I hate doing negative reviews but here I am again with a negative review.
I was intrigued by the synopsis. I mean Phoenixes. But I was also worried. I've read two other books by Adam Silvera and I rated both three stars. But I had hoped his fantasy would be better. But I'm left disappointed.
Despite getting through a decent sized chunk pretty quickly at the beginning, I found I wasn't carrying about any of the characters. I hoped it would improve but sadly not. More on the characters later.
But first the world building or should I say lack of world building. I expected more. I needed more. Instead I was thrown into this world and expected to just figure it out. There's Specters, Blood Casters, Spell Walkers, Celestials. I'm still figuring them out if I'm being honest.
The Phoenixes I felt were never really explained. What their history is within this world. I would have loved to know more about them. Maybe I just missed all the explaining.
The pacing didn't help. Sure I was getting through it fast enough, which I usually love. But it just seemed instead of taking time to build moments Adam just rushed through them. The suspense behind figuring out a mystery just was never there.
Back to the characters. My main issue was they felt flat to me. There were so many of them, yet I didn't care about a single one of them. I didn't feel like there was ever a reason for me to care. In fact they all started to blur into one. Expect Brighton who is an annoying brat, but at least he stood out. The only one who did. At times I struggled to remember who was who.
I did notice that when I picked up the book the second day I had forgotten pretty much everything I had read before which was half of the book. I just didn't care enough to remember anything. Which made second half harder to enjoy.
Overall this book made me tired and bored. I just wanted it to be over. I doubt I will continue this series.