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roobie's review
4.0
⭐4 stars⭐
She needed someone to argue with. Someone who challenged her to stand at his side, not just step in front of her to protect her. Someone who pushed her to be the woman she knew she could be, not just the type of woman he wanted.
She needed someone to argue with. Someone who challenged her to stand at his side, not just step in front of her to protect her. Someone who pushed her to be the woman she knew she could be, not just the type of woman he wanted.
mdalida's review
5.0
I can't believe I didn't write a review of this book immediately after finishing it! I wanted to completely re-read this book the second I finished it. It's been 10 months since I first read it, and I've re-read it twice! I loved it that much.
This is the type of book that I wish I could read again for the first time. I remember being floored at how much I loved the hero and heroine, separately, and then burst into giggly love feelings as I saw them get together.
Alpha heroines are my new favorite. In my head, it's not like she's an annoyingly controlling heroine; she is capable and effective and a leader. She's confident and self-possessing. She trusts herself. There's no simpering, wishy-washyness, or crippling indecision here. This one was completely badass and feminist, and it knocked my socks off.
Omega heroes are also becoming one of my favorites. There's a bit of Alpha, bit of Beta into this wonderfully hardened yet sensitive hero that just grabbed my heart from the beginning. Being betrayed into being a warg, he took off to exact his revenge against his betrayers. I expected Alpha-assholery because a) that's the way of most paranormal books and b) I would be an asshole, too! Being betrayed, losing the essential parts of your life by a supposed-friend and living as a warg (something seen as disgusting and sub-human) for the rest of your life would make anyone turn into the worst parts of themselves. But, when he looks at her in the cave with longing and want and tenderness, it killed me... after a hot sex scene, when he asks to just to continue to hold her, I almost cried, I loved it so fucking much.
I liked that the storyline was fast-paced and engaging. This is one of a many Bec McMaster books that I've read, and I think it surpassed her London series altogether as being my favorite - though I would recommend all of her books in a heartbeat! It's paranormal romances, but the characters are well-developed, the plotlines are intriguing, there are well-crafted angstiness, and the sexual tension and sex scenes are duh-licious!
This is the type of book that I wish I could read again for the first time. I remember being floored at how much I loved the hero and heroine, separately, and then burst into giggly love feelings as I saw them get together.
Alpha heroines are my new favorite. In my head, it's not like she's an annoyingly controlling heroine; she is capable and effective and a leader. She's confident and self-possessing. She trusts herself. There's no simpering, wishy-washyness, or crippling indecision here. This one was completely badass and feminist, and it knocked my socks off.
Omega heroes are also becoming one of my favorites. There's a bit of Alpha, bit of Beta into this wonderfully hardened yet sensitive hero that just grabbed my heart from the beginning. Being betrayed into being a warg, he took off to exact his revenge against his betrayers. I expected Alpha-assholery because a) that's the way of most paranormal books and b) I would be an asshole, too! Being betrayed, losing the essential parts of your life by a supposed-friend and living as a warg (something seen as disgusting and sub-human) for the rest of your life would make anyone turn into the worst parts of themselves. But, when he looks at her in the cave with longing and want and tenderness, it killed me... after a hot sex scene, when he asks to just to continue to hold her, I almost cried, I loved it so fucking much.
I liked that the storyline was fast-paced and engaging. This is one of a many Bec McMaster books that I've read, and I think it surpassed her London series altogether as being my favorite - though I would recommend all of her books in a heartbeat! It's paranormal romances, but the characters are well-developed, the plotlines are intriguing, there are well-crafted angstiness, and the sexual tension and sex scenes are duh-licious!
alejandra_guerrero's review against another edition
1.0
There are way too many enemies! revenants and reavers (why the freaking similar names? I forget which is which), enforcers and wargs, all in a Mad Max style world with POS people. And let’s not forget the meteorite and the evil corporation that made experiments that may or may not have resulted in zombies. Just pick one, maybe two, and explain them, instead of mentioning a dozen of them with no explanation.
