I really struggled with this book in the first half, because I thought Slade was a complete shit. I just don't understand how - after the revelations I really struggled with this book in the first half, because I thought Slade was a complete shit. I just don't understand how - after the revelations of the first book - they all still think of the fairy tale people as "creatures" and dismissively plan to kill them as they feel it is necessary.
Here's the problem with that: it makes them (the Hollows people) no different than the villains of book 1. Both sides have decided that they alone get to decide how things need to go forward, and if they have to kill a couple innocent people to get it done, so be it. And I'm not even joking. Slade planning to murder Mel - this utterly innocent, vegetarian, big-hearted witch - in order to complete a fairy tale is so abhorrent that it makes him no different than the raven assassins that were trying to kill Lilou. Both groups think it is for the greater good, and so therefore shouldn't be questioned.
So I made it through this book much more slowly, constantly angered by the high-handed dismissive condescending bullshit. And even with how it worked out, I wish that Mel, Des, and Odi had just blown off both sides, calling them all assholes, and forming a third side that doesn't think they get the unfettered right to kill people to accomplish their own ends. ...more
I had a bit of a tough time getting into it at first ... I think because I found it a bit gross that the people who should be determined to keep peoplI had a bit of a tough time getting into it at first ... I think because I found it a bit gross that the people who should be determined to keep people safe - the High Witch and High Warlock - really took a long time to get engaged with the problem. The High Warlock (Arlo Demarcus) did get on board with protecting Lilou eventually, but until very late in the process, the stupid High Witch kept haranguing him to let it go.
Who in hell keeps the people of this society safe if not for these two? Why did it seem like they just couldn't be bothered? It was ridiculous, petty, and made them both look utterly unfit (the High Witch bitch much more than Arlo, who was taking steps even as he was rolling his eyes about it). And even the Enforcers (I'm looking at you, Slade) were condescending assholes.
I loved Lilou though, utterly. I just was really, really put off by how awful everyone in this society was, from stupid Ethel on through the other assholes in charge. Almost enough to make me root for the bad guys to overthrow them ... but not at the expense of Lilou.
She was great, and I felt bad for her because freaking everyone was working against her for most of this book. Luckily, she was charming enough to win other allies.
I'll be honest, I'm giving this 5 stars because I loved the series, loved the characters, loved the relationships, and loved how things ended up.
That I'll be honest, I'm giving this 5 stars because I loved the series, loved the characters, loved the relationships, and loved how things ended up.
That said, there were some flaws.
I felt like the resolution of the Staviti situation was a little bit hand-wavy and anticlimactic. (view spoiler)[We've been hearing all series about how horrifying a god-war is, but we never got to see a god throwdown, dammit! Also, we poured a lot of energy and worry into the thought that one or more of the gods would be spying for Staviti and would double-cross them, but it never happened. Crowe doesn't count - he was NEVER on their side. He'd been arming their enemies with blades or chains from the outset. (hide spoiler)] Furthermore, I really wanted to see Crowe torn to pieces. Fuck that guy, seriously.
I also felt like there were lots of open questions that I wanted to understand. IS Topia Fate? Things in Willa's life - and the Abcurses' life - seemed to bend perfectly to put them where they needed to be. And the denizens of Topia seemed to be working to put the threads in place. Like giving Willa the chains in the last book - I feel positive that that was because the panteras knew she needed to be pulled into the imprisonment realm to meet Jakan. Several times, too, the panteras said they were forbidden from saying something. Forbidden by who? Topia? Is the world that sentient? Also, why was the Cup of Staviti such a big deal (the one that she stole in book 1)? Why was Sienna killed for it being in her vault? What was a big enough deal to turn Crowe against her when they'd been close for centuries? But mostly, given how the cup seems super replaceable - at one point an Abcurse literally said Staviti could make a hundred replacements in a day, or something like that - why did it matter at all?
