I don’t really write reviews but this one annoyed me so much I felt compelled. I originally picked up this series up because I deeply enjoy Joel Leslie’s performance. His narrations are always so emotional and I have no complaints ever about his inclusion. Plus, demonic stuff is always fun. The story and characters however were a pretty massive misstep. If I could describe this series to anyone, I would say that it’s as if you put the Sons of Anarchy and Supernatural into a gay blender, and what came out was a mess of character resets, and very tired tropes that have some minor interesting moments to keep you moving forward but ultimately disappoints you. After book 4 and a few minutes into the last book, it instantly became apparent where the story was going to go and I turned it off, not wanting to sit there and be annoyed for 11 more hours. I like myself too much.
Spoilers ahead. Apologies for any word misspelled or out of place, the dyslexia is strong today.
Book 1: Laurent and the Beast
‘Liar revealed’ tropes feel very lazy most of the time to me, as it tends to be a short cut for the author to create needless plot drama. This particular story is no different. The amount of miscommunication in this story is staggering. The two main characters are constantly misunderstanding everything the other is saying, ALL THE TIME. I was so tired by the end of this book. Due to the time travel stuff, I could understand why Laurent was very much out of place, not understanding what was going on or how to take things. Beast on the other hand, has the benefit of modern information, as well as being in a gang that’s involved in illegal activity and It’s even established within the first few minutes of them meeting that it looks like Laurent was being held captive and hurt. So everything from that point on just feels like the author deciding that these characters need to deliberately be obtuse about everything and needlessly abusive. Beast instantly is revealed as someone incredibly untrustworthy when he thinks he’s entitled to sex after offering to buy Laurent things. I’m not sure what that was supposed to accomplish, as it never really gets resolved in the story, so it just ends up being this thing that sits in the back of my mind, as well as Laurent’s, who brings it up, but it’s again never really resolved. The very end is a bit satisfying but it’s very forced. Beast needs therapy, not authority, or a boyfriend. He’s not really a character to identify with, as even his issues that could be identifiable to an audience, are mostly things that are avoidable. So Beast is a badly written character, but now that everything is out on the table with the demonic activity in the house, the lesson learned is honesty with the people that matter, and family, especially chosen family, will always be there for you.
Book 2: My Dark Knight
Time travel is a weird element to get right but I have to say, this book made the time travel thing seem tame with how many THINGS were going on in this story. I have never met two characters that needed to get punched in the face more than these two. I feel like most of these characters don’t need relationships, they need therapy and lots of it. Elliot and Knight are thee embodiment of this sentiment. The mental gymnastics you have to go through to feel anything for these characters and their stupid choices, should be an Olympic sport. We once again have a ‘liar revealed’ trope, and misunderstandings again. The deja vu gave me that sinking feeling as I kept listening. Thankfully Elliot and Knight don’t have an AS elements in their relationship so points for that, but Elliot’s initial fascination with a serial killer r***ist is very dumb. Knight’s attraction to him also feels forced. No matter how inappropriate Elliot is, Knight is still attracted to him, so the relationship feels very inauthentic to me personally so I’m not sure if that’s just a me problem. Overall, the story was not the worst of the bunch but if you’re familiar with the TV show Supernatural, the vibe felt very similar. Sort of a ‘monster of the week but we’re going to be dealing with the same problems later so this part of the story is mostly filler’ type vibe. So the lesson learned is honesty with the people that matter, and family, especially chosen family, will always be there for you… again. Because everyone’s characters got reset somehow so they can learn the same lesson over again. Because what is character growth?
Book 3: On Your Knees, Prospect
So the sexual elements of this book are not my thing, aka the heavy BDSM, ‘I want to be a full time slave and be human furniture’ fantasy. Not my thing. I had to skip through a lot of the later sex scenes. Not a count against the book, it’s just me. I do appreciate the Daddy kink though. That all being said, this was actually the best book out of all of them. Jake and Vars actually felt like real characters that grow with each other and struggle with issues that don’t stem from over the top character defects that turn them into walking tropes. Vars is probably the most well written character in the whole series and his emotional journey feels very easy to relate to. He and Jake are the only characters in their story that take time to understand the situation they are in, even if they make mistakes. The scene of Vars so desperate to keep Jake safe, but knowing he has to let him go, broke my heart. Then to find him later and be with Jake for he thinks will be Jake’s last few moments. It’s very frustrating because this flow of story and character growth is what I was hoping for the rest of the books. So I know it’s possible! Now that doesn’t mean this book is perfect, there’s a lot of the same elements from the last book that crawled into this one, like the ‘liar revealed’ trope, which has now become huge neon lights blinking in warning for the rest of the characters that apparently didn’t get the memo in the first two books. The whole situation has become very convoluted at this point and we once again have to learn the same lesson, again, about being honest and the importance of family. Y’all, I’m so tired.
