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A review by _isabel_
Bitter Pill by Jordan Castillo Price
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
5.0
WHAT WAS THAT ENDING, OH GOD.
Anyway, as you can probably tell by the five stars, I absolutely ADORED this 11th book (I can't believe I'm nearly caught up with this series *sniffles*).
It was utterly riveting: chilling and mysterious, a lot more paranormally-charged than the previous book, with a ton of creepy, creepy ghosts and the usual pyschic shenanigans Victor gets up to (up to and including, the ectoplasma hands, the weird worm-like demons and the usual persistent ghosts trying to possess every single medium in their vicinity). It's also a bit more introspective than the previous books and a touch angst-y in some ways: Victor has to contend with a lot of tough stuff in this book, and finally (finally), his pill addiction gets the development it deserves. It was tough seeing him struggle so much, but it also cemented the fact that he's truly, 100%, grown and matured, and I was beyond proud of him. He's still the messy, disaster, emotionally-stunted and snarky medium we all love and adore, but he's much more in tune with himself and his powers too.
I also adored his and Jacob's relationship in this one: neither one of them are perfect to begin with, and with a mortal drug epidemic (and Victor's past) taking its toll on them, they end up snapping at each other quite a bit in this one. I was actually glad to see this grittier side of their relationship though: it made them feel even more real and normal, and it made their sweeter, more intimate moments even more lovely and romantic. It was also so lovely to see Jacob's more insecure, frustrated side. But how I laughed at Victor's running commentary on him, LOL. These two absolutely kill me!
I LOVED seeing Carolyn and Zig again, and I also loved getting to see a bit more of Crash and Red through Victor's eyes (and his smartass, low-key envious thoughts).
The mystery plot was so damn compelling, and exciting and weird and creepy and shocking. It might be my favourite one yet.
The ending was a mix of bittersweet, highly romantic and OH-MY-GOD-WHAT. I can't wait to continue.
Anyway, as you can probably tell by the five stars, I absolutely ADORED this 11th book (I can't believe I'm nearly caught up with this series *sniffles*).
It was utterly riveting: chilling and mysterious, a lot more paranormally-charged than the previous book, with a ton of creepy, creepy ghosts and the usual pyschic shenanigans Victor gets up to (up to and including, the ectoplasma hands, the weird worm-like demons and the usual persistent ghosts trying to possess every single medium in their vicinity). It's also a bit more introspective than the previous books and a touch angst-y in some ways: Victor has to contend with a lot of tough stuff in this book, and finally (finally), his pill addiction gets the development it deserves. It was tough seeing him struggle so much, but it also cemented the fact that he's truly, 100%, grown and matured, and I was beyond proud of him. He's still the messy, disaster, emotionally-stunted and snarky medium we all love and adore, but he's much more in tune with himself and his powers too.
I also adored his and Jacob's relationship in this one: neither one of them are perfect to begin with, and with a mortal drug epidemic (and Victor's past) taking its toll on them, they end up snapping at each other quite a bit in this one. I was actually glad to see this grittier side of their relationship though: it made them feel even more real and normal, and it made their sweeter, more intimate moments even more lovely and romantic. It was also so lovely to see Jacob's more insecure, frustrated side. But how I laughed at Victor's running commentary on him, LOL. These two absolutely kill me!
I LOVED seeing Carolyn and Zig again, and I also loved getting to see a bit more of Crash and Red through Victor's eyes (and his smartass, low-key envious thoughts).
The mystery plot was so damn compelling, and exciting and weird and creepy and shocking. It might be my favourite one yet.
The ending was a mix of bittersweet, highly romantic and OH-MY-GOD-WHAT. I can't wait to continue.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug abuse and Addiction