This was an okay debut with intriguing world-building and characters that are about what you expect from YA fantasy. For me, the world and magic were This was an okay debut with intriguing world-building and characters that are about what you expect from YA fantasy. For me, the world and magic were the highlights of this story. In it, we are following two young Black teens. One is Koffi, a girl who is an indentured servant working for the Night Zoo with dangerous animals. And the other is Ekon, a boy who is in the final stages of training to become an elite warrior and deals with OCD and anxiety. One night when a fire erupts at the Night Zoo, everything changes.
The characters were fine and very typical for YA fantasy. Nothing about them really stuck out to me aside from the OCD representation, and nothing specific about them really made me love the characters. There is a romance subplot and I feel lucky it was very small because it was cringy at best. Though I'm not the target demographic and romance is far from my forte.
The plot was interesting enough. There were a couple of twists, though none of them came as a surprise to me. One of the bigger things that annoyed me with this book was how we would be in one perspective and the one character will do something and there will be a moment when their perspective intersects with the other. But when we switch perspectives, the book would go back and redo all the lead up to the SAME moment we already went through. It's a simple concept and I don't think things need to be replayed constantly for readers to get what's going on. It added a lot of unnecessary repetitiveness to the story and it got annoying really quickly.
Overall, I liked this okay. It was creative with the world-building and magic system but was fairly typical and cliche with the rest. I'll keep an eye out for more from the author though as this was a debut and I do see the potential....more
This book is a wonderful depiction of what it might look like if werewolves were really walking around in the 21st century. Bloody, desperate, fearfulThis book is a wonderful depiction of what it might look like if werewolves were really walking around in the 21st century. Bloody, desperate, fearful, primitive.
This book wanders in time and location, alternating between the present storyline and other vignette-like chapters capturing a single moment, experience. In a non-linear timeline, we watch our main character, our narrator who is never named, as he grows up between the ages of 8 to 16 as he yearns to shift and change like his aunt and uncle but is unsure if he has the genes to do so.
This book is ENGAGING. I was immediately invested in this little family of werewolves and was surprised how attached I was to them by the end. This book has all the blood and gore and horror and werewolf talk, but it also a story about growing up and the REAL fear that brings.
Since the timeline is all over the place, this book became much less of a plot-driven story and much more of a character-driven story. And the way the characters are explored, especially our main character, is the real star of the show here and I loved every moment of it.
This book evoked every emotion for me. I came for the gore and werewolves and left with heartbreak....more
It’s a fantasy, horror story centering Louis Charbon, a legendary serial killer. In this fantastical world, there are artifacts called Death Masks thaIt’s a fantasy, horror story centering Louis Charbon, a legendary serial killer. In this fantastical world, there are artifacts called Death Masks that are imbued with the spirit of those that have passed, and one day the death mask of Charbon is stolen and Charbon is loose once again, killing from beyond the grave. It is left up to Krona, a guard, to enter the mind of madness to stop this insatiable killer all while facing the terrible truths left in his wake.
This book is the start of a trilogy and it was so good! It has some of my favorite story elements. Murder, mystery, gods, a villain origin story, a subtle romance. The characters were so complex and the multiple plot lines kept it very engaging. I just loved this all around. ...more
This romantic thriller is crazy! But a good kind of crazy! Jane is a Los Angeles nurse who grew up in a Christian cult, and Daniel is a has-been actorThis romantic thriller is crazy! But a good kind of crazy! Jane is a Los Angeles nurse who grew up in a Christian cult, and Daniel is a has-been actor whose career ended when the cult family members nearly killed him for flirting with her. Eight years after a romantic meet-cute in Battery Parl, the two are looking for someone to fill the gap. But when the opportunity to create the life they've always wanted comes up, they worry their families won't let them.
I was so intrigued by the synopsis of this story. I immediately wanted to get to know Jane and Daniel more and I loved how much their characters grew throughout the story. There is a lot of conflict and tension that really puts across the thrilling elements and really helps to hook the reader right away.
I also really liked the world-building, and think it's one of the stories' greater strengths. I really thought the clippings that were placed throughout the story were a great touch that really helped the immersion. I like the dystopian elements. I like the romance elements of star-crossed lovers. I like the element of reality behind fantastical upbringings.
I got classic vibes while reading this story. Mostly Romeo and Juliet with having two star-crossed lovers whose families won't let them be together. A little bit of Handmaiden's tale because jane's family is a religious cult that puts celebrities on trial. I really liked how t his story was able to have that classic flare without being a straight-up retelling.
From the beginning, I really thought that Jane and Daniel complimented one another and that showed itself to be true through the light-hearted beginning and the intense, thrilling later parts of the book. I also really liked the ending. It tackles a topic that I don't feel like it talked about much in fiction. Romance thrillers are not a genre I've read many from, but I think I kinda like it. I definitely recommend this one and I look forward to reading more in the near future.
thank you to the author for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review! check out more on the book here...more