A review by readbyjaimes
Enigma by RuNyx

dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix

2.75

A lot of thoughts, most of them not fantastic. 


So, as you can assume from my title, I wasn't obsessed with this, which is really disappointing since I've been looking forward to this book since its announcement. The first 30% of this book was good; I was so sat for the setup, and the last 30% was pretty good too (with some grains of salt, the salt being plot holes). But the middle 40% so stupid, slow, and reiterating shit we already knew about. All of the villains were easy to guess, and there was no plot twist because you could literally see everything coming from a mile away. The characters felt so one-dimensional that I was so over the author trying to make us feel like they were deeper than they were. And there were a few times where Salem would mention something like it was a revelation when we had already discussed and discovered that chapterssss ago.

Now, I have a gripe with secret society plot lines because often they are poorly done. And lo and behold, we have another poorly done secret society plot line. What do they do? Who knows! Why do they do what they do? Your guess is as good as mine! It was irritating to have this plot line built up and then have absolutely no explanation as to what the societies are actually doing. Like, what is the point?
If that wasn't enough, there were TWO secret societies in this story, and neither of them were really explained or expanded upon beyond the most minute details.


I enjoyed Gothikana, but dislike RuNyx's other works, so I figured that Enigma would be right up my alley. Now I'm thinking that Gothikana was a one-hit wonder for me, and everything after, and before that, is nonsensical bs. And I know, this is kind of a scathing review, but there were things that kept me reading and enjoying the novel to a certain extent. The romance was somewhat good! I enjoyed scenes between Salem and Caz when they weren't being fucking stupid for no reason.

Overall, while I was very excited for this book and it gripped me in the first part, the way the plot played out left me wanting, and not in a good way. RuNyx hides behind the saying that she wants her books to be imperfect and still have mystery. I think this is an excuse to be lazy and leave the book shoddy, put together with plot holes galore. I think I'm done with her books after this. Combined with all of the issues the Syndicater had, it's not looking good for Miss Ru. 
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