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A review by lifeinthebooklane
Deadly Dreams by K.J. Sutton
3.0
UPDATED REVIEW 3.5 Stars
After having stalled two-thirds of the way through, because it felt as though we really weren't making any headway on the story, I eventually picked this back up and finished reading it. Virtually from that very page, the plot picked up and I was recaptured by this great series. So much so that I read into the early hours to finish this! Had the entire book been at this level it would have surpassed 5 stars, rather than almost DNF'ing it. I do need to thank Julie of One Book More blog, as she encouraged me to finish this and was 100% correct about that ending!
This is a long book, a fair amount of which could (and maybe should) have been edited out with no real impact on the story. There was a whole subplot involving Gwen and the Wild Hunt that was far too long-winded, providing very little forward movement. Given the number of words devoted to this, it should have been more significant in driving the plot forward. It does leave me wondering if the series should have been planned for 4 or 5 books rather than 6.
On a positive, we saw Fortuna undergo a great deal of personal growth. There were still some rash decisions, but we saw a lot more forethought, more questioning rather than simply believing more self-awareness. Despite it being heartbreaking to read, I loved how the author handled the trauma that both Fortuna and Collith had endured. There were some beautiful moments between various characters, some incredibly tender scenes, some moving scenes, some terrifying scenes and some confuzzling ones that will no doubt become clear in future books.
I was awestruck by how a throwaway sentence in book #1, by a nameless character, suddenly held great significance. This is a complex story, one where you start unravelling a thread and suddenly have a whole layer seemingly revealed, only for another thread to add a different spin to the story. Relationships and allegiances, that in hindsight should have been obvious, were revealed like a slap to the face. Hints, clues, breadcrumbs and red herrings are scattered throughout and you could drive yourself insane trying to follow and unpick them all.
Sadly the book spent far too long drifting in aimless circles with little advancement of the plot. So whilst this was not quite as good as the previous two based on the last third I WILL continue the series. I'm fairly certain, at some point, that we will discover that "Laurie" at the end isn't Laurie, but rather is his more evil and conniving brother. I could be wrong though.
At times, the book also suffered from that very annoying trope of "let's avoid that simple conversation that would avoid lots of angst, suffering and misconceptions". There were too many interrupted conversations that remained unfinished, despite the opportunity to complete them. And despite the information being important. In addition, I felt there was too much needless keeping of secrets, which smacks of lazy/lacklustre writing, this author is capable of better than that.
This review here https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3510822135 by Miriam perfectly sums up my exact thoughts and feelings around this book. Perhaps I'd been too eager for this book, had built up such great expectations that I was bound to be somewhat disappointed. However this series here, The Messenger Chronicles by Pippa DaCosta, is an example of where each book has its own story arc, whilst also moving the overarching storyline forward too.
After having stalled two-thirds of the way through, because it felt as though we really weren't making any headway on the story, I eventually picked this back up and finished reading it. Virtually from that very page, the plot picked up and I was recaptured by this great series. So much so that I read into the early hours to finish this! Had the entire book been at this level it would have surpassed 5 stars, rather than almost DNF'ing it. I do need to thank Julie of One Book More blog, as she encouraged me to finish this and was 100% correct about that ending!
This is a long book, a fair amount of which could (and maybe should) have been edited out with no real impact on the story. There was a whole subplot involving Gwen and the Wild Hunt that was far too long-winded, providing very little forward movement. Given the number of words devoted to this, it should have been more significant in driving the plot forward. It does leave me wondering if the series should have been planned for 4 or 5 books rather than 6.
On a positive, we saw Fortuna undergo a great deal of personal growth. There were still some rash decisions, but we saw a lot more forethought, more questioning rather than simply believing more self-awareness. Despite it being heartbreaking to read, I loved how the author handled the trauma that both Fortuna and Collith had endured. There were some beautiful moments between various characters, some incredibly tender scenes, some moving scenes, some terrifying scenes and some confuzzling ones that will no doubt become clear in future books.
I was awestruck by how a throwaway sentence in book #1, by a nameless character, suddenly held great significance. This is a complex story, one where you start unravelling a thread and suddenly have a whole layer seemingly revealed, only for another thread to add a different spin to the story. Relationships and allegiances, that in hindsight should have been obvious, were revealed like a slap to the face. Hints, clues, breadcrumbs and red herrings are scattered throughout and you could drive yourself insane trying to follow and unpick them all.
Sadly the book spent far too long drifting in aimless circles with little advancement of the plot. So whilst this was not quite as good as the previous two based on the last third I WILL continue the series. I'm fairly certain, at some point, that we will discover that "Laurie" at the end isn't Laurie, but rather is his more evil and conniving brother. I could be wrong though.
At times, the book also suffered from that very annoying trope of "let's avoid that simple conversation that would avoid lots of angst, suffering and misconceptions". There were too many interrupted conversations that remained unfinished, despite the opportunity to complete them. And despite the information being important. In addition, I felt there was too much needless keeping of secrets, which smacks of lazy/lacklustre writing, this author is capable of better than that.
This review here https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3510822135 by Miriam perfectly sums up my exact thoughts and feelings around this book. Perhaps I'd been too eager for this book, had built up such great expectations that I was bound to be somewhat disappointed. However this series here, The Messenger Chronicles by Pippa DaCosta, is an example of where each book has its own story arc, whilst also moving the overarching storyline forward too.