Take a photo of a barcode or cover
lezreadalot 's review for:
The Rycke
by Lily Mayne
When I finished this book, I was thinking of it as a 3.5, but upon reflection, I think it's gotta be more of a 3. 3.25 at most. It's definitely my least favourite in the series so far. Which is a shame! Because I did really like certain parts of this. Ghost and the Rycke are really cute, and they both have personalities that I think I'd usually really gravitate towards in a romance novel. But they were written in ways that weren't my favourite. This book also had that same sense of plotlessness that I got from book 1, and alas, the relationship didn't have the magnetic pull that Wyn and Danny had.
We've heard about the Rycke in previous books, and I did really like meeting him, after seeing how he terrifies the other monsters. I love the concept of a really gentle soul who's been through so much, but refuses to fight on his own behalf, no matter how much other people hurt him... but it's a different story when it comes to the person he loves. But I didn't love the execution. Firstly, it was sooooo insta-love, way more so than the other two books. Even with Hunter and Edin, who started hooking up relatively early on, if I recall correctly, they still had a great trajectory to the emotional side of their relationship. With these two... there was a bit of early friction, and the misunderstanding where Ghost thought Aury hated him, but the attraction was so instantaneous, and it felt like it took the blink of an eye for them to act on it. And it felt even faster because Aury was nonverbal for a lot of the early parts of the book. I guess we were supposed to believe that they developed a deep connection during the times they sat silently and read to one another. All of that was really sweet, and again, I did like the foundation of the relationship? But the book didn't do the greatest job of building on it. And I really did think we'd do a bit more with the exploration of Aury's trauma, and his backstory with the camp, but that just fell by the wayside.
Ghost is exactly the kind of character that I would THINK I would really love, but in actuality, he sorta irritated me, lol. He's really avoidant, a bit of a pushover, super anxious. I empathise with all of that so much. He reminds me a bit of myself, which, alas, might be why I didn't like him so much, haha. But see, I really sympathised with his feelings about his place in camp, how he resented having to go out and scout and do all these dangerous things. I mean, I actually really liked Anchor a lot. (Perhaps I just kneejerk wanted to like her; she's the first main female side character we've had in the series so far, and I was annoyed she immediately got shoehorned into 'failing leader'.) But I was still kinda mad at her, that she knew exactly how much danger Ghost faced out there, but was still adamant about sending him out. ...................Except it turned out she DIDN'T know the dangers he faced, and how much he hated it, because he never said!! LOL that did annoy me a lot. Like, Ghost, you can't say that people don't take your feelings into consideration if you don't TELL them your feelings. I get that he's anxious, and again, I empathise, but the people around you aren't mind readers. If you don't say something, how will they know!!! It was also mildly irritating seeing him go through the entire book mentally berating Anchor for believing that Cat is alive, and meanwhile, we know that he IS.
Just like in Edin, the ending of this book petered out, rather than building towards something explosive, like I'd previously thought it would. Unlike in Edin, I didn't really like it? Or at least, idk, I felt a little deflated by the way this ended. I did enjoy a lot of the things that came before. The moment at the Topeka camp was... something, but I did like it. And I'm really glad that that wasn't the thing to provoke the third act break up; that would have been too predictable. Aury's monstrous reveal ultimately not being enough to change Ghost's feelings... yessss. That's the fucked up romance I'm looking for. Truly, this couple had so many elements I loved; I just didn't love either of them as characters that much. I pretty much enjoyed all the side characters way more than Ghost and Aury. I know there probably won't ever be an Anchor book, but I really loved Lilac and Rig and Moth, and I'm excited for their romances. The setup for Gloam was great.
Oh but while I'm under a spoiler cut, I might as well mention the other petty reason I didn't like Aury/Ghost as much: all the comeplay. Lol, obviously that's completely subjective, but oh man, I don't like it as a kink, even when there's a normal amount of it. And Aury producing so much of it.... eugh. Lol sorry sorry, it's real petty hours over here, but I just think it's gross. This is the second book in a row where a kink I don't like has been enough to lower my rating. The picky bitch in me will never die.
Listened to the audiobook as read by Michael Lesley, and enjoyed it once again. I do like how all his voices are so distinctive. Aury didn't sound quite like what I expected, but the voice really grew on me. And I'm kind of obsessed with Lilac's bored psychotwink voice. Amazing. While this was my least favourite book so far, I'm still really enjoying the series. Even if I didn't love this, it still made me excited for upcoming books.
Oh! One thing: I do really like the cover. For the longest time, when I looked at it, I swore there were two characters. I thought the huge black thing was the Rycke, and his hands were touching the human's back. Only to discover that those are the Rycke's wings, growing out of his back. I know that that probably wasn't intentional, but it's kinda cool.
