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A review by nia1210
The Damned by Renée Ahdieh
3.0
This was More like a 2.5 star book for me T.T
I received this digital copy in exchange for an honest review!
So at the end of my review of The Beautiful I said that I felt the series had a lot of potential, and despite not being wild about the book I was rather excited for the sequel. I figured The Damned would put Celine at the centre of a Vampire vs Werewolf conflict, and in some ways I was right, but at the same time so, so, wrong.
I asked for more vampires and The Damned definitely delivered. The lack of vampire action was one of my biggest issues with The Beautiful, but this book has supernatural creatures in spades. There’s a whole lot of world development in this one, some of which should have been mentioned in the first novel, but this book really revealed New Orleans’ supernatural underbelly and I loved it.
Again, the way Renée drags you into her world is amazing. I felt like I was standing on the streets of New Orleans with the characters, and everything felt so lavish and beautiful. This was one of the things I enjoyed the most about The Beautiful, and it’s sequel certainly makes use of the authors skill again!
The blurb makes it sound like we’ll be following Celine’s perspective, but instead The Damned’s main focus is Bastien. I could definitely see why the Renée would give us both perspectives, as Celine and Bastien are apart for most of the book, but I did find it rather irritating that his perspective was in first person. I understand why first person was used for the villain in The Beautiful, and I actually really enjoyed this clever way of using a change of tense, but it didn’t have the same results in The Damned. There were also so many different perspectives happening in this book, and if I’m honest most of them didn’t add very much to the plot; instead, the perspectives felt very “woe is me” and I don’t feel like they added much to the narrative, in fact I think the switching POVs made the first third really drag.
If the first half was a drag then the second half was a rip-roaring mess. So much happens and no one, including the reader, is given enough time to process anything. Admittedly this messy second half stuffed full of reveals was way more fun and definitely saved this book for me. It was a whirlwind I didn’t mind being stuck in. Due to this rather rushed approach we lose a fair bit of character development, especially for the people Celine associated with. Who the heck were those girls in the shop? I still don’t know and I’ve finished the book. I also think the love triangle aspect with Michael should have just been left out. Their relationship was never given enough time to develop, and I never at any point believed that Celine would choose to marry him; it felt like the trope had been added for no real reason other than the minuscule amount of drama it caused.
I think The Damned has really solidified that this series probably isn’t for me. The Beautiful had so much potential but the sequel just didn’t manage to live up to it, and I think that’s due to the amount of character development and plot shoehorned into it. I was hoping for vampires and werewolves in New Orleans, and instead this book took me, rather suddenly, to a whole other place and I was disappointed.
Recommend: This book definitely wasn’t for me, but I think if you really enjoyed The Beautiful then you’ll enjoy its sequel
I received this digital copy in exchange for an honest review!
So at the end of my review of The Beautiful I said that I felt the series had a lot of potential, and despite not being wild about the book I was rather excited for the sequel. I figured The Damned would put Celine at the centre of a Vampire vs Werewolf conflict, and in some ways I was right, but at the same time so, so, wrong.
I asked for more vampires and The Damned definitely delivered. The lack of vampire action was one of my biggest issues with The Beautiful, but this book has supernatural creatures in spades. There’s a whole lot of world development in this one, some of which should have been mentioned in the first novel, but this book really revealed New Orleans’ supernatural underbelly and I loved it.
Again, the way Renée drags you into her world is amazing. I felt like I was standing on the streets of New Orleans with the characters, and everything felt so lavish and beautiful. This was one of the things I enjoyed the most about The Beautiful, and it’s sequel certainly makes use of the authors skill again!
The blurb makes it sound like we’ll be following Celine’s perspective, but instead The Damned’s main focus is Bastien. I could definitely see why the Renée would give us both perspectives, as Celine and Bastien are apart for most of the book, but I did find it rather irritating that his perspective was in first person. I understand why first person was used for the villain in The Beautiful, and I actually really enjoyed this clever way of using a change of tense, but it didn’t have the same results in The Damned. There were also so many different perspectives happening in this book, and if I’m honest most of them didn’t add very much to the plot; instead, the perspectives felt very “woe is me” and I don’t feel like they added much to the narrative, in fact I think the switching POVs made the first third really drag.
If the first half was a drag then the second half was a rip-roaring mess. So much happens and no one, including the reader, is given enough time to process anything. Admittedly this messy second half stuffed full of reveals was way more fun and definitely saved this book for me. It was a whirlwind I didn’t mind being stuck in. Due to this rather rushed approach we lose a fair bit of character development, especially for the people Celine associated with. Who the heck were those girls in the shop? I still don’t know and I’ve finished the book. I also think the love triangle aspect with Michael should have just been left out. Their relationship was never given enough time to develop, and I never at any point believed that Celine would choose to marry him; it felt like the trope had been added for no real reason other than the minuscule amount of drama it caused.
I think The Damned has really solidified that this series probably isn’t for me. The Beautiful had so much potential but the sequel just didn’t manage to live up to it, and I think that’s due to the amount of character development and plot shoehorned into it. I was hoping for vampires and werewolves in New Orleans, and instead this book took me, rather suddenly, to a whole other place and I was disappointed.
Recommend: This book definitely wasn’t for me, but I think if you really enjoyed The Beautiful then you’ll enjoy its sequel