And while I like where everything ended, and felt like the characters deserved that ending, it also felt a little overly perfect without any real coin to pay to get there. (view spoiler)[I was waiting for dickbags like Dru or Karyn to try and attack them when they got to Blesswood. I honestly expected someone would die ... but no one did, and even characters we thought were dead were brought back, and they were perfect (without a lot of explanation as to how... I mean, Pica was nuts and evil, with her will-stealing Crowe blade, and I don't understand how that all went away and she was made pure. Our choices matter, right? Even if we regret them, we DID them. So how did she get a blank slate?). There was also no payoff to Rau saying this wasn't over, or the thread we were given in that encounter about only part of his soul being there. And again, the "fight" with Staviti wasn't a fight at all. The conflict between him and Cyrus at the end of book 4 was the biggest we get between gods in the whole series, and that was over in a flash (with very little of our attention on it, because we were with Willa and Emmy in the narration). And lastly, we never get to see the Abcurses throw down and be protectors. That was disappointing to me. We're told they are stronger than the Original Gods, because they were born as gods and not created. But we never see them in a god-war, they're never put in a position to fight. All the conflict is handled by Willa alone. And don't get me wrong, I love that she's a badass. But I'd like to see them contribute too ... otherwise their protectiveness just feels like posturing. (hide spoiler)]
But I'm making it sound like I didn't like the book. In the end, these are just nitpicks. I loved it, because the core was always the characters and their relationships. I just feel like, in a series this ambitious, with a war between gods, the climax should have had more punch....more
This was a really great short, and I will underscore that I think it's also an essential read before book 5. Some major plot points got pushed forwardThis was a really great short, and I will underscore that I think it's also an essential read before book 5. Some major plot points got pushed forward, especially when Cyrus got to find out everything Willa had seen in the Mortal Glass.
I love what Emmy has become, and I think it's perfect for her - she has always been Willa's caretaker, her nurturer ... in many ways, she functioned as Willa's mom. I think this is the perfect god choice for her. And I really like her with Cyrus - I feel like they balance well.
I also appreciate getting Cyrus's POV, because it gave him more dimension, and also underscored that he's a reliable ally. He's part of the family now, and he will fight to keep them safe....more
Really loved this. I still think our main characters are missing some big connections that seem fairly obvious, but I don't even care, because I lovedReally loved this. I still think our main characters are missing some big connections that seem fairly obvious, but I don't even care, because I loved it.
Some spoilery bits, for discussion:
(view spoiler)[- So Jakan is her father, right? Somehow? And her mother loved him ... I feel like the reason half her soul was in there with him was because they were soul bonded. And that also explains why she was such a mess of a mother with Willa and Emmy. I mean, her soul was torn apart.
- This potentially makes Willa stronger than Staviti. After all, Staviti was just a dweller, but Willa was born half a god.
- I'm so happy she was able to raise Emmy. My heart was breaking, but I just could not imagine them not being able to move into eternity together as sisters.
- So the imprisonment realm is no threat to Willa, right? Unless someone manages to get her and all 5 of the boys at the same time, her whole soul will never be in there so she can always find her way back out. I wonder if the reverse is true for the boys - the piece of Willa they have will always let them find their way back out to her? Seems like that's probably a no, or Jakan could have been able to use Willa's mom to get out.
- So did Staviti just break Minatsol by sucking all the life out of it, to further empower the gods? Because when he was born it wasn't a wasteland, so something like that had to have happened. It begs the question: what IS the connection between Minatsol and Topia?
- How sentient IS Topia? It feels like something had a hand in bringing all these threads together. And I feel positive that the panteras gave Willa those chains knowing they'd be used on her, so she could talk to Jakan. I feel like that's why she got such a strong THIS IS A TRAP vibe from them.
- Guys, the dickhead thing was the best thing I've ever read. I was laughing so hard I couldn't stay upright on the couch. I nearly fell off it.
- Rau is going to be a problem, and Pica probably will as well. Only half his soul was in the imprisonment realm, and he said this wasn't over. I think Pica and Rau may be soul-bonded. And if Pica finds out that Willa killed Rau, I think she will FLIP.
- If Rau is able to come back somehow with his partial soul, I have to wonder: why don't ALL the gods soul-bond? Like, it seems like a major safety measure. (hide spoiler)]
Really love this series. And I have to say, I'd avoided reverse harem as a genre because I hate love triangles, and so my assumption was that I wouldn't like this either. Also, my assumption was that reverse harem was exemplified by LKH. But I love this. It is beautiful and I love their relationship. I love how they anchor each other, and the open affection and heart....more
I really liked it. And I especially liked that Willa's situation seems to be more layered than the rather heavy hints that led everyone to believe sheI really liked it. And I especially liked that Willa's situation seems to be more layered than the rather heavy hints that led everyone to believe she was the Chaos Beta. I love every bit of what we learned in this book, honestly. And there was a part that was so shockingly cruel that I cried... which was surprising because this is generally a pretty humorous series. So all around, a really great read.
