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ireney5 's review for:
If I Should Die
by Amy Plum
I feel like I wasted my time on this series. It completely lacks any self-awareness or sensibility. In a non-spoiler moment, when the protagonist looks at paintings that depict the "bad guys" (the Numa, who, of course, walk around with red halos around their heads) throughout history, she realizes that the Nazis, under Hitler's Germany, were Numa. Now, I'm not Jewish, either ethnically or religiously, and this moment was a single sentence in the book that didn't affect the plotline at all, but this just seems very wrong to say. The lesson that most of us take away from the horror of the Holocaust is that normal, intelligent, and even "good" people became the Nazis that committed so many horrific war crimes. That the level of propaganda, patriotism, and powerful rhetoric by leaders such as Hitler was able to transform ordinary people into some unrecognizable and inexplicably widespread and sweeping. It doesn't sit right with me to just state, for no relevant reason involving plot, the characters, or anything of importance really, that the people involved in the Holocaust were just evil immortal demons to begin with and not ordinary people who turned on their neighbors because of the influence and power of state propaganda. Does anyone else agree with me on this? Yes, we know the Nazis committed horrific crimes. No, we don't need to explain their behavior by saying that in this world - fantasy or not- it was just the Numa who did horrible things to people as Nazis, not ordinary people who became unrecognizable over the course of the Holocaust . Honestly, I could see someone writing an alternate fiction piece set during the Holocaust in which Hitler and the Nazis were, in fact, some supernatural/fantastical species, but this book was neither here nor there and that sentence was pulled me out of the world entirely.
Now, for some complaints about the actual plot and and characters of the book that are very much spoilers:
How does a character like Kate - depressed to a zombiesque state before meeting Vincent, lacking a personality, but somehow being rash and impertinent - become the Champion of Revenants?? I'm the person who thought Bella was fine and even relatable as a protagonist in Twilight, so I'm surprised by how much I disliked Kate in this series. For Kate to have been the destined champion, I really, truly, think there should have been more to her than (A) crying over something/someone, (B) interfering with plans that were none of her business (at least at the time) and ruining them, and (C) being gullible and not in an endearing way.
Since Book 1, it seemed like Kate was annoyingly entitled by trying to interfere with plans and attend house meetings just because of her (very new) relationship with Vincent. In Book 3, this reached new level of irritating. From Jules inexplicably being in love with her (why? to set up a companion series of books? who needs a half-hearted love triangle in just a chunk of the last book?) to Ambrose starting to like Charlotte only after she is promoted to the position of second (after crushing on him for 5 decades while being ignored), everything about this book got annoying after a certain point. Not to mention that I couldn't stop rolling my eyes when it became clear that Kate's strategy to lead all the Revenants to victory in war was to use her "powerful and invisible weapon: love" - complete with a conversation about hearts and love in her final confrontation with Violette (377).
Don't waste your time. Pick up another book. This book doesn't deliver on anything it seems to promise: the fantasy world, while initially promising, is nonsensicaland results in a girl with minimal training in fighting or anything leading her army into battle and winning, while being a visible beacon to others from literally hours and new immortal leader of their race, which is the opposite of what a Journey of the Hero story should be , the "forbidden romance" is lackluster in literally every way, and even when he's gone, he's a ghost that follows her around - and even that is for just 5 days. At least Edward left Bella for months. And when Bella became the secret weapon that saved her family in [b:Breaking Dawn|1162543|Breaking Dawn (Twilight, #4)|Stephenie Meyer|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1361039438s/1162543.jpg|2960529], it was in a way that fit her character and really snuck up on the assembled army. It wasn't like Kate being the commander of the army through no merits of her own other than her "destiny" and, at best, is predictable and slow-paced.
Rant over. Wow, I really did not like this book.
Now, for some complaints about the actual plot and and characters of the book that are very much spoilers:
Since Book 1, it seemed like Kate was annoyingly entitled by trying to interfere with plans and attend house meetings just because of her (very new) relationship with Vincent. In Book 3, this reached new level of irritating. From Jules inexplicably being in love with her (why? to set up a companion series of books? who needs a half-hearted love triangle in just a chunk of the last book?) to Ambrose starting to like Charlotte only after she is promoted to the position of second (after crushing on him for 5 decades while being ignored), everything about this book got annoying after a certain point. Not to mention that I couldn't stop rolling my eyes when it became clear that Kate's strategy to lead all the Revenants to victory in war was to use her "powerful and invisible weapon: love" - complete with a conversation about hearts and love in her final confrontation with Violette (377).
Don't waste your time. Pick up another book. This book doesn't deliver on anything it seems to promise: the fantasy world, while initially promising, is nonsensical
Rant over. Wow, I really did not like this book.