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A review by fpgreviews
The Sleepless by Jen Williams
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Elver was sacrificed by an evil mage when she was a child only to be saved and turned into a monster by the Queen of Serpents, who tasks her with rescuing another monster who has been kidnapped from her forest. The monster has been kidnapped by Artair, who was forced by the evil mage to kidnap the monster in order to exchange it for his fellow monks.
I thought this was a really interesting book. The characters were well-rounded, and the conflict between Artair and the "evil spirit" who shares his body, Lucian, felt realistic. Like some other readers, I actually found myself finding Lucian, the "evil spirit", a more compelling character than Artair. I was a little concerned that the author would resolve the love triangle by someone causing Artair and Lucian to become the same person, but that didn't happen (in this book at least). I'm glad the author didn't take the easy way out with that, and I hope Artair and Lucian remain two distinct entities in the second book as well. The way Artair and Lucian were written was a little reminiscent of dissociative disorders, so that was interesting — especially the inversion of there being an "evil one".
I found the beginning and the end of the book to be very strong, but I do think that the middle lagged a bit. It didn't seem as well-written as the other sections of the book, almost as if the author was just throwing in plot points to extend the length of the book instead of having the scenes be there for a reason. I did like the bit about the Temple of the Threshold, and I wish the middle had been more like that and more character-focused.
The Sleepless releases September 30 from Wednesday Books. Thank you to Netgalley, Wednesday Books and Jen Williams for the ARC. All opinions are my own.
I thought this was a really interesting book. The characters were well-rounded, and the conflict between Artair and the "evil spirit" who shares his body, Lucian, felt realistic. Like some other readers, I actually found myself finding Lucian, the "evil spirit", a more compelling character than Artair. I was a little concerned that the author would resolve the love triangle by someone causing Artair and Lucian to become the same person, but that didn't happen (in this book at least). I'm glad the author didn't take the easy way out with that, and I hope Artair and Lucian remain two distinct entities in the second book as well. The way Artair and Lucian were written was a little reminiscent of dissociative disorders, so that was interesting — especially the inversion of there being an "evil one".
I found the beginning and the end of the book to be very strong, but I do think that the middle lagged a bit. It didn't seem as well-written as the other sections of the book, almost as if the author was just throwing in plot points to extend the length of the book instead of having the scenes be there for a reason. I did like the bit about the Temple of the Threshold, and I wish the middle had been more like that and more character-focused.
The Sleepless releases September 30 from Wednesday Books. Thank you to Netgalley, Wednesday Books and Jen Williams for the ARC. All opinions are my own.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Violence, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child death, Kidnapping, War
Minor: Alcohol