Review: Lost Gods by Micah Yongo

In an epic fantasy kingdom inspired by African legends, a young assassin finds himself hunted by the brothers and sisters he has trained alongside since birth.

A teenaged assassin is hunted by his own Brotherhood as he seeks to uncover a supernatural conspiracy before it’s too late

Neythan is one of five adolescents trained and raised together by a mysterious brotherhood of assassins known as the Shedaím. When Neythan is framed for the murder of his closest friend, he pursues his betrayer, and in so doing learns there’s far more to the Brotherhood, and even the world itself, than he’d ever thought possible.

This book took some time to make me lose myself in it. In fact, I started it weeks ago, but kept putting it off because the story wasn’t grabbing me like I thought it would. But yesterday I got stuck at the doctor’s waiting room for four hours, so Lost Gods finally got its second chance. I’m glad to say it didn’t disappoint.

First of all, it is slow. Especially at the beginning. The writing takes its time to tell the story, which can be boring to most people (not for me – I read and loved LOTR when I was 11), and the story itself doesn’t get really interesting until 25-30%. That’s where all characters start to shine and when the plot speeds up, presenting more of the story and the world.

But what made me read this book for four hours nonstop was the mystery. I’m a sucker for mysteries in my fantasy books. Not knowing why x happened, why y is happening and what might happen in the future and why is one of the biggest reasons I enjoy reading fantasy books. And Lost Gods had a lot of that. Neythan, the main character, begins the story just as lost as the reader, and following him we slowly figured out the pieces of the puzzle. It was fascinating to have so many theories and possibilities floating around throughout the story.

The ending gives more questions than answers and set up the next book flawlessly. I can’t wait to see what Yongo is going to reveal next.

BUT! This book does kill a deaf character to advance the main characters’ storyline right out of the gates. It doesn’t matter the whys of his death; it’s never okay to kill a marginalized character for the sake of the MCs.

4.0 for Lost Gods.

Review: Furyborn by Claire Legrand

When assassins ambush her best friend, the crown prince, Rielle Dardenne risks everything to save him, exposing her ability to perform all seven kinds of elemental magic. The only people who should possess this extraordinary power are a pair of prophesied queens: a queen of light and salvation and a queen of blood and destruction. To prove she is the Sun Queen, Rielle must endure seven trials to test her magic. If she fails, she will be executed…unless the trials kill her first.

A thousand years later, the legend of Queen Rielle is a mere fairy tale to bounty hunter Eliana Ferracora. When the Undying Empire conquered her kingdom, she embraced violence to keep her family alive. Now, she believes herself untouchable–until her mother vanishes without a trace, along with countless other women in their city. To find her, Eliana joins a rebel captain on a dangerous mission and discovers that the evil at the heart of the empire is more terrible than she ever imagined.

As Rielle and Eliana fight in a cosmic war that spans millennia, their stories intersect, and the shocking connections between them ultimately determine the fate of their world–and of each other.

I was super excited for this book and I’m glad to say it didn’t disappoint.

Furyborn first caught my attention because of the time difference between the two POVs and how the legend of Queen Rielle was perceived in the future. I’ve talked about it on Twitter & on my blog a lot, but I absolutely adore writing and reading about lost history and how time & perspective/narrators change the events of the past. It’s quite literally my kryptonite – #antisnowwhite, #merpirate and#aroaceprincess all talk about it in a way or the other.

Despite my excitement, I wasn’t that thrilled about Rielle’s chapters because I’m sick and tired of trials in fantasy books. But to my surprise I ended up really liking them, and for the first half of the book I couldn’t decide which one I liked more, Rielle or Eliana. They are both interesting characters and the author did a great job on bringing them to life.

But what I liked the most about Furyborn was the worldbuilding. The world Legrand created is fascinating, both in Rielle’s and Eliana’s time. I loved the stories about the saints and angels (and the war between humans and angels) and about the gate that keeps the angels locked away. It was very interesting and the world felt beautifully real.

Sadly, the book lost me a bit in the second half, especially in Eliana’s chapters. I finished the story with Rielle as my favorite POV character because Eliana’s last chapters bothered me a bit. Eliana herself is, as I’ve said before, a wonderful character, harsh and sharp because of what she had to do to provide for her family. But towards the end her character arc just… hurries to its end. The switch between I-must-kill-to-survive-and-I-have-no-regrets to I’m-a-monster-omg was just so… sudden. I could see it coming since the beginning, of course, but the moment when she let it all out felt cheap and unearned.

Her pseudo-romance with Simon was also pretty bad, because just like her character arc it came out of nowhere and with an intensity I just couldn’t find believable. Their banter throughout the book was also annoying and painfully obvious.

