Firstly, I think I got fooled by this a little bit. I thought this was an adult book, though I couldn't really tell you why. I just wasn't paying attention, which is my fault. Secondly, I had a horrible time with this because the audiobook was a horrific mess. Why has this book been out for two months and yet the publishers haven't seen fit to fix this abomination of an ending? There are at least 3 chapters just missing from the audio. A chapter swapped around in the wrong spot AND one is repeated. A single mistake, sure, I can get that. This many mistakes? That's fucking sloppy.

This felt pretty regurgitated, because I've already read The Hunger Games and adding this magic to it doesn't change that it's legitimately just the same exact thing... but not as well done. The thing that brings it down the most is the characters who are mostly uninteresting. I didn't connect with any of them because they didn't gradually grow and connect to one another, they just kind of swung and stuck and didn't even feel like the genuinely liked each other. Any of them. So why the hell would I?

I have... zero interest in reading any more of this, but I can say it was an easy and quick read, at least. 

 Even though I had a pretty easy time figuring out all the mysteries in this, I still really enjoyed it. The cast of characters was really full and lively and the world was captivating. There was only a character or two I didn't care much for and I felt like the ending was fairly rushed, but overall a solid, enjoyable story. 

 Enjoyed this a lot. I always find those neural connections between characters to be particularly moving. There's always something great about characters who know one another inside and out that pleases me. Lots of representation in this book, which is always *chefs kiss*. Nothing particularly blew me away, but I enjoyed the world and the factions presented and the sci-fi and tech was awesome. Looking forward to the sequel.

Edit: On second read, this has bumped up to a 5 star for me. I am glad the other books are out now so that I can finish the series in one go. 

It was too damn cheesy and every conflict was overblown. 

I had no idea that it was actually going to be a relationship between a 10 year old and a 16 year old. I understand that "nothing" happened when they were kids, but it's still super fucking weird and irks hardcore.

If the language had been different during this time--like none of the "he belongs to me" shit when a kid is ten fucking years old, MAYBE I could have bought it. But this was WAY too weird.

 

 Blake Crouch is great as always. I think I liked Recursion better than this one, but it was still good. 

 Because I <i>love</i> The Devoured Worlds, I gave this another shot, but it just doesn't do it for me. I still didn't care that much about the world or the characters and tuned out so much on some of it that I barely know what happened. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't interesting.
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I couldn't really connect with the characters. Some of it was interesting, but overall I have no idea what's going on and have trouble caring. - 25% dnf 

 Awww, I really liked this. A lovely grumpy/sunshine if I ever saw it. Though Delilah is not really all THAT grumpy, in the end. I feel like she didn't really remain very edgy for long at all, which kinda threw off the whole vibe a bit--not to say I disliked the character, just that the vibe I think they were trying to set wasn't totally achieved.

Most of the characters were good, though I think a bit more could've been done with Iris. I found it slightly unbelievable that Astrid being so strong-willed would go along with such a full-on douche of a guy and that her friends would wait until a couple of weeks before the wedding to say something about it. I think a guy who was at least slightly redeemable would've made a bit more sense than all that.

Aside from some of the more unbelievable parts, I liked the relationships and the character dynamics and thought everything was quite fun, if not a little juvenile at times. 

Alright, I expected to hate this more than I did. It's absolutely outlandish, there's no doubt about that. Even if I am capable of suspending disbelief that Neil is the son of some crime lord, the fact that he has spent years running from that life only to then

put his trust into a teenager to somehow keep him alive while he's also in the public eye makes literally zero sense.

I assume that he's made up a new name, though I don't recall that being stated; it is kind of hard to keep track though, as things tend to move rather quickly and there are a lot of names being thrown around and it took a long time to really get them all into my head. Even with that being the case, it doesn't seem likely that somehow neither Kevin or Riko recognized him, unless he didn't really spend time with them and just kind of idolized them from afar? This also wasn't really explained well either.

I dunno, despite how ridiculous this is, I still am interested to keep reading. Lol. I've written fanfics that are about as ridiculous as this, so I can't exactly fault it for being so insane. And it feels like the slowest if slow burns, so that's also pretty cool. There's a lot of non-consensual shit happening in it, though, and I'm not into people being drugged against their will and others acting like it's just a hazing ritual for a super tight bro-ring.

Apprehensively continuing on, I suppose. The audiobook isn't too bad, though. 

A lot of people shelved this as horror, but it wasn't really something I'd consider horror. Most gore was pretty much off screen and the real fear was alluded to rather than shown. Not that it needed to have gore to make it horror, but there was no real tension or fear to make it what I'd consider a true horror book.

That doesn't make it bad, though. On the contrary, I did enjoy it. It was predictable, but I still liked the evolution of Countess' character and her ruthlessness. Most of the time, when characters like this are included in a book, they try to make them more redeemable (especially when a romance in involved), but in this case it was hard hitting and realistic and that made her a better character overall.