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4.18 AVERAGE
4.18 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Once again, Lily Mayne hits it out of the park with this one! I LOVED IT! I was wholly captivated and immersed from start to finish and could not put it down.
I finished it a couple of days ago and made the mistake of not writing my review immediately when all my thoughts and feelings were fresh in my mind. I’m not great at writing reviews in general and am truly bad at it if I don’t do it immediately so I'm sad to say my review won’t do this one justice, but I loved it so much I have to at least share something, right?
While Soul Eater and Edin were unique from each other, they did share parallels that I enjoyed. The Rycke branched out in new and interesting ways. It was great to get a taste of the raider community and I really appreciated how the community’s perspective of monsters and the world differed from the perspective of military soldiers. That element was very satisfying.
Another way The Rycke differed was that the human, Ghost/Gage, immediately finds the monster/beastie, One/Aury, stunningly beautiful. Each is immediately attracted to the other. Still, like it’s predecessors, the emotional bonds and growth center around building a gentle, meaningful relationship before turning physical. I have nothing against casual sex but I gravitate to stories where the emotional bonds are front and center and they certainly were in each of these stories.
Something I find intriguing is how the monsters all seem to have this innate and immediate “attraction” to the MC humans in each story. It may be a physical attraction but somehow it seems like much more than that. For one, in each story, the humans have their face covered when they meet for the first time. For another, when Aury and Ghost meet, Aury isn’t fully coherent or aware and he specifically says his attraction was Ghost’s voice, that it was soothing and captivating. Finally, each of the monsters, Aury, Wyn and Edin seem to have an innate or instinctual sense/feeling about Ghost, Danny and Hunter. This seems especially true for Wyn. It’s hard to explain, it’s just a feeling I get. And maybe it has something to do with how all the monsters have heightened senses in every way so maybe they DO have an instinctual sense of the “rightness” of their chosen humans. I don’t know, I just find the idea compelling.
All of the stories in this series depict the world as a harsh and unforgiving place and each has its share of brutality and heartache, but The Rycke tugged at my heartstrings even more than the others. I was gutted several times and was punched in the feels more dramatically than in either of the previous books. It was glorious!
Finally, I really, REALLY appreciate the author’s notes! At the end of each book, I’m like, “I NEED MORE! I WANT MORE!” I want to know what happens with this or what happens with that or what happens to other people and beasties in the stories! Thankfully Mayne gives us hints and clues so I know some of my questions and wishes will be fulfilled eventually. Ordinarily, I prefer to wait until an entire series is out before starting but in this case, I don’t mind AT ALL! I will be very, VERY happy to reread each of these books before the next one comes out and it will be fantastic to revisit them knowing the things we learned about the characters and world in the books that followed.
AHHHH! I LOVE THIS SERIES SO MUCH!
5 glorious stars! No! A galaxy of glorious stars and my highest recommendation
I finished it a couple of days ago and made the mistake of not writing my review immediately when all my thoughts and feelings were fresh in my mind. I’m not great at writing reviews in general and am truly bad at it if I don’t do it immediately so I'm sad to say my review won’t do this one justice, but I loved it so much I have to at least share something, right?
While Soul Eater and Edin were unique from each other, they did share parallels that I enjoyed. The Rycke branched out in new and interesting ways. It was great to get a taste of the raider community and I really appreciated how the community’s perspective of monsters and the world differed from the perspective of military soldiers. That element was very satisfying.
Another way The Rycke differed was that the human, Ghost/Gage, immediately finds the monster/beastie, One/Aury, stunningly beautiful. Each is immediately attracted to the other. Still, like it’s predecessors, the emotional bonds and growth center around building a gentle, meaningful relationship before turning physical. I have nothing against casual sex but I gravitate to stories where the emotional bonds are front and center and they certainly were in each of these stories.
Something I find intriguing is how the monsters all seem to have this innate and immediate “attraction” to the MC humans in each story. It may be a physical attraction but somehow it seems like much more than that. For one, in each story, the humans have their face covered when they meet for the first time. For another, when Aury and Ghost meet, Aury isn’t fully coherent or aware and he specifically says his attraction was Ghost’s voice, that it was soothing and captivating. Finally, each of the monsters, Aury, Wyn and Edin seem to have an innate or instinctual sense/feeling about Ghost, Danny and Hunter. This seems especially true for Wyn. It’s hard to explain, it’s just a feeling I get. And maybe it has something to do with how all the monsters have heightened senses in every way so maybe they DO have an instinctual sense of the “rightness” of their chosen humans. I don’t know, I just find the idea compelling.