In conclusion, I’m now much more interested in Rielle’s story than in Eliana’s. I want to know how things went so bad and what made her act the way she did. As for Eliana, I’m okay with her and her story, but so far I’m not that curious about her and her future.

In the end, Furyborn was an fast, intense read with great writing, characters and worldbuilding, though it does have its flaws when it comes to character arc & relationships. I can’t wait to read the next book. 4.0 stars.

ENBY WATCH: there are no enby characters in this book and the narrative doesn’t acknowledge the existence of nothing but men and women.

Patreon!

Hello, everyone! I know I haven’t posted in a long time (sorry!), but I came here to announce that I finalized made a Patreon! There I will post short stories, snippets from my WIPs, flash fiction, reviews, scene studies and character studies, plus an artwork here or there. You can check it out here!

I will still post three reviews on this blog (Silver Scales, Curved Horizon and Furyborn) but from now on all my reviews on be on my Patreon. You can check them out by pledging only 1$!

That’s it, I guess. I’ll be posting a preview of every reward I’ll offer on my Patreon this week and will link it here too.

Review: Island of Exiles by Erica Cameron

In this diverse, gritty survival fantasy, a girl warrior turns against her island clan to find the brother they claim died, uncovering secrets. Perfect for fans of Graceling and Snow Like Ashes.

In Khya’s world, every breath is a battle.

On the isolated desert island of Shiara, dying young is inevitable. The clan comes before self, and protecting her home means Khya is a warrior above all else.

But when following the clan and obeying their leaders could cost her brother his life, Khya’s home becomes a deadly trap. The only person who can help is Tessen, her lifelong rival and the boy who challenges her at every turn. The council she hoped to join has betrayed her, and their secrets, hundreds of years deep, reach around a world she’s never seen.

To save her brother’s life and her island home, her only choice is to trust Tessen, turn against her clan, and go on the run—a betrayal and a death sentence.

I’m a fan of stories about platonic relationships in general, but those about siblings have a special space in my heart. So when I first heard about Island of Exiles, I was excited, especially since it also featured a bisexual main character and an asexual side one. Though the book ended up being a pleasure to read, I must admit I wasn’t as captivated by it as I thought I would be.

First, the good: the protagonist, Khya, is incredible. She’s strong and determined, and I very much liked her more cold/impassive personality. Her two main relationships, with her brother and Tessen, are wonderfully complex and the best part of the story. Khya and Tessen’s relationship in special was incredibly refreshing and very different from your usual (and in my opinion boring) YA romance.

The mythology and worldbuilding in Island of Exiles is also great. Shiara is different, original and the author was successful in showing how its desolate climate shaped Khya’s people’s culture (also another highlight). The writing is good, though nothing extraordinary, and the plot is interesting if slow at times.

But what made this book sit in the “it was nice, I guess” category for me were, well, the characters. Yes, I just said Khya is an amazing protagonist, but aside from her (and maybe Tessen) no one is fleshed out enough and even Khya and Tessen themselves didn’t manage to make me actually care about them. Find them interesting? Sure. But care? Sadly, nope. And since I couldn’t care about them, much of the book’s emotional punch fell flat, maybe bordering on boring.

As for the rep, I can’t speak on the bisexual rep (though I couldn’t find fault in it) and the ace character is sadly super minor, so I honestly couldn’t care much about them.

Still, Island of Exiles is a good book and a great start to a new series. I don’t know if I’ll read the next one, but I certainly recommend The Ryogan Chronicles to fantasy lovers who would like to read about a different world & interesting characters. 3.0 stars.

Review: Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao

An East Asian fantasy reimagining of The Evil Queen legend about one peasant girl’s quest to become Empress–and the darkness she must unleash to achieve her destiny.

Eighteen-year-old Xifeng is beautiful. The stars say she is destined for greatness, that she is meant to be Empress of Feng Lu. But only if she embraces the darkness within her. Growing up as a peasant in a forgotten village on the edge of the map, Xifeng longs to fulfill the destiny promised to her by her cruel aunt, the witch Guma, who has read the cards and seen glimmers of Xifeng’s majestic future. But is the price of the throne too high?

Because in order to achieve greatness, she must spurn the young man who loves her and exploit the callous magic that runs through her veins–sorcery fueled by eating the hearts of the recently killed. For the god who has sent her on this journey will not be satisfied until his power is absolute.

I was super excited to read A Forest of a Thousand Lanterns from the moment I read its blurb and I’m glad to say it didn’t disappoint.

