A review by galleytrot
Gardens & Ghosts by Maz Maddox

  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

READ: Feb 2024 
FORMAT: Digital 

ENTERTAINMENT VALUE: 5 / 5⭐ 
TECHNICAL / PRODUCTION: 4.5 / 5⭐ 
FINAL – OVERALL: 4.75 / 5⭐ 

In this book, a pair of extremely valuable fossils pop up that may be absolutely critical to the continuation of the shifter species, and the difficulty around the situation prompts Montana to take the job on for himself. An unrelenting Henry makes certain that he won’t be going alone, though, and while the last thing Montana needs is to be worrying about a newly-awakened and barely-trained shifter during the most important and dangerous mission of his life, he yields. Tragic pasts and brighter futures collide, and control must be sacrificed for trust and love to break through walls meant to keep hearts protected from loss and grief.

What a wonderful conclusion to the RELIC series, packed to the brim with an incredible ensemble of characters, wild antics, hilarious situations, steaming-hot attraction, and a satisfying conclusion. I‘ll say that through the past couple books in the series, my opinion on Henry as a character didn’t amount to much, but he was truly given the perfect chance to grow into something remarkable. He was nothing like I expected in a partner for Montana, but he was everything that Montana needed. Montana himself went through pretty much the exact character arc I was expecting, and I’m okay with that. 

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it a million times over: Maddox’s strength is in world-building through incredible characters. The stories themselves can sometimes be middling, but the characters will always, always blast the fun-factor through the roof. This book didn’t address every question I had in regards to the RELIC universe; I feel like there are a good number of loose ends left untied. Despite that, I’m still left satisfied and content with the amount of speculation left open for me to ponder, and the groundwork is there for the story to continue through Origin, if that's a direction Maddox plans to take.  There were a number of mistakes (typos, grammar, continuity) in the book suggesting it could've used another pass for editing before release, but as is typically the case for Maddox books: the story is too much fun to hold it against the author. 

This book has representation for gays, bisexuals, pansexuals, and non-binary individuals. A wide variety of characters are portrayed as non-white. 

The following elaborates on my content warnings. These may be interpreted as spoilers, but I do not go into deep detail.
This book contains:
animal death (predators hunting for sustenance); panic attacks; blood, injuries (cuts, bruising, bullet wounds, piercing/stabbing); weapon violence (fists, improvised weapons, blades, guns); drug use; alcohol use; death, murder; and, vomiting.
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