The “romance” made no sense, the first sex scene came out of nowhere, and I’m not sure why it happened. All of a sudden she’s desperate for a man, he happens to be there… and he hasn’t killed her yet, so of course she has to jump him! I guess she forgot how he left her alone in the dark cuffed to a cage, defenseless against the zombies (granted, he didn’t know they were there, but still). At least he made sure he had her consent every step of the way.
I still don’t know what wargs are or what they look like, or where they came from. At the beginning, it’s implied they were the result of some experiments, but then it’s implied that it was some sort of curse, which he can control with an amulet (given to him by a shaman, but then someone found another one, so I couldn’t tell where those came from or how they were created), implying that magic is a thing here… And then they say wargs have been there for hundreds of years, but people didn’t find out until “the Darkening” (whatever that is) which doesn’t make sense, because they basically are feral beasts, zero humanity (though apparently they started human), how the hell didn’t everyone know about wargs? They are mindless hunters, eventually the beast eats their humanity so they kill/eat whoever and whatever they can, yet I’m supposed to believe that at some point they existed but nobody knew? Unless everyone had amulets, except those are apparently super rare, so…
The zombies were another thing that is poorly explained. What causes humans to become zombies? Why do they keep going no matter how many times they shoot them? Can they continue with a shot to the head? It’s been decades, people actively hunt them, and still nobody knows how to permanently kill them in an efficient way? They are vulnerable to fire, but only Wade knows (because he was a hunter)? Why the hell don’t hunters share that knowledge?
Who the hell are the enforcers? I don’t know, they exist, they shoot first, ask questions later, and that’s all that’s said about them. Where do they come from? Are they tied to specific settlements? Those are questions that didn’t get an answer.
And the human Mad-maxers (I call them that because I can’t remember if they’re revenants or reavers), are not described either, I would think the enforcers are a part of them, but no, they’re talked about as two separate, unrelated groups. Where do they come from? Where are they based? Are they nomads? Do they have some kind of leadership or are they scattered groups all over?
Finally, there are a bunch of chapters scrambled around, from chapter 7 to 10 nothing is in the right order, and I just gave up trying to understand anything. DNF 50%
The “romance” made no sense, the first sex scene came out of nowhere, and I’m not sure why it happened. All of a sudden she’s desperate for a man, he happens to be there… and he hasn’t killed her yet, so of course she has to jump him! I guess she forgot how he left her alone in the dark cuffed to a cage, defenseless against the zombies (granted, he didn’t know they were there, but still). At least he made sure he had her consent every step of the way.
I still don’t know what wargs are or what they look like, or where they came from. At the beginning, it’s implied they were the result of some experiments, but then it’s implied that it was some sort of curse, which he can control with an amulet (given to him by a shaman, but then someone found another one, so I couldn’t tell where those came from or how they were created), implying that magic is a thing here… And then they say wargs have been there for hundreds of years, but people didn’t find out until “the Darkening” (whatever that is) which doesn’t make sense, because they basically are feral beasts, zero humanity (though apparently they started human), how the hell didn’t everyone know about wargs? They are mindless hunters, eventually the beast eats their humanity so they kill/eat whoever and whatever they can, yet I’m supposed to believe that at some point they existed but nobody knew? Unless everyone had amulets, except those are apparently super rare, so…
The zombies were another thing that is poorly explained. What causes humans to become zombies? Why do they keep going no matter how many times they shoot them? Can they continue with a shot to the head? It’s been decades, people actively hunt them, and still nobody knows how to permanently kill them in an efficient way? They are vulnerable to fire, but only Wade knows (because he was a hunter)? Why the hell don’t hunters share that knowledge?
Who the hell are the enforcers? I don’t know, they exist, they shoot first, ask questions later, and that’s all that’s said about them. Where do they come from? Are they tied to specific settlements? Those are questions that didn’t get an answer.
And the human Mad-maxers (I call them that because I can’t remember if they’re revenants or reavers), are not described either, I would think the enforcers are a part of them, but no, they’re talked about as two separate, unrelated groups. Where do they come from? Where are they based? Are they nomads? Do they have some kind of leadership or are they scattered groups all over?
Finally, there are a bunch of chapters scrambled around, from chapter 7 to 10 nothing is in the right order, and I just gave up trying to understand anything. DNF 50%
waferk's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
alisonb's review
4.0
This was a fun post-apocalyptic, paranormal, Mad Max vibe story.
