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abmalada 's review for:
Nightshade
by Keri Lake
I’m giving this book 4 stars for enjoyment alone, not quality. It’s not bad per se, but there were definitely some things that had me raising my eyebrows. However, my rating scale is mostly based on enjoyment, I binge read this in a day, and I am a total sucker for gothic fantasy romances… so here we are.
As with every Keri Lake book I’ve read, I started off questioning whether this was really something I wanted to read about. The beginning of the book follows a young girl (indeterminate age, though there are implications that she is an early teenager at the very beginning) falling in love with and acting upon that with a boy, roughly aged 17? That’s gross. However, there are no references to how much time passes and Lake points out that this is intentional. So, all this is to say, Lustina could be 14 when we first meet her but 18 later. At least that was my head canon, and I do not want to consider otherwise.
One of the two things I really didn’t like about the plot with this book was the insta-love. It makes sense given the context of the book, but I’m just never a fan of it, in any book.
Second, the world-building isn’t quite there for me. I appreciated the glossary at the beginning, but it gave me the wrong impression. A lot of the mechanics about how the realms work and certain powers work was too hand-wavey. I don’t need a full technical paper, but I would’ve liked to see something better than “laws of reality don’t apply here,” and “the mechanics of how go beyond rules and laws.”
Despite that, I couldn’t put this book down. I love the dark gothic aura the story had, and I loved Jericho’s pseudo villain status.
As with every Keri Lake book I’ve read, I started off questioning whether this was really something I wanted to read about. The beginning of the book follows a young girl (indeterminate age, though there are implications that she is an early teenager at the very beginning) falling in love with and acting upon that with a boy, roughly aged 17? That’s gross. However, there are no references to how much time passes and Lake points out that this is intentional. So, all this is to say, Lustina could be 14 when we first meet her but 18 later. At least that was my head canon, and I do not want to consider otherwise.
One of the two things I really didn’t like about the plot with this book was the insta-love. It makes sense given the context of the book, but I’m just never a fan of it, in any book.
Spoiler
The whole pregnancy thing seemed unnecessary and abrupt, as well. I get the tenuous logic behind it, but it seems weak sauce to me for removing the curse and I would’ve preferred that Farryn either got pregnant unrelated to the curse, or the curse had some other way to be broken. I especially didn’t like this if you consider that their story only worked out because she happened to become pregnant in like 3 days of having sex with Jericho.Second, the world-building isn’t quite there for me. I appreciated the glossary at the beginning, but it gave me the wrong impression.
Spoiler
For example, Ex Nihilo is described as being a void, a plane without life. That coupled with the translation of “ex nihilo” meaning “from nothing” led me to believe that this “realm” is, essentially, a true death. That anyone sent there is truly gone. However, we see two people come back from Ex Nihilo which weakens the stakes, in my opinion. I guess one could turn the interpretation of the translation around as Jericho’s return from literally nothing – but if one comes from nothing, how are they the same as before they became nothing? Doesn’t it imply that nothing remains of before? Ignoring the fact that this doesn’t make sense to me physically, it seems like it should at least have psychological effects.Despite that, I couldn’t put this book down. I love the dark gothic aura the story had, and I loved Jericho’s pseudo villain status.