A review by miloulou
Conspiracy by Lindsay Buroker

3.0

This instalment features Akstyr as the focus, and it's definitely a big difference from the last novel. As always, he has a distinctive voice from the other characters, and all the maturity you'd expect from the youngest member raised with the least number of rules.

Personally, this one though it delivered on the funny banter and adventure, it was one I have a hard time really placing and remembering. The one big scene

Spoiler

would be when Sicarius goes off the deep end

was pretty shocking but it also reminds everyone of how dangerous the world actually is. I'm not exactly sure what about it made it less of a thrill for me, but I think it was because it had one of those problems many middle novels have. It was kind of just that novel for me, the one that was there but none of what happened really stuck out. Other than the glimpse of Akstyr's past, which was just a horrible as one would expect. What I did appreciate however was the way it wasn't written as a sob story. Akstyr doesn't allow himself to dwell on it, and for him it's all about moving forward. I think he'd be a very interesting character to read about, when he's say five years older and has had more time to mature. All of his flaws and complaints makes him at times exhausting to read about, when I just wanted to shake him and tell him to grow up. There's a lot to sympathize with, but because of all the other flaws as well, it's hard to remember that he's been beat down his entire life.

While I normally would love the introduction of another female character, as the series is pretty bogged down with a lot of guys, Yara is so written to be so stuffy that it's hard to really sympathize with her. Maldynado's teasing was fun though, so hopefully she'll get better as the series moves on.