You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
wanderinglynn 's review for:
Speak of the Demon
by Stacia Stark
adventurous
dark
The more I read, the less I liked this book. At first, I thought it was the narrator who bugged me. And yes, I didn't really care for the narrator. Not the worst, but not anywhere close to the best. But I soon realized that what was really bugging me was the writing, which felt juvenile, a bit wattpady.
I also felt that the characters were one-dimensional, particularly Samael. Samael was possessive, overly dominant, and controlling, and yet had no redeeming qualities. I love a bad boy, but I need there to be something redeemable about him, something to root for, for him to grow and become the hero. The way Samael was set up, there's limited, if any, potential for growth, and I didn't see anything redeemable about him. He was a tyrant who coerced, threatened, and bulldozed everyone around him to get his way.
While I found Danica a little more fleshed out, she was still rather bland. She went from hot to cold, getting mad at Samael and then wanting to jump him. I felt the author was trying to make her spunky and fierce; however, that failed when time after time Danica went to stand up to Samael but then once again controlled her. Maybe that's a turn on for some, but I'm ready to move beyond that male entitlement BS. It wasn't a healthy relationship at all. Maybe if there had been a slow burn, building up to something more tangible. But honestly, I didn't get Samael's possessiveness and the only reason ever given was because "that's how he is." Okay, no. That doesn't work because Danica already established pretty early in the story that Samael just killed those who crossed him. And yet, despite her saying (way too many times) that Samael would kill her, he didn't. And no reason was given other than he found her interesting. Okay, why? Hints were given, clearly building up to the larger story of her origin that is only hinted at in this book. But it's not enough to keep me reading this series.
And why the switching POV? The few chapters that were Samael's POV added nothing to the story.
The world-building was interesting, which is what drew me to pick up this book in the first place. And yet, the world-building could have been fleshed out a bit more too, particularly since this plot revolves around the history of this world. As for the plot, it was predictable and I didn't find it well laid out. Honestly, I'm flabbergasted at all the high ratings as I'm questioning whether we read the same book.
Anyway, every book has an audience, I'm just not the audience for this one.
I also felt that the characters were one-dimensional, particularly Samael. Samael was possessive, overly dominant, and controlling, and yet had no redeeming qualities. I love a bad boy, but I need there to be something redeemable about him, something to root for, for him to grow and become the hero. The way Samael was set up, there's limited, if any, potential for growth, and I didn't see anything redeemable about him. He was a tyrant who coerced, threatened, and bulldozed everyone around him to get his way.
While I found Danica a little more fleshed out, she was still rather bland. She went from hot to cold, getting mad at Samael and then wanting to jump him. I felt the author was trying to make her spunky and fierce; however, that failed when time after time Danica went to stand up to Samael but then once again controlled her. Maybe that's a turn on for some, but I'm ready to move beyond that male entitlement BS. It wasn't a healthy relationship at all. Maybe if there had been a slow burn, building up to something more tangible. But honestly, I didn't get Samael's possessiveness and the only reason ever given was because "that's how he is." Okay, no. That doesn't work because Danica already established pretty early in the story that Samael just killed those who crossed him. And yet, despite her saying (way too many times) that Samael would kill her, he didn't. And no reason was given other than he found her interesting. Okay, why? Hints were given, clearly building up to the larger story of her origin that is only hinted at in this book. But it's not enough to keep me reading this series.
And why the switching POV? The few chapters that were Samael's POV added nothing to the story.
The world-building was interesting, which is what drew me to pick up this book in the first place. And yet, the world-building could have been fleshed out a bit more too, particularly since this plot revolves around the history of this world. As for the plot, it was predictable and I didn't find it well laid out. Honestly, I'm flabbergasted at all the high ratings as I'm questioning whether we read the same book.
Anyway, every book has an audience, I'm just not the audience for this one.