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cristina19 's review for:
Immortal Consequences
by I.V. Marie
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Immortal Consequences is a dark paranormal fantasy following six students attending a prestigious boarding school in purgatory. Tethered by shared near death experiences, they’re fated to shepherd lost souls for eternity while slowly loosing all memory and sense of self. However, there is a chance to be spared from this fate if they are nominated to the Decennial, a ten year celebration, and pass all of its trials. If completed, they are given the choice to either ascend to the academy’s magical elite or move on to the other side. But there can only be one winner.
This was a fairly entertaining read with a lot of romance and angst, but the world building fell pretty flat for me. The function of the academy made little sense. Everyone seems to be taking the same entry level courses despite being of varying ages. Why is August, who’s been there a century, taking beginner level psyche classes with Wren, who has been there eighteen years? These kids are supposed to be the best of the best and yet all their classes seem to be going over the basics and they still have such an amateur grasp over their powers. Why do they even have powers to begin with considering they’re not at all necessary for shepherding souls? I was also deeply annoyed at how only 500 students attend Blackwood, with a new student only showing up every few years, and yet our characters don’t know all of their classmates. You’ve been living with these people for decades, with no way of leaving campus, and yet you don’t know everyone? Hello? Like not even just recognizing their faces?
Having six POVs was simply too much. I think Olivier and Emilio could have been cut completely and it would have given more space to actually get to know our four other characters. I disliked how you couldn’t even tell that they were all from different centuries and countries. They all acted like modern American teens because we got zero insight into their lives before death. It would have been so cool to see how their different upbringings influenced the way they interacted with each other. Like they talk ad nauseam about how they don’t want to reminisce on their old lives. There is so much unnecessary cloak and dagger around their deaths and families. It felt like the mysteriousness was meant to give them depth, but we’re given no information to make it actually tantalizing. The secrecy never paid off.
I think there are some interesting archetypes being utilized and I can see a lot of potential for our characters, but I need more to actually be invested. Only some of the romances intrigued me, everybody was playing it too safe. I’d say the most interesting part of this book was the concept of reintroducing pain to these characters that haven’t experienced it in decades. How they were basically reacquainted with their survival instincts and a renewed fear of death after being desensitized to it for so long.
This was a fairly entertaining read with a lot of romance and angst, but the world building fell pretty flat for me. The function of the academy made little sense. Everyone seems to be taking the same entry level courses despite being of varying ages. Why is August, who’s been there a century, taking beginner level psyche classes with Wren, who has been there eighteen years? These kids are supposed to be the best of the best and yet all their classes seem to be going over the basics and they still have such an amateur grasp over their powers. Why do they even have powers to begin with considering they’re not at all necessary for shepherding souls? I was also deeply annoyed at how only 500 students attend Blackwood, with a new student only showing up every few years, and yet our characters don’t know all of their classmates. You’ve been living with these people for decades, with no way of leaving campus, and yet you don’t know everyone? Hello? Like not even just recognizing their faces?
Having six POVs was simply too much. I think Olivier and Emilio could have been cut completely and it would have given more space to actually get to know our four other characters. I disliked how you couldn’t even tell that they were all from different centuries and countries. They all acted like modern American teens because we got zero insight into their lives before death. It would have been so cool to see how their different upbringings influenced the way they interacted with each other. Like they talk ad nauseam about how they don’t want to reminisce on their old lives. There is so much unnecessary cloak and dagger around their deaths and families. It felt like the mysteriousness was meant to give them depth, but we’re given no information to make it actually tantalizing. The secrecy never paid off.
I think there are some interesting archetypes being utilized and I can see a lot of potential for our characters, but I need more to actually be invested. Only some of the romances intrigued me, everybody was playing it too safe. I’d say the most interesting part of this book was the concept of reintroducing pain to these characters that haven’t experienced it in decades. How they were basically reacquainted with their survival instincts and a renewed fear of death after being desensitized to it for so long.