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emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Overall a solid yet average fantasy read. Though the pacing wasn’t fast, I felt it dragged only in a handful of spots. Anwei was precious. Knox and Mateo are my children. Lia toed the line of being your average modern ‘I don’t like anyone because I’m a badass FMC who can have an attitude all she wants and the love interest finds it attractive.’ She wasn’t actually that bad, but…
For more spoilery insights, see below.
Out of the 4 MCs, I loved Mateo the most, and was rooting for Knox & Anwei’s relationship the entire 595 pages. Lia, however, was clearly a character. She occasionally veered toward the ‘not like other girls’ character type (for instance, not liking dresses, though that was only mentioned once.) If the story was told without her, it’d be stronger for it. She was only there to be Mateo’s begrudging but inevitable love interest and the 600 pg count could’ve done without her. Their relationship was non-existent until the author suddenly had need of it, forcing an insta-attraction out of nowhere.
There is a sequel and I would hope we’d get answers for it, but I find little excuse for why in a 600 pg novel we’d get 0 interaction between Knox & Ewan (his peer who’s been hunting him for over a year.) Instead, justifiably, Lia kills Ewan, yet it was an instance of the author seeming to favor her character and giving her & Noa a moment rather than adding depth to the story.
The 4 MCs also suffered from mirrored problems. Both Knox & Mateo had an authorative being directing their actions while keeping the greater plan hidden. And both women suffered from the ‘better than thou’ mindset—looking down on others who seemingly have an easier life because they’ve been through things.
I was able to piece together the ending twist about the shapeshifter & aura stuff, however I would have loved to see Tual & Mateo block each other out, but I understand with the other plot twist, that wouldn’t have worked (but will it be the solution in the sequel, their familial love???)
For more spoilery insights, see below.
There is a sequel and I would hope we’d get answers for it, but I find little excuse for why in a 600 pg novel we’d get 0 interaction between Knox & Ewan (his peer who’s been hunting him for over a year.) Instead, justifiably, Lia kills Ewan, yet it was an instance of the author seeming to favor her character and giving her & Noa a moment rather than adding depth to the story.
The 4 MCs also suffered from mirrored problems. Both Knox & Mateo had an authorative being directing their actions while keeping the greater plan hidden. And both women suffered from the ‘better than thou’ mindset—looking down on others who seemingly have an easier life because they’ve been through things.
I was able to piece together the ending twist about the shapeshifter & aura stuff, however I would have loved to see Tual & Mateo block each other out, but I understand with the other plot twist, that wouldn’t have worked (but will it be the solution in the sequel, their familial love???)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Sexual harassment
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Drug abuse, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I am a very slow reader of paper books, so I invested a lot of time in this 600 page book. This is also a local author, and I got to meet her here in Grass Valley! I can’t help but see how those two things influence my overall thoughts. I think I was just confused by the plot until the last 100 pages. Sangster really throws you into a world and rarely stops to explain anything. She also almost never uses speech tags (“she said”), which constantly tripped me up. I’m all for limiting those, but not enough is difficult to follow. However, even while I was lost, I still enjoyed the ride. The characters were well developed, their relationships were interesting and complex, and the magic systems were quite unique.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal cruelty