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lydsansthekidd's review
2.0
I feel like this one wasn't as solid as the first book. The plot for this one was really... mushy. I feel like the time skips are a lot at fault here, especially the eight months that Jack is just existing. The other major thing I would blame is how harshly Jack's characterization shifts. I get that Caleo is "dead" for the first part of the book, and that he's grieving. Totally understandable. Then when he finds out that he's alive, that's Jack's main mission. All reasonable. What isn't reasonable is that the same boy who drags Caleo into a burning building to save people has to be so drastically pushed to go save the people from the school. I don't wanna say that he's too passive in his own book, but so much is lost because he's just absent from what I would argue is the true plot of this story.
I feel like the book would have been much more interesting if we saw what was happening to Caleo instead... or even simultaneously? Instead of just skipping eight whole months in which Caleo is off on a murder spree and Jillian is pregnant with the child of the man who raped her, why don't we hear from one of these characters. Either of these points of view would have been more interesting than Jack watching soaps. The development of these two characters when Jack sees them is totally wasted because we get no specifics. Not to mention that after being reunited that both of them die in one way or another. I'm not saying that Crawford has to do all the work for us, but more details would have connected me more to these characters.
I'm going to read the last book just to see how this ends, but I'm honestly not expecting a lot...
I feel like the book would have been much more interesting if we saw what was happening to Caleo instead... or even simultaneously? Instead of just skipping eight whole months in which Caleo is off on a murder spree and Jillian is pregnant with the child of the man who raped her, why don't we hear from one of these characters. Either of these points of view would have been more interesting than Jack watching soaps. The development of these two characters when Jack sees them is totally wasted because we get no specifics. Not to mention that after being reunited that both of them die in one way or another. I'm not saying that Crawford has to do all the work for us, but more details would have connected me more to these characters.
I'm going to read the last book just to see how this ends, but I'm honestly not expecting a lot...
cyanide_latte's review
3.0
Let me begin by saying that Jack isn't a bad follow-up to Caleo, though I feel like its flaws are a little more obvious and I didn't enjoy it quite as much.
The pacing in this book feels a bit haphazard and rushed, and there are multiple timeskips where we aren't fully informed of how much time is passed until one of the characters says something. To balance this out, a lot of the exposition concerning Leeches, the Blessed army, the rebel factions, and the concept of The Angel tends to be decently scattered throughout the story, which I appreciate.
A lot of the action scenes also feel rushed, with abrupt starts and endings, and there were times where I had to re-read many of them to try to follow what was going on. So be aware of this if you want to continue the Leech trilogy and you start reading this book.
I think my biggest annoyance came in the form of rape used as a plot device, but it not really showing any lasting effects on those who were victims. While yes, we were following Jack and neither character who was raped (we know for certain one was and it was heavily implied for another) there should still be shown a lasting impact on those who went through it and those others who were close to them. So the lack of that and the way that one of the victims outright speaks about this directly after it's happened and her rapist is killed feels unrealistic and that really messed with my suspension of disbelief.
Otherwise, I've enjoyed this continuation of the story. Jack probably suffers a bit of middle-book syndrome, but Jack himself is easily my favorite character, so I was probably biased in that regard. This book also introduces us to another character, Paris, whom I adore just about as much as Jack. So there's probably that in Jack's favor as well. And I can say I'm definitely looking forward to reading the last book and seeing how this story concludes.
The pacing in this book feels a bit haphazard and rushed, and there are multiple timeskips where we aren't fully informed of how much time is passed until one of the characters says something. To balance this out, a lot of the exposition concerning Leeches, the Blessed army, the rebel factions, and the concept of The Angel tends to be decently scattered throughout the story, which I appreciate.
A lot of the action scenes also feel rushed, with abrupt starts and endings, and there were times where I had to re-read many of them to try to follow what was going on. So be aware of this if you want to continue the Leech trilogy and you start reading this book.
I think my biggest annoyance came in the form of rape used as a plot device, but it not really showing any lasting effects on those who were victims. While yes, we were following Jack and neither character who was raped (we know for certain one was and it was heavily implied for another) there should still be shown a lasting impact on those who went through it and those others who were close to them. So the lack of that and the way that one of the victims outright speaks about this directly after it's happened and her rapist is killed feels unrealistic and that really messed with my suspension of disbelief.
Otherwise, I've enjoyed this continuation of the story. Jack probably suffers a bit of middle-book syndrome, but Jack himself is easily my favorite character, so I was probably biased in that regard. This book also introduces us to another character, Paris, whom I adore just about as much as Jack. So there's probably that in Jack's favor as well. And I can say I'm definitely looking forward to reading the last book and seeing how this story concludes.
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