Vengeance incarnate. Wrath’s bruised heart. She would bow for no one.
Holy shit this book was a roller coaster. The amount of mixed emotions I was feeling while reading it is too many to count. So here are my main points of things I felt about this book.
Things I liked:
– Bryce and Danika’s friendship- their platonic love for one another was unconditional and I thought it was really sweet. They would go to extreme lengths to save one another and it really worked to move the story forward. Their friendship was also what made me like Bryce so much. While she is annoying at times, the dedication she possessed (in part due to Danika) made her really like-able, which is a big plus.
– Ruhn- his character had the best growth arc and I rooted for him the whole time. He was the typical big brother in books, over-protective and over-bearing of Bryce’s love life. Ruhn was the needed rational brother for Bryce, keeping her from making numerous dumb decisions that would have made me really dislike the book.
– Bryce’s relationship with her human parents- I love how close Bryce was with her mom and step-father. I feel like Mass’s other books lack parental presence, and this book did’t follow that path. While her parents weren’t physically there for any of the book, her mom always called to check in on Bryce to make sure she was safe, which felt like a necessary detail. It added a more realistic and relatable element to the absurd and fantastical plot.
– The murder mystery aspect- it had me really invested in the plot, and I was trying so hard to figure out whodunnit. I feel like Sarah J Maas’s previous books were mostly character-based with minimal plot, but this managed to (kinda) balance both. I hope book two keeps up the trend!
– All the different sections of the city- The layout of the city was a bit confusing, but I really like using the map whenever Bryce and Hunt had to travel around. The sections were divided by species (mer-folk lied in the river, fae had their own kingdoms, were-wolves had a sect of the city, etc.) and really added to the atmosphere of the setting.
– All the different types of creatures and the politics/logistics of all the groups living in one city (mer-folk, fae, werewolves, angels, fairy-sprites, etc). It really reminded me of some older YA urban fantasy/paranormal books like The Mortal Instruments
Things I didn’t like:
– Hunt Athalar (aka the broody love interest)- It’s not that I didn’t like Hunt, but I really didn’t care for his character. He felt too much like Mass’s other love interests (and I felt he had no distinctive qualities that set him apart and made me care for him as a character).
– Sometimes, especially toward the middle, the plot dragged on unnecessarily and it felt like nothing happened. It made me want to skim those parts or just skip ahead to the action scenes.
Overall this was an enjoyable read, and after the ending, I’m in desperate need of book two!
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