All of the stories in this series depict the world as a harsh and unforgiving place and each has its share of brutality and heartache, but The Rycke tugged at my heartstrings even more than the others. I was gutted several times and was punched in the feels more dramatically than in either of the previous books. It was glorious!
Finally, I really, REALLY appreciate the author’s notes! At the end of each book, I’m like, “I NEED MORE! I WANT MORE!” I want to know what happens with this or what happens with that or what happens to other people and beasties in the stories! Thankfully Mayne gives us hints and clues so I know some of my questions and wishes will be fulfilled eventually. Ordinarily, I prefer to wait until an entire series is out before starting but in this case, I don’t mind AT ALL! I will be very, VERY happy to reread each of these books before the next one comes out and it will be fantastic to revisit them knowing the things we learned about the characters and world in the books that followed.
AHHHH! I LOVE THIS SERIES SO MUCH!
5 glorious stars! No! A galaxy of glorious stars and my highest recommendation
DNF for now.
Nothing wrong with it, I'm just not feeling it atm.
Nothing wrong with it, I'm just not feeling it atm.
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Oh my gosh. I loved Aury and Gage together, ugh my heart <333 Def my fav so far in the series. The Topeka camp scene actually gave me the biggest whiplash and I was so angry at Gage tbh -_- but I hated Cutter even more lol. Overall pretty well written and good amount of spice ◡̈
Thoroughly enjoyed this from start to finish.
Loved MCs Ghost and Aury and the new side characters so much! So intriguing to see this world from a raider camp perspective after all we read in the first books too.
This whole series is just so good
Loved MCs Ghost and Aury and the new side characters so much! So intriguing to see this world from a raider camp perspective after all we read in the first books too.
This whole series is just so good
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Sexual content, Violence
Ugh this was SO good. I never want this series to end, I love these characters and the world building so much. The banter, the steamy scenes, even the post-apocalyptic wasteland setting… it’s just so good.
I didn’t like Hunter much in the last book and as much as I loved Edin, it didn’t hit as good as Wyn & Danny’s story did. Aury & Gage/Ghost’s story definitely did. I didn’t cry as much as I did with Soul Eater (lol, I’m such a baby) but The Rycke hit those sweet angsty lows that brought tears to my eyes, and those warm fuzzies highs that made me misty. I really enjoyed their dynamic, I loved how they were besotted from the get go, I especially loved the way that Aury came out of his shell and flourished under Gage’s affections. And Gage grew too, he stood up for himself, was honest with his camp mates finally, and I think he made some real progress on his self-worth issues. They didn’t disappear unrealistically but they improved.
I really loved all the support they got in this one too. The lone pair thing works for the setting but Lily Mayne’s character work really shone in this book. Lilac was fantastic and I can’t wait to get to his book; Rig was adorable and funny too, I’m excited for his. Cutter & Mary were very dislikable villains and I found myself annoyed/angry with their existence the way you should be when a good bad guy gets under your skin. I liked Moth too, I thought I might find the unrequited love thing weird from what others have said but I thought it was kinda sweet? And I enjoyed that Gage handled it like an adult and didn’t feed into that vainly / unfairly.
I can’t wait to read more
I didn’t like Hunter much in the last book and as much as I loved Edin, it didn’t hit as good as Wyn & Danny’s story did. Aury & Gage/Ghost’s story definitely did. I didn’t cry as much as I did with Soul Eater (lol, I’m such a baby) but The Rycke hit those sweet angsty lows that brought tears to my eyes, and those warm fuzzies highs that made me misty. I really enjoyed their dynamic, I loved how they were besotted from the get go, I especially loved the way that Aury came out of his shell and flourished under Gage’s affections. And Gage grew too, he stood up for himself, was honest with his camp mates finally, and I think he made some real progress on his self-worth issues. They didn’t disappear unrealistically but they improved.
I really loved all the support they got in this one too. The lone pair thing works for the setting but Lily Mayne’s character work really shone in this book. Lilac was fantastic and I can’t wait to get to his book; Rig was adorable and funny too, I’m excited for his. Cutter & Mary were very dislikable villains and I found myself annoyed/angry with their existence the way you should be when a good bad guy gets under your skin. I liked Moth too, I thought I might find the unrequited love thing weird from what others have said but I thought it was kinda sweet? And I enjoyed that Gage handled it like an adult and didn’t feed into that vainly / unfairly.
I can’t wait to read more
This one just tugs at the heartstrings! This one is tied as my favorite (so far) in the series, and I can't wait to read the next one!