The repetition and over-use of words in this book is extremely distracting. Sometimes I felt like the recording skipped backwards because I’d be hearing virtually the same sentence again and again. No, just the writer beating the same statement, with slight variation, into redundancy. This happens throughout the book, drawing out the sensual scenes the the point of losing interest because she’s not building them up, she’s breaking them down. Way down. Eventually I was even willing to fake an “O” just to end it and move on. This is a short novel, and–again–full of repetition. The writing didn’t flow and the storytelling was inept, complete with an “off-the-shelf” villain who takes the time to explain her whole plan and brag to Raven. The complications in the story are superficial and the actions move too easily from one to the next, without explanation to the reader. For example, why was Alex so quick to embrace a life outside the dome when Raven wasn’t? How was Raven so easily kidnapped and where did her captor get a steam ship (a fully functioning ship and knowledgable crew) when Raven’s mission secured the ONLY steam ship in the dome which was in a museum and nobody really knew enough about the obsolete technology? Would the by-standers really just look on while someone was being tortured, even if she was discovered to be an omega, and do nothing? There are all things that pop up in the story for which little or no context is given.
Narration: Sebastian Reynolds was okay. Sarah Puckett sounded like she just rolled out of bed and wasn’t really fully awake throughout the entire book. She lacked inflection.