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wanderinglynn's review
3.0
The story is uneven mostly because the world building is lacking and the character development is weak. I thought there was too much thrown into the first book, considering the book is less than 300 pages long. I lost count of how many times Sam’s life was in danger and honestly started skimming some of it. And I don’t particularly care for the dream-like death trope, which I thought was overused a bit here.
Sam is not well developed. It’s clear she had a lot of trauma at an early age (TW: kidnapping, rape, torture) and has scars to show for it. And again, this is where the lack of world building shows. She’s a werewolf, so why does she have scars? Because a silver blade was used? Because the trauma happened before her first change? Because there was sorcerer magic afoot? No real explanation for it. And moreover, no one questions why a werewolf has scars. It’s just never brought up.
The other characters are more one-dimensional. Clive is a stereotype of a master vampire, who, by the way, just keeps having neat powers when he needs them. Owen is a white witch and Dave is some sort of demon. Lots of other supernaturals are thrown in including succubi, kelpies, dragons, mermaids, possible gods/goddesses, and even one of the fates. But there wasn’t any seeming rules around this world. No rhyme or reason. While I like being immersed in a world where the supernatural exists, it still needs some boundaries, some form.
But despite these things, the story did keep me reading. It is fast paced and doesn’t keep you guessing on who the baddie is.Although the real baddie is still out there at the end of book 1, so I’m guessing more shenanigans will be afoot in book 2.
And why use the Middle English version of witch - wicche? It just seemed to random. She didn’t use “vampyre” or werewulf/werwulf. So why use the old form of witch? Again, the lack of world building did hurt the story.
Overall, uneven. And I’m not sure I liked it enough to read book 2.
Sam is not well developed. It’s clear she had a lot of trauma at an early age (TW: kidnapping, rape, torture) and has scars to show for it. And again, this is where the lack of world building shows. She’s a werewolf, so why does she have scars? Because a silver blade was used? Because the trauma happened before her first change? Because there was sorcerer magic afoot? No real explanation for it. And moreover, no one questions why a werewolf has scars. It’s just never brought up.
The other characters are more one-dimensional. Clive is a stereotype of a master vampire, who, by the way, just keeps having neat powers when he needs them. Owen is a white witch and Dave is some sort of demon. Lots of other supernaturals are thrown in including succubi, kelpies, dragons, mermaids, possible gods/goddesses, and even one of the fates. But there wasn’t any seeming rules around this world. No rhyme or reason. While I like being immersed in a world where the supernatural exists, it still needs some boundaries, some form.
But despite these things, the story did keep me reading. It is fast paced and doesn’t keep you guessing on who the baddie is.
And why use the Middle English version of witch - wicche? It just seemed to random. She didn’t use “vampyre” or werewulf/werwulf. So why use the old form of witch? Again, the lack of world building did hurt the story.
Overall, uneven. And I’m not sure I liked it enough to read book 2.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture and Violence
Moderate: Torture, Kidnapping, and Rape
__l's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Rape, and Kidnapping
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