Maybe it gets better?

I have loved previous books by Therin and was looking forward to this one for a while. I DNF’d at about 70%. My hope is that with future books, it will be worth the slog to get to something good. As it stands, I feel like I am forcing myself to continue.

I love Joel (Froomkin) Leslie! I guess you either love his narration or you hate it, but I am always in awe of his character range and expressions. No disappointment there.

My main complaints are maybe due to the fact that this book isn’t like her previous ones and I don’t feel like the blurb prepared me for just how depressing this world is. The hate and bigotry against empaths is pervasive and every interaction Reece has with the world, large or small, just drowns in negativity. The plot drags and the characters are annoying: Reece constantly whines and complains about literally everything and Grayson (aka The Dead Man) just wanders about like he’s master of the universe and repeatedly tells everyone (Reese included) that he is dangerous and not to be trusted. Ever. But then he’ll be scrutinizing Reece for keeping secrets (did he not just say, don’t trust him?!) and low-key threatening him. How is this EVER going to turn into a romance? It’s less slow-burn and more like Stockholm Syndrome.

Another thing that gets confusing, and maybe isn’t as noticeable on the page as audio, is how often the POV changes in the middle of chapters. We’re cruising along with Reese, then next paragraph the story is first-person someone else, from other major characters to some random minor person. It gets REALLY confusing to know that we’ve jumped to another scene across town with completely different people from one sentence to the next.

I have no idea how this ends. I do like the author’s other books so I’m going to put this on the shelf until book two gets released and give it a go when I can see more momentum. Recommended with caveats.