From the moment I started reading this book I just couldn’t stop. The writing is good and flows easily, making it easy to get a good impression of all characters and to visualize what is happening (something very important for me, since I have trouble visualizing virtually anything). The characters also felt very real, even the secondary ones, though Xifeng, of course, is the true star of the story.

Xifeng isn’t likable by any means. She’s selfish and way too vain, and other people’s safety or well-being aren’t often enough to damper her ambition or stop her from doing what she wants. Still, I couldn’t help but feel for her during the whole book, from when she lived with her Guma (who abused her constantly) to when she became part of the empress’ household. Xifeng is more than just a well developed character – she is interesting, and it’s fascinating to read about her and about her relationships, especially the one with the Empress. It was very complex and felt for both of them.

The world where she lives is just as interesting and feels very real. I loved the mythology, especially the demons of the forest (I loved their chapters), and as a fan of prophecies I really liked Xifeng’s. The one thing I didn’t like about A Forest of a Thousand Lanterns and the reason I didn’t give it five stars is the “darkness” inside Xifeng. I didn’t find it convincing and the moments where she says she feels it inside her were the only ones where I felt kicked out of the story, so to speak. Still, it’s a minor detail in an otherwise incredible book.

I can’t wait to read the next book and to see where the author will take Xifeng’s story. 4 stars for A Forest of a Thousand Lanterns.

 

 

Review: The Uncrossing by Melissa Eastlake

Luke can uncross almost any curse—they unravel themselves for him like no one else. So working for the Kovrovs, one of the families controlling all the magic in New York, is exciting and dangerous, especially when he encounters the first curse he can’t break. And it involves Jeremy, the beloved, sheltered prince of the Kovrov family—the one boy he absolutely shouldn’t be falling for.

Jeremy’s been in love with cocky, talented Luke since they were kids. But from their first kiss, something’s missing. Jeremy’s family keeps generations of deadly secrets, forcing him to choose between love and loyalty. As Luke fights to break the curse, a magical, citywide war starts crackling, and it’s tied to Jeremy.

This might be the one curse Luke can’t uncross. If true love’s kiss fails, what’s left for him and Jeremy?

You know when you are really excited for a book, but cautiously wary because you’ve been disappointed too many times? That was me when I started reading The Uncrossing. This book looked like everything I want from a retelling, minus the contemporary setting: it’s queer, the worldbuilding seemed incredible and I had heard only good things about it.

I’m glad to say it didn’t disappoint.

The Uncrossing won me over at first because of said worldbuilding. I loved the world Eastlake created, with curses and uncrossing and magical families fighting over NYC, but it was the characters that made me love this book. Luke and Jeremy just worked, together or otherwise. I could understand them, sympathize with them and root for them since the beginning. Together they were awesome: Jeremy’s love for Luke was so endearing and I liked how the author managed to portray Luke falling in love with him too without it feeling forced.

The secondary characters were also great and so developed. My favorites were Luke’s sister and Jeremy’s uncles. Not because they are good people (Jeremy’s uncles are quite questionable) but because they were complex and interesting, and I liked reading about them just as much as about Luke and Jeremy.

My only complaint is the ending, which was a bit confusing. I couldn’t understand well what was going on, but maybe that’s just me and I need a reread to get it right. Still, I finished the book knowing I had loved it but confused at how it had ended.

In conclusion, The Uncrossing is fast read that manages to develop most if not all of its characters and still has an awesome plot. I can’t wait to read more from this author. 4.0 stars.

Review: Would it be okay to love you? by Amy Tasukada

A robot fanboy. An erotic voice actor. When love comes calling, will they shed their armor?

Sato’s only long-term relationship is the one he shares with his Gundam collectibles. He dreams about the kind of unconditional love his parents enjoy. If only he could break out of his shell, he might find his special someone…

Outgoing playboy Aoi has sworn off relationships. He knows they only distract him from his budding voice acting career. He’s earned a few loyal fans, and if he keeps at it, he may even earn enough to never worry about being evicted again…

When Sato meets Aoi at the local anime store, there’s definitely a spark. But even as they tread carefully, their commitment issues and Aoi’s troubled past soon muck things up before they can start. In order for Sato and Aoi to have their happily-ever-after, they’ll both have to take a leap of faith… and hope to be caught.

This book legit had everything I like in a romance book: slow burn, nerdy things and characters who seemed to be endearing (and very little sex, amen). A plus, obviously, was also the fact that it is set in Japan and I love reading romance books (or just books in general) set outside of the U.S.

But the connection just didn’t happen.