I had so much fun reading this book! There was a lot of action and romance.
All of the characters were interesting and complex.
Highly enjoyable story and I look forward to reading the rest of the series!
I had so much fun reading this book! There was a lot of action and romance.
All of the characters were interesting and complex.
Highly enjoyable story and I look forward to reading the rest of the series!
whiskeyinthejar's review
3.0
I read this for the Fairy Tale Retelling square for Romance Bingo.
If you want an updated Beauty and the Beast with a kick-butt heroine, then you would enjoy this one. I ran into the problem of, again, not being the biggest fan of some urban fantasy tropes. The hero kidnaps the heroine and they are immediately inexplicably drawn to each other. It was more sexual here and it sort of does show how they grow more emotionally together later on but I was still missing a deeper connection.
This story did a better job of bringing me into its world but I still can't help feeling too much is thrown at the reader. This world is set in the future, 2100ish, where it appears a government center was experimenting with splicing human and animal DNA had a breakout and a meteor struck the earth, which killed some of the environment and released a deadly disease. We have humans, wargs, revenants, and reivers. Along with introductions to explanations to why the world and these groups are the way they are, we are introduced to a our main couple, villains, and characters you know will be featured in future books; it's a lot to take in. The page count in these romance fantasy crossovers has got to get larger to make satisfactory room for everything.
Besides, she needed someone to argue with. Someone who challenged her to stand at his side, not just step in front of her to protect her. Someone who pushed her to be the woman she knew she could be, not just the type of woman he wanted.
If you've been looking for a self-sufficient, level-headed, and action star in her own right heroine, look no further. Riley was my favorite part of this story and I could read about her all day. The hero is a warg, human who turns into a beast, and had some trouble breaking out of the stoic, hard bitten, and wall-off hero. I can't say I ever completely believed in their romance due to insta-lust, world building interrupting, and a sort of other woman problem. Hero was married but had to leave his wife, he really loved her and thinks she is still alive. It made the situation with Riley very awkward for me, even though he hadn't seen his wife in years.
The characters and world building were interesting but the flow and intricacies of connecting threads didn't quite blend all the time. I'm going to plan on reading the next in the series because I'm interested in the characters, I hope the author gets more comfortable in the world she has created and things flow more natural and gain depth.
If you want an updated Beauty and the Beast with a kick-butt heroine, then you would enjoy this one. I ran into the problem of, again, not being the biggest fan of some urban fantasy tropes. The hero kidnaps the heroine and they are immediately inexplicably drawn to each other. It was more sexual here and it sort of does show how they grow more emotionally together later on but I was still missing a deeper connection.
This story did a better job of bringing me into its world but I still can't help feeling too much is thrown at the reader. This world is set in the future, 2100ish, where it appears a government center was experimenting with splicing human and animal DNA had a breakout and a meteor struck the earth, which killed some of the environment and released a deadly disease. We have humans, wargs, revenants, and reivers. Along with introductions to explanations to why the world and these groups are the way they are, we are introduced to a our main couple, villains, and characters you know will be featured in future books; it's a lot to take in. The page count in these romance fantasy crossovers has got to get larger to make satisfactory room for everything.
Besides, she needed someone to argue with. Someone who challenged her to stand at his side, not just step in front of her to protect her. Someone who pushed her to be the woman she knew she could be, not just the type of woman he wanted.
If you've been looking for a self-sufficient, level-headed, and action star in her own right heroine, look no further. Riley was my favorite part of this story and I could read about her all day. The hero is a warg, human who turns into a beast, and had some trouble breaking out of the stoic, hard bitten, and wall-off hero. I can't say I ever completely believed in their romance due to insta-lust, world building interrupting, and a sort of other woman problem. Hero was married but had to leave his wife, he really loved her and thinks she is still alive. It made the situation with Riley very awkward for me, even though he hadn't seen his wife in years.
The characters and world building were interesting but the flow and intricacies of connecting threads didn't quite blend all the time. I'm going to plan on reading the next in the series because I'm interested in the characters, I hope the author gets more comfortable in the world she has created and things flow more natural and gain depth.