Book 4: Gray’s Shadow
Like any good book series, you have a whole cast of characters that have been mentioned or interacted with throughout the whole book and Gray’s story was the one I was holding out for. Gray was probably my favorite character in this series and I had high hopes for maybe this book being better, as the last one was way better than the first two as far as narrative flow and satisfaction with the story and characters. I have never been more frustrated with a story in my whole life. Not only does it start out with SA elements to the relationship, but you also have the ‘Born sexy yesterday’ trope which is gross on so many levels and it never EVER gets any better. I was so ready to love Shadow but the fact that they made him so childlike even though he tried to force himself on Gray and is very aware of what’s between his legs, was an instant red flag. Also making him child-like doesn’t help with the torture he then goes through later. I don’t understand why this element needed to be introduced because it leads to sooo much more unnecessary miscommunication. We’re talking Saturday morning cartoon levels of miscommunication. The dynamic between Gray and Shadow is very transactional at the beginning if you break it down, which I don’t have a huge issue with, if the Child-like element wasn’t a thing. After the dynamic shifts, and they are a couple, elements of sexism and homophobia get brought in which was some weird whiplash I have to say. There was a hit of it in the last book but it becomes a very heavy feature in this one and I’m so tired. Gray’s father, whom I forgot the name because that’s how little I care right now, could have been a good introduction to this element, but his motivations swing wildly from sexism and homophobia, to being over protective of his child, to being resentful that its apparently Gray’s fault his twin brother died, which is was not set up nearly enough for those things to be suddenly introduced. Maybe the sexism and homophobia if you squint but naw. Not near enough of that was set up for this to suddenly be a thing we now have to deal with. Although with this revelation, most of the grievances that people have, weren’t really set up properly. I think the most egregious part about this book is the fact that no one learns anything ever. Any character growth, any lesson, any moments of vulnerability, do not matter at all. The story ends with Beast and Laurent seemingly having done something selfish and Gray does what he needs to, to save Shadow, which means that Gray and Shadow have to be punished for ‘betraying everyone’ and they do that by chopping off Shadow’s finger.
Ok. First of all, we have 4 books of people doing the absolute worst sh*t, hiding things from the people they claim to love and trust and only for it to end horrifically and everyone else having to deal with the results. Beast and Laurent, who had something they knew that Shadow needed, knew that Gray couldn’t get the replacement he was hoping for, then used it for their own selfish reasons. Beast hides this, it doesn’t come up at all in this book, and Gray lets these lying homophobic sexist ‘friends’ hurt the only person that actually knows him, according to Gray. The fact that Gray didn’t leave that toxic environment instantly was beyond me. Because I had a sneaking suspicion what that egg was, and if I was right, I was going to be so mad at myself for wasting time on this series.
Book 5: In the Arms of the Beast
It starts with a flashback and I got maybe 10 minutes in before they started in on the set up. It was very very obvious and I turned off the book, deleted it and removed it from my library. The selfishness and cruelty of these characters was astounding. I confirmed what I was thinking from another reviewer and I’m done. I can take selfish characters, I can deal with the author putting them through horrible situations, and I can deal with extremely flawed characters that might have complicated feelings. What I can’t deal with is characters you’re meant to identify with being purposely cruel for their own selfish gain, after we have gone through 4 BOOKS ABOUT HOW THAT’S BAD. It has nothing to do with them being in a gang, and everything to do with narrative flow in a story. You can’t have your characters learn a lesson, only for them to forget it in the next book, because you need them to have a conflict. It’s even more egregious because they are constantly reminding the characters that this is doomsday, and they have to stick together, only for those same characters to turn around and ruin everything for selfish reasons. And that’s all of these books. This story beat is in every book, over and over again and. I. I’m. Tired. I give up.
The story held my interest for a while and I did my best to see it through but ultimately there is very little growth in these characters and any growth that is there, is not really relevant when the next book comes out. It’s frustrating to sit through it all and in my own head canon, Gray took the ruby for Shadow, who was not born sexy yesterday, said FU to his father and ‘friends’ and drove off to Minnesota or something so they don’t have to deal with this bull.