The only thing that keeps it from 5 stars, for me, is that I feel like all our main characters - yes, even the Abcurses ... it's so easy to see where Willa is missing stuff, because she's so silly, but the Abcurses don't see it either - are a bit slow on the uptake, even when things seem REALLY obvious. I mean, maybe with the Abcurses it is because, as gods, they feel rather invulnerable, and so there's no real drive to figure a situation out? I don't know. But there were several things that I feel like are practically hitting them in the face, and they still don't piece it together.
This book moved the story forward a lot, and I loved that. It also moved forward with the insanely slow burn, which was nice too. I wish she'd told all the guys though ((view spoiler)[that she loved them, I mean (hide spoiler)]), but I get there wasn't a lot of time. I also wish she'd told the guys what she learned with the panteras - I feel like that's another face-slapping obvious thing - but there DEFINITELY wasn't time, so I get that too.
I was worried I was going to DNF this in the beginning, honestly, because the main male characters were so awful that they are borderline irredeemableI was worried I was going to DNF this in the beginning, honestly, because the main male characters were so awful that they are borderline irredeemable to me.
Here's the thing. Dwellers are treated as disposable, and even then it's a bit scandalous how quickly these guys go through their slaves/dwellers - they've apparently been reprimanded about it, at least somewhat, since they were told they were only getting new recruits from now on. The implication being, of course, that it was a waste to give them trained slaves when they just killed them almost immediately. And that implication is underscored in their treatment of Willa in the first 3rd of the book. They even, at one point, make it a little competition between the 5 of them as to how fast they can get her sentenced to death.
Guys, that's gross. It makes me wonder how many people - how many Emmys, and Attis, and other dwellers - they have callously murdered just to entertain themselves.
It's hard to forgive. Scratch that, it's impossible to forgive. The only way I could honestly tolerate them as they started to change was like ... erasing out of my mind that they ever did that. Seriously, it was re-reading my highlights before my review that reminded me. And that makes it really hard to rate this.
I mean, sure, they're great with Willa now, and protective. But they're putting Emmy and Atti at risk by just involving them in their god/sol-bullshit. Willa is also a target because of them. And again, there are the countless other totally innocent people that it has been heavily implied they have killed.
I'm trying to find a reasonable point of view on it to be able to even stand the idea of them with Willa, because she's just so much better than them (as are Emmy and Atti). I guess the best way to hold it is like this: they were completely selfish, evil, utterly narcissistic bags of shit, but now they're changing because of their connection to Willa.
Can that ever make up for it though? I guess we'll see....more
I don't know if I just ... burned out on Eden's heroes, or what, but I couldn't take the condescending shitbag hero who withholds all the cruDNF @ 57%
I don't know if I just ... burned out on Eden's heroes, or what, but I couldn't take the condescending shitbag hero who withholds all the crucial info from the heroine and makes life-altering choices on her behalf. I like my women to have some agency, please. And the fact that the heroines in this series, for several books in a row, forgive this shit and adore the guy for it ... I just can't. The world is falling into Handmaid's Tale and I can't even with books where men treat women as imbecilic possessions who can't be trusted to make choices for themselves....more
It was okay, but it feels like some of the story elements were on shaky ground.
Like, why would they want to kill Luna? I mean, I honestly don't even uIt was okay, but it feels like some of the story elements were on shaky ground.
Like, why would they want to kill Luna? I mean, I honestly don't even understand why they would send her on missions. (view spoiler)[She's able to heal anything - even near death. Surely this shadowy organization run by the rich and powerful would just station someone with that gift as a pet for some powerful asshole, so he has a healer on hand at all times. She's a waste on missions, because why in hell would they bother healing Lazarus soldiers? They die and come back without a scratch. (hide spoiler)]
I also wish I understood the memory thing better, but it feels like there was a lot of hand-waving going on. (view spoiler)[Why do her memories wipe every time she comes back? How does that even make sense when she has the ability to heal herself, too? Which happens multiple times in this book, including the climax. Even if she did come back without memories for some hand-waving reason, why can't she slap her hands to her head and heal her brain, since we're told that her healing powers are what are fixing the other Lazarus soldiers' brains and restoring their memories? I mean, we're told her healing powers are what is fixing it, and we're told that she can heal herself (and she does it repeatedly), so ... has it just not occurred to anyone that she should heal her own damn brain? Wtf, seriously. (hide spoiler)]
Also, I didn't really like Maddox. I despise that he was happy to lie to her in order to make her do what he wants. And he reiterates that multiple times in this book (and we hear it in his internal narration repeatedly). It makes him no better than the lab coats at Lazarus or the people hunting her - a douche who is happy to take advantage of her lack of memory in order to control and manipulate her. That honestly made me sick.