I’m still trying to figure out why, so maybe writing this review will help. Would it be okay to love you? has an interesting premise and good writing, but I could never connect with the characters. With the idea of them, yes – it’s impossible not to sympathize with Aoi’s money struggle or with his complicated non-relationship with his parents, or understand Sato’s desire for a relationship. On the surface, everything is perfect – but book never quite manages to make both characters seem real.

To make matters worse, the relationship between Aoi and Sato just isn’t interesting. There is no chemistry (and here I’m not talking in the sexual attraction sense – just chemistry) and its central conflict is too weak and solved too easily. It was basically just Aoi realizing he likes Sato and that’s it. Relationship problems solved!

The ending also came out of nowhere. Things weren’t tied up nicely. At one moment Aoi is isolating himself from everyone because he isn’t getting any jobs & blames himself for a certain accident for no reason and the next moment everything is fine, he has jobs and the urge to isolate himself is gone. I wanted to see this process, to understand his development, but the story doesn’t give me the chance to do so.

And that’s the problem with it. Too much happens too fast with very little development and because of that the ending feels unsatisfying. Still, I enjoyed some of the book: its setting and the idea of both characters’ personalities, mainly.

In conclusion, Would it be okay to love you? had a good premise and could have had good characters, but the execution was too weak to make that happen. 2.0 stars.

Review: An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson

Isobel is a prodigy portrait artist with a dangerous set of clients: the sinister fair folk, immortal creatures who cannot bake bread, weave cloth, or put a pen to paper without crumbling to dust. They crave human Craft with a terrible thirst, and Isobel’s paintings are highly prized among them. But when she receives her first royal patron—Rook, the autumn prince—she makes a terrible mistake. She paints mortal sorrow in his eyes – a weakness that could cost him his life.

Furious and devastated, Rook spirits her away to the autumnlands to stand trial for her crime. Waylaid by the Wild Hunt’s ghostly hounds, the tainted influence of the Alder King, and hideous monsters risen from barrow mounds, Isobel and Rook depend on one another for survival. Their alliance blossoms into trust, then love, violating the fair folks’ ruthless Good Law. There’s only one way to save both their lives, Isobel must drink from the Green Well, whose water will transform her into a fair one—at the cost of her Craft, for immortality is as stagnant as it is timeless.

Isobel has a choice: she can sacrifice her art for a future, or arm herself with paint and canvas against the ancient power of the fairy courts. Because secretly, her Craft represents a threat the fair folk have never faced in all the millennia of their unchanging lives: for the first time, her portraits have the power to make them feel.

Know when you are excited but still kinda wary about a book? That was me with An Enchantment of Ravens. I had heard wonderful things about this book, but the blurb made me a bit wary because I’m just not the person for YA fantasy books that focus on romance. I usually hate the guys, don’t care about the girls and am in general very annoyed with everything going on. Still, the reviews I read for this one praised it a lot for its writing so I decided to give it a try. I’m happy to say I’m not disappointed.

The writing is indeed gorgeous and yes, the book focuses 100% on the romance, but I actually enjoyed it. The reason? Rook. He was so different from the usual boring hot love interests in YA – I loved, for example, how his flaws were obvious and not excused (he’s super vain and arrogant), and his lack of understanding of mortal issues (like eating) was so endearing. Even his relationship with Isobel convinced me and I loved their dynamic.

(This might sound petty, but it just made it more clear to me how the fae of Throne of Glass and A Court of Thorns and Roses are annoying and, honestly, boring. I loved the faeries of An Enchantment of Ravens).

The book would be damn near perfect for me if not for two things: how easy the ending was and the lack of explanation about some things.

Example: why is it forbidden for faeries and humans to fall in love? It’s the Good Law, all right, but that’s it? The Elder King said so millennia ago because he was feeling like it, I guess? Which, okay, fine, I can understand, but it does feel a bit deliberate.

Second example: Rook’s emotions. Why can Rook feel stuff if the others faeries can’t? (And since faeries can’t feel anything, why does the Good Law even exist? I mean, the love had to be mutual for the Law to be broken, but how could it be mutual if faeries can’t fall in love?). I wish all of this had been explained and I don’t believe it would’ve been hard. As it is, it feels like a lot of the book’s conflict exists because the plot said so and not because it has a plausible reason for existing.

Now, the ending…. I liked it, but it happened too fast and the final fight, so to speak, was just too easy. I get why it went like that and again, I liked it, but it was a bit anticlimactic.

I wish this book was a series, honestly. There is just so much I wanted to know (like, why were the faerie lands dying/rotting? Was it just because the Elder King was asleep?) and it felt like the author didn’t have the space/time to show everything. But An Enchantment of Ravens was still an awesome book and I would recommend it to anyone. 4.0 stars.