We've heard about the Rycke in previous books, and I did really like meeting him, after seeing how he terrifies the other monsters. I love the concept of a really gentle soul who's been through so much, but refuses to fight on his own behalf, no matter how much other people hurt him... but it's a different story when it comes to the person he loves. But I didn't love the execution. Firstly, it was sooooo insta-love, way more so than the other two books. Even with Hunter and Edin, who started hooking up relatively early on, if I recall correctly, they still had a great trajectory to the emotional side of their relationship. With these two... there was a bit of early friction, and the misunderstanding where Ghost thought Aury hated him, but the attraction was so instantaneous, and it felt like it took the blink of an eye for them to act on it. And it felt even faster because Aury was nonverbal for a lot of the early parts of the book. I guess we were supposed to believe that they developed a deep connection during the times they sat silently and read to one another. All of that was really sweet, and again, I did like the foundation of the relationship? But the book didn't do the greatest job of building on it. And I really did think we'd do a bit more with the exploration of Aury's trauma, and his backstory with the camp, but that just fell by the wayside.
Ghost is exactly the kind of character that I would THINK I would really love, but in actuality, he sorta irritated me, lol. He's really avoidant, a bit of a pushover, super anxious. I empathise with all of that so much. He reminds me a bit of myself, which, alas, might be why I didn't like him so much, haha. But see, I really sympathised with his feelings about his place in camp, how he resented having to go out and scout and do all these dangerous things. I mean, I actually really liked Anchor a lot. (Perhaps I just kneejerk wanted to like her; she's the first main female side character we've had in the series so far, and I was annoyed she immediately got shoehorned into 'failing leader'.) But I was still kinda mad at her, that she knew exactly how much danger Ghost faced out there, but was still adamant about sending him out. ...................Except it turned out she DIDN'T know the dangers he faced, and how much he hated it, because he never said!! LOL that did annoy me a lot. Like, Ghost, you can't say that people don't take your feelings into consideration if you don't TELL them your feelings. I get that he's anxious, and again, I empathise, but the people around you aren't mind readers. If you don't say something, how will they know!!! It was also mildly irritating seeing him go through the entire book mentally berating Anchor for believing that Cat is alive, and meanwhile, we know that he IS.
Just like in Edin, the ending of this book petered out, rather than building towards something explosive, like I'd previously thought it would. Unlike in Edin, I didn't really like it? Or at least, idk, I felt a little deflated by the way this ended. I did enjoy a lot of the things that came before. The moment at the Topeka camp was... something, but I did like it. And I'm really glad that that wasn't the thing to provoke the third act break up; that would have been too predictable. Aury's monstrous reveal ultimately not being enough to change Ghost's feelings... yessss. That's the fucked up romance I'm looking for. Truly, this couple had so many elements I loved; I just didn't love either of them as characters that much. I pretty much enjoyed all the side characters way more than Ghost and Aury. I know there probably won't ever be an Anchor book, but I really loved Lilac and Rig and Moth, and I'm excited for their romances. The setup for Gloam was great.
Spoiler
(I was pretty let down by the author's note, when she revealed what book 3.5 would be about. A few reviews ago, I mentioned that one thing I loved about this series is that we got HEAs, even with the lifetime angst for couples like Wyn/Danny and Edin/Hunter. But apparently, we're just going to get an easy fix-it for all that. Sigh. I truly don't know why it annoys me so much. Romance is my favourite genre; I LOVE getting my HEAs. But I truly thought both those love stories were beautiful, even knowing that Wyn and Edin are immortal and their boyfriends are not. There's something really ovely about knowing that Wyn and Edin will cherish their guys with all their hearts, for the limited time they have. The fact that we're just gonna fix that... idk. I know I need to read it before I complain about it. And I already bought the audio, so I know I'm going to read it. Maybe it will be less annoying than I predict.)Oh but while I'm under a spoiler cut, I might as well mention the other petty reason I didn't like Aury/Ghost as much: all the comeplay. Lol, obviously that's completely subjective, but oh man, I don't like it as a kink, even when there's a normal amount of it. And Aury producing so much of it.... eugh. Lol sorry sorry, it's real petty hours over here, but I just think it's gross. This is the second book in a row where a kink I don't like has been enough to lower my rating. The picky bitch in me will never die.
Listened to the audiobook as read by Michael Lesley, and enjoyed it once again. I do like how all his voices are so distinctive. Aury didn't sound quite like what I expected, but the voice really grew on me. And I'm kind of obsessed with Lilac's bored psychotwink voice. Amazing. While this was my least favourite book so far, I'm still really enjoying the series. Even if I didn't love this, it still made me excited for upcoming books.
Oh! One thing: I do really like the cover. For the longest time, when I looked at it, I swore there were two characters. I thought the huge black thing was the Rycke, and his hands were touching the human's back. Only to discover that those are the Rycke's wings, growing out of his back. I know that that probably wasn't intentional, but it's kinda cool.