Review by crookeddustjacket - Voidwalker

You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

crookeddustjacket 's review for:

Voidwalker by S.A. MacLean

4.5

adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Thank you to S. A. MacLean, Hachette Australia & New Zealand, and NetGalley for gifting me an eARC of Voidwalker.

I went in a bit blind with Voidwalker and, having never read Maclean’s previous book, I didn’t really know what to expect. Overall, I’m happy that I picked it up because I found Voidwalker to be an enjoyable and fun read. It has a nice blend of some lighthearted and more humorous moments, as well as some darker thoughtful moments.

The world building is phenomenal and delivered in such a way that it never felt heavy-handed. The world was more fantasy-leaning but had a nice blend of some sci-fi elements. The writing was descriptive enough that I could picture the scenes without getting bogged down in details. I especially liked the descriptions of the void itself; it really painted the cold quietness of the liminal space between planes beautifully. I loved the whole multidimensional travel through portals concept and liked the idea of the different season-locked planes. This is definitely a world that you could spend a lot of time in and still find new stories.

I really liked Fi as a character; she was likeable and a bit hard-headed at the start, although she did give off the ‘not like other girls’ vibe. But then we slowly discovered more about her past, making her more relatable and vulnerable. Antal was great, he was a very likeable character and SO dramatic. I liked how we found out about his background and experiences, and how it made him able to sympathize with Fi and the humans.

I really enjoyed watching the romance between Fi and Antal grow, and the tension and banter between these two were perfect. Although, I would say it’s less enemies-to-lovers and more two people who society thinks should be enemies but actually they get on like a house on fire

. I think both main characters had a good amount of complexity behind them which gave us depth of understanding of their backgrounds and the forces driving them to make the decisions we see throughout the book. Astrid was also a great supporting character and I enjoyed finding out more about her past and relationship with Fi. In general, we were given some information about each side character so we understand where they're coming from, which was good, but I would have liked a little more from some of them as they came across a bit shallow. One (very minor) thing that bugged me was the repetition of some phrases, namely Fi referring to herself as a hare (she needs to chill out).

I wouldn’t say this is a ‘light’ read as there are some heavier themes around sacrifice, abandonment, loss of loved ones, and humans being prey (not really cannibalism because it’s between two different species).

The book is also being labelled as a monster romance, which it technically is, but definitely not as abstract as some monster romance books, so don't let it stop you from picking it up!

Content Warnings