Chloe Neill

This book reminded me why I love this series so damn much :D

While Ethan and Merit are indeed front and center, there is so much story woven in the tapestry that surrounds them. By now we have gotten to know pretty much all major players, but it's fun learning more about them every installment.

Pacing and flow were great. There is a lot of action, but somehow it doesn't feel that way. You just roll with it, we're used to Merit always being in the thick of it, so yeah :)

The book itself is well written with no (noticeable) errors and yes, there is sex described.

All in all, I feel that writing a longer review is pretty much impossible... it's just such a solid series and everything has already been said before :D
One thing though... really looking forward to his marriage proposal when that time comes.
… (mer)

A great setup, an interesting premise, an intriguing world, and a sub-par execution full of plot holes and contradictions.

I wanted to love this story because it managed to paint a very compelling not quite post-apocalyptic outline of a world suddenly confronted with a gritty kind of magic and a new, hard reality.

But the author does nothing with it. The bad guys are two-dimensional cardboard cutouts. The story is entirely based on blatant and unreasonable racism without any kind of interesting nuance.
The world, which initially seems very interesting, turns out to be flawed and full of contradictions. Facts about the world are just made up on the spot without any consideration of how they contradict other things to a frustrating degree. It's not just one or two contradictions that were hard to solve or simply overlooked. No care whatsoever has been taken to even attempt to do consistent world-building. It's vaguely post-apocalyptic for the atmosphere but everything beyond that is just made up on the fly.

I couldn't have come up with a more uninspired and run-of-the-mill plot if I tried.

It's just shallow in every aspect.

I listened to 9 out of 10 hours of the audiobook before dropping it and there is no indication anything even vaguely interesting is on the horizon beyond a textbook boring climax.… (mer)