randi_jo's Reviews (420)

I want to preface this review with the fact that I was really excited to read this because I saw some good hype, it's fantasy, and also people were talking up how gay it is, but my disappointment with it has no limits.

To start, the first 50 pages or so were good Spoiler(not good enough for an extra star though, I really am that upset) - the character introductions got me into it, but then it very, very rapidly began to stagnate and then go downhill fast.

Plot? In this book? Not as likely as you might think. About sixty percent of the book is just the characters fucking around and thinking about Spoilerthe fact that they have to kill someone instead of actually doing anything about it. Considering they're all so powerful; OP, even, I can't believe they literally just lay around until the very last second for the dues-ex-machina: SpoilerEzra, whose return was, if not predictable, unsurprising. Don't get me started on the idea of making him into a good guy for book 2 because that is 100% the set up; but also he's a massive asshole to Libby? Just because he "doesn't understand what she wants"? He's a walking red flag, jfc..

The book's setting is so vague it's frustrating. I only knew it was ~2010 at the end of the book because a character specifies what year he "teleported" to. But otherwise we're not really told how magical 'medeian' society works or even how magic works. I don't even understand how the characters are so strong compared to other magic users because there is no comparison nor explanation as to what made them extraordinary, simply that they were. Not that it really matters since none of the characters seem to have any kind of limits, including what magic they "specialize" in. Like a telepath reading the mind of a house? Ok... An Empath digging through and seeing memories? Sus... Everyone being able to summon bottles of whiskey? I'm so confused.

The writing itself leaves a lot to be desired. The descriptions were so poor I had no idea about where they were, what they were doing, hardly anything about what they looked like or acted like. There was an action scene and I very distinctly remember Nico picking up a man and aimed him at a group of intruders, and all the baddies ducked behind furniture. I am still wondering how he was aiming a man like a gun. :/

Otherwise it's filled with a lot of hypothetical questions and random jargon from poly-sci classes that have nothing to do with what's happening in the story. It's just there to make it look smart and it's very redundant. A lot of the "deep" tangents will literally say one thing in three different ways. It's annoying to read through.

Speaking of the characters. . . None of them were particularly likable, except maybe Tristan because he was literally the only one who had any modicum of growth. Nico and Parisa, in particular, are the worst. Why is Nico even a character? Literally his entire POV is focused on Gideon and Gideon's circumstances, even to the point were they talk about Gideon's penis rather than anything eventful. I don't know why Gideon himself just isn't one of the main characters instead. He's far more interesting, just give him a main character buff and to sort out his own shit.

And then there's Parisa, whose only schtick is that she's a whore. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing, and I can see where the author was trying to go with it. But she literally has no other traits and even her "breaking" scene was underserviced and bland. What even happened to her? Idk I just know she has a brother and a jealous sister. But I guess my largest qualm is that her relationship with Dalton (and obliquely the "relationship" between Tristan and Libby) started with her initiating coercion sex. He very clearly says "no" (in far more words, but it's definitely a negative) and she continues because "I know you want to". Even if true, if Parisa's character had been male, people would be shouting 'rape' from the rooftops. Dubcon, posed as something sexy and with 'female empowerment' is not really my thing.

Also, I know nothing about Callum except that he's a suicide baiter. And for what? Twisted morals? The token morally gray character? IDEFK. We learn literally nothing about him. Ever. I think he exists only to wax poetic about morality, or the lack thereof, in humans. Most of what he says/thinks has nothing to do with anything ever.

I am also THIS close to labelling this book as queerbait, but the book itself doesn't really talk about it being super inclusive, but rather the fans, so I won't. But there is SO LITTLE lgbtq in this book, which is mostly Parisa being bi (barely; she literally says she doesn't like to date women because they get jealous of her, but she'll sleep with women to get what she wants (and when she DOES "sleep with" Libby and Tristan, she does what? kisses Libby's neck and then... idk. No one says what she does, the author instead focuses on and recalls only things that Libby and Tristan did together and forgets about Parisa, who might as well had never been there)); and then Tristan thinking he might "love" Callum, which I find to be utterly facetious and out of nowhere. Like they literally just sit at the same table and sometimes talk together. There is absolutely NO indication that there's any warmth in their relationship. Even Callum describes Tristan, at best, as interesting because he's such a pessimist.

Nico and Gideon maybe might be a thing, but that feels more like wishful thinking on my part because the rest of this book is blatantly heterosexual.

The book's ending, the chapter literally labeled "END", was decent. The chapter before that was like 20 pages of the entire book being summarized but from Ezra's POV, which was so difficult to read through. But Huzzah! We now know that the entire story's villain is Spoilera British man and I can't decide if it's a coincidence or if I'm really being served with allusions to New-Age Imperialism.

Do not recommend.

If I could do half points, I'd give it a 2.5. This book is very emotionally charged, but not always in the best of ways. I felt so terribly for Jude, and Willem, and JB, and Malcom, each in turn, when each was faced with his own demons/problems.

I think I started to feel less compelled when it came to Jude. SpoilerThroughout the entirety of the book his self-destructive behavior is enabled; by his friends, his family, his doctor, his coworkers - literally everyone. Even when he's in a relationship, it's an unhealthy one, where Willem basically has to hope that he doesn't take his cutting too far.

The last two sections of the book (roughly 150 pages), I think were there only for 1) shock factor; and 2) to provide an excuse for SpoilerJude to kill himself without too much backlash.

Despite the problematic ideas of mental illness and trauma in the book, the prose is superb and there are times when the character choices feel more realistic than a "happily ever after" scenario. But I will say that it is difficult to accept the fact that there is almost nothing positive about this book. I think only 2 good things happen, both of which aren't focused upon to give a reader enough hope that things will change. It does become a little drudge.

As soon as I got my hands on this book I gobbled it right up! Sandra's voice in this is so good; reminiscent, regrettable, but contented. The story is short, but there's not much that needs to be said, it's almost like a love poem to the women that helped her in a rough time, while inadvertently touching their lives and helping them in ways she couldn't see.

At first I wasn't a fan of the book's composition Spoiler(a letter, a long story, letters, ending narrative), but after finishing I think it works, even though it wasn't my absolute favorite.

There are also some really hard-hitting quotes in here that just left me stunned for a moment. I loved it. 4.5 stars.