I despised this book, because I despise Jay. He's a loathsome, condescending bag of shit who spends the whole book deciding what secrets to keep from I despised this book, because I despise Jay. He's a loathsome, condescending bag of shit who spends the whole book deciding what secrets to keep from the too-precious (and shockingly pathetic, especially for an Eden heroine) Willow.
From withholding info about Wyman and Lazarus, to condescending to allow her to talk to him after she demanded it, to caging her and babying her in such rapid-fire order that I got whiplash... I hated him. And when he decided (view spoiler)[that Wyman gets to be on the team, I literally threw my precious Kindle. It's NOT HIS FUCKING CALL. So much of what he does is fucking infuriating because none of it is his call, but this was way across the line. Wyman murdered Sawyer because Elizabeth loved him, and he could use Sawyer to control her. He recruited Bryce, a man he knew was a serial killer, and made him a super soldier. Then offered to give Cecelia to Bryce. He's fucking evil. (hide spoiler)] And Jay doesn't get a say, because his life has been LEAST impacted by Wyman.
In fact, I firmly believe Jay is just like Wyman... And maybe worse. Because Jay funded Lazarus, and while I used to think he was just innocently supporting Elizabeth, in this book he says he knows all the down sides of Lazarus because as the major funder he got to read all the research. That's not innocently supporting Elizabeth. That means he knew exactly what Lazarus does, and he read along as Wyman experimented on PEOPLE. That was after Elizabeth was out - she wasn't there for human trials, not until things went wrong and Wyman brought her back in - so Jay was way beyond just supporting her dream of saving people from death. He was onboard the super soldiers. Onboard the torture of these subjects. Onboard the experimentation, the caging - he built the fucking cages! - the dehumanizing, calling them numbers and not names. He's fucking scum. Worse than Wyman, because Wyman didn't care about these people, but Jay claims to care about Elizabeth.
I need a break from this series. That's how much I hated this book....more
This was a really solid short ... so much so that it didn't feel like a short at all.
It was a little odd jumping in cold with no characters that we knThis was a really solid short ... so much so that it didn't feel like a short at all.
It was a little odd jumping in cold with no characters that we knew at all, but I got over that fast. And then I really enjoyed some familiar faces coming in towards the end.
In terms of the suspense plot, (view spoiler)[I thought villain 1 was obvious, and I thought villain 2 was a bit of a stretch. There seemed to be lots of opportunities for this guy to play his hand. Like with Landon in book 1, I'm not really sure that twist was set up well ... but was a cheat coming out of left field. But that's okay, I didn't mind too much. (hide spoiler)]
I liked seeing John and Shelley, and uncovering what their connection is. It was very well done, and again, didn't feel like a short. Though we had insta-love happening, it's kind of an expected trope in this kind of series. That said, there's a little gray area here ... like, does it happen in this series because of the psychic woo-woo these guys have going on? Sometimes it sort of feels like it, and that's true here too. Not like the guys are manipulating the heroines - that would be gross - but that ... I don't know, their gifts just enable a more intimate initial connection. For example, in this book, when they first touch - innocently - sparks fly ... and I wonder if that's an actual metaphysical thing happening. Like fated mates in a shifter series, but bent differently because these folks aren't shifters.
Also, still waiting to hear why Landon amped up in book 1 but didn't have memory issues. Is there a different version of the serum floating around that fixed that problem? Here's hoping we close that loophole......more
I liked this one less than the first one, but to be clear, I didn't DISLIKE it. I think that my primary problem was that the hero was weak. L***3.5***
I liked this one less than the first one, but to be clear, I didn't DISLIKE it. I think that my primary problem was that the hero was weak. Let me explain.
