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marmaladereads's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.5
I would rate this higher if it was the first book in a series, but as a standalone I have so many unresolved questions about it that it felt like this is only half the book - and it's a fairly long book!
In an alternate future London, climate change has led to massive flooding and water contamination. The world building in this book is intense and honestly feels like a fascinating universe, but simply far too massive and complex for a standalone book. There are people with magic powers, ghosts (???), political intrigue, a massively complex oligarch family vying for monetary and political clout. I often felt lost in the overly large cast of characters, and there was very little introduction or back story offered for many of them.
The book follows Ethan, a healer at a hospital, Javier, one of the sons of the Arden Pharma oligarchy, and Oliver, a paranoid reporter trying to uncover conspiracies (and making a bunch up in the process.) I thought with how much time was dedicated to the world building (much of which ended up being irrelevant or confusing), the romance between Javier and Ethan was sweet but somewhat underdeveloped. I would've loved to learn much more back story about these two characters as they got to know each other, but most of their relationship happened in the many time skips.
The most interesting character was Oliver - a rather unlikable social justice warrior who is obsessed with finding truth to the point of self destruction. I found myself cringing at a lot of his choices and logical jumps as he kept neglecting any real priorities in life to chase after an article that no one else seemed to care about. Unfortunately like many plots in the book, Oliver's is also unresolved. We never get to find out consequences befall his actions, I can only guess at the fallout.
The book was well written and engaging, if rather slow. The first 75% read much like a police procedural as Oliver chased down leads and interviewed random sources, then things escalated quite quickly in the last 25% of the book. But ultimately the many loose threads and missing resolutions left me feeling quite unsatisfied after finishing this story, and the ending felt incredibly abrupt.
Thank you to Book Sirens and the author for providing me with an eARC!
In an alternate future London, climate change has led to massive flooding and water contamination. The world building in this book is intense and honestly feels like a fascinating universe, but simply far too massive and complex for a standalone book. There are people with magic powers, ghosts (???), political intrigue, a massively complex oligarch family vying for monetary and political clout. I often felt lost in the overly large cast of characters, and there was very little introduction or back story offered for many of them.
The book follows Ethan, a healer at a hospital, Javier, one of the sons of the Arden Pharma oligarchy, and Oliver, a paranoid reporter trying to uncover conspiracies (and making a bunch up in the process.) I thought with how much time was dedicated to the world building (much of which ended up being irrelevant or confusing), the romance between Javier and Ethan was sweet but somewhat underdeveloped. I would've loved to learn much more back story about these two characters as they got to know each other, but most of their relationship happened in the many time skips.
The most interesting character was Oliver - a rather unlikable social justice warrior who is obsessed with finding truth to the point of self destruction. I found myself cringing at a lot of his choices and logical jumps as he kept neglecting any real priorities in life to chase after an article that no one else seemed to care about. Unfortunately like many plots in the book, Oliver's is also unresolved. We never get to find out consequences befall his actions, I can only guess at the fallout.
The book was well written and engaging, if rather slow. The first 75% read much like a police procedural as Oliver chased down leads and interviewed random sources, then things escalated quite quickly in the last 25% of the book. But ultimately the many loose threads and missing resolutions left me feeling quite unsatisfied after finishing this story, and the ending felt incredibly abrupt.
Thank you to Book Sirens and the author for providing me with an eARC!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence and Murder
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Medical content
Minor: Body horror
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