fatphobia. Every time it was mentioned, Kelsea essentially equated being fat with not being beautiful. E.g. “yards of extra material in the small of Kelsea's back now, where the fabric had always stretched tight for her entire life. She had transformed, become something more than herself, become extraordinary”. This definitely all could have been written with a little more tact. 

But, overall, a very surprisingly enjoyable and original read.