Flynn was an awesome guy, and I liked him with Cecelia, who was a badass heroine. I'm not going to say that she was too much of a badass, because imo there's no such thing. But it's a tricky line to walk, because she can't be strong at the expense of the hero... and I really think she was.
In every encounter in this book, Cecelia saves herself - and in one case (arguably two) - (view spoiler)[she saves Flynn. There's one exception, but it's a weird one because Cecelia is saved by an ex-boyfriend. (hide spoiler)] Again, let me be super clear here: I like my heroines to be competent badasses that can handle themselves. But if your hero is a SEAL enhanced with super soldier serum, he's got to be at least equally badass. That doesn't mean I want Cecelia to be a damsel. It does mean, though, that I wanted to see Flynn be a force. Like, have there be multiple baddies so he can take SOMEONE down, or something. He gets tricked into traps (view spoiler)[twice - the alley and the club (hide spoiler)]. Blind-sided (view spoiler)[by her smarmy assistant, and knocked out with a super-tranq so Cecelia has to save both of them. (hide spoiler)] And then in the big climax (view spoiler)[he dies after weakening the baddie a little, and Cecelia has to kill the baddie to save them both, and then get his mostly-dead ass to safety so the Lazarus recall team doesn't get them. (hide spoiler)]
I just wanted to see Flynn be the SEAL badass I know he is. And that literally never happened in this book. Not once.
Oh well, I still think the series is fantastic, with a solid secondary cast that I'm excited to see get their own stories. Onward!...more
This rating is entirely because of Jessica, because she's amazing.
To be honest, I don't like Smitty nor do I think he deserves her. Even after she disThis rating is entirely because of Jessica, because she's amazing.
To be honest, I don't like Smitty nor do I think he deserves her. Even after she displays how fierce she is multiple times, Smitty still treats her like (and says in his internal narrative) she is going to run away and cry, or hide. He's a condescending asshole who belittles her, and I despise both him and his sister.
The only really gratifying thing was Jess kicking Sissy's ass not once but twice....more
This was a really fantastic start to a new series. As is usually the case with Eden's books, I positively inhaled it.
The Lazarus setup is fascinating,This was a really fantastic start to a new series. As is usually the case with Eden's books, I positively inhaled it.
The Lazarus setup is fascinating, and horrible. Sawyer and Elizabeth were amazing characters, and their journey was a terrifying one. I will say that the (view spoiler)[Landon twist came out of left field - nothing about him up to that point indicated that he had taken the serum, and why isn't he suffering from memory loss?? (hide spoiler)]
Also, (view spoiler)[I hope that Wright isn't really dead, because having that rat bastard die offscreen is very unsatisfying. I want to see him ripped to pieces. I can't fucking believe what he did to Sawyer and Elizabeth. (hide spoiler)]
It was good, but it was just ... repetitive. I think there's a problem with binge reading this series along with the Phoenix Pack series: whe***3.5***
It was good, but it was just ... repetitive. I think there's a problem with binge reading this series along with the Phoenix Pack series: when you read them all at once, you realize that the stories are all preeeeeeetty much the same. I mean, there's some variation in who the villain is and stuff, but for the most part the formula for the fated mates coming together is the same. And in half the books you have the same critical errors - she manages to leave the domineering male behind for an excursion, and she's horribly attacked. Or the domineering mate insists she stays safely behind (and you guys, I hate this, because most of these heroines are in fact fierce, dominant women ... and it is like the male is breaking them down to force them to be weak and dependent, staying behind in the pretty padded cell while the men-folk go handle the trouble), only to find that - oh no! - it was a trick to lure the badass men away from the weak women, so a sneak team could go take out the women!
That literally happens in like half the books across both series.
So I like it, it's brain candy with good steamy bits (though those also get repetitive), but in a binge it gets a little tedious.
I liked some of the different elements of this one - the mystery of her past, working out the truth, etc.
But like all of these books, there are lots oI liked some of the different elements of this one - the mystery of her past, working out the truth, etc.
But like all of these books, there are lots of elements that are repetitive. Not least of which is the insistence that the pretty lady not worry her head, and let the men-folk handle the trouble (so condescending), only to have it all be a trick to separate the men from the women and attack them while they are alone.
It's too bad, because it makes a fun book feel a bit more superficial than it needs to. That's why it lands on my brain candy shelf....more
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