Review: Beasts Made of Night by Tochi Onyebuchi

In the walled city of Kos, corrupt mages can magically call forth sin from a sinner in the form of sin-beasts – lethal creatures spawned from feelings of guilt.

Taj is the most talented of the aki, young sin-eaters indentured by the mages to slay the sin-beasts. But Taj’s livelihood comes at a terrible cost. When he kills a sin-beast, a tattoo of the beast appears on his skin while the guilt of committing the sin appears on his mind. Most aki are driven mad by the process, but 17-year-old Taj is cocky and desperate to provide for his family.

When Taj is called to eat a sin of a royal, he’s suddenly thrust into the center of a dark conspiracy to destroy Kos. Now Taj must fight to save the princess that he loves – and his own life.

A gritty Nigerian-influenced fantasy.

I was expecting a lot of this one (I mean, a Nigerian-influenced fantasy where most characters are black and the mythology is incredible? Sounds amazing) but it sadly fell flat for me.

First of all, the world is gorgeous. I loved the concept of sin-beasts and aki and Mages, and all of it was done really well. At some points I got pretty lost because the author doesn’t waste time trying to explain the world or how everything works, but I got used to it and the story started to flow. But then came in my biggest problem with this book: it is too slow and the villains aren’t interesting enough.

Now, I like slow books. I’m a fan of adult fantasy after all, where things are usually less fast paced than in YA, but Beasts Made of Night didn’t draw me in. I didn’t get a sense of cause and consequence in the book, so to speak; things happened almost as if the character had to wait for them to happen and not because the plot advanced or because the characters themselves made it move. At one point, for example, Taj, the main character, is chosen as the royal aki aka the royal sin-beast eater, but…. he never does anything while in the job. He is called zero times to Eat and spends most of his stay in the palace eating, sleeping and talking with the princess. Then he leaves to train the young akis but out of nowhere weeks have passed and he’s already used to training them. Like, what? He left the palace literally in the last chapter.

The ending is…. well, it could’ve been great. Have I talked about how wonderful the worldbuilding is? Because it is awesome and in the ending that is made quite clear. But the antagonist ends up being super disappointing. Can’t say who because spoilers, but they were cartoonish, almost childish, and I couldn’t take them seriously. Same for the plot twist re: one of the characters. I didn’t see it coming, but it didn’t feel believable.

Honestly, this one feels more like a draft than a polished, published book. Beasts Made of Night has incredible ideas and characters that could’ve been great, but all that is buried in a story that drags and doesn’t seem to go anywhere. The writing, while good, also wasn’t engaging for me, maybe because of Taj’s voice. In the end, I could see how wonderful this book could’ve been, but the execution failed and most of its shine was unfortunately lost.

I don’t think I’ll be reading more in this series. Again, I loved the premise and the world, but the writing and pacing did ruin Beasts Made of Night for me. 2.0 stars.

Review: 27 Hours by Tristina Wright

Rumor Mora fears two things: hellhounds too strong for him to kill, and failure. Jude Welton has two dreams: for humans to stop killing monsters, and for his strange abilities to vanish.

But in no reality should a boy raised to love monsters fall for a boy raised to kill them.

Nyx Llorca keeps two secrets: the moon speaks to her, and she’s in love with Dahlia, her best friend. Braeden Tennant wants two things: to get out from his mother’s shadow, and to unlearn Epsilon’s darkest secret.

They’ll both have to commit treason to find the truth.

During one twenty-seven-hour night, if they can’t stop the war between the colonies and the monsters from becoming a war of extinction, the things they wish for will never come true, and the things they fear will be all that’s left.

27 Hours is a sweeping, thrilling story featuring a stellar cast of queer teenagers battling to save their homes and possibly every human on Sahara as the clock ticks down to zero.

27 Hours was probably my most anticipated book of the year. I first got to know about it on Twitter before it had been announced thanks to the author’s #queerteensinspace, so it’s safe to say I’ve been waiting for this one for a long time. Did it meet my expectations? Honestly, not quite, which I can understand in part because my expectations were really high.

I still liked it well enough and will continue reading the series, but this book feels a lot like a debut (and it is). The plot is nice, the writing is good and the characters are entertaining, but the execution doesn’t quite manage to make it all shine as it should. Some of the banter was a bit tiring and I really missed knowing more about the world, and most of the relationships didn’t convince me. I didn’t dislike them, but I didn’t fall for any of them either.

And honestly? The big culprit here is the one right in the title: this book happens in only 27 hours, which is a whole night in the Sahara. I tried, really, but I just can’t understand falling in love with someone in 27 hours. Liking them? Liking them a lot? Of course. But love? Not that Rumor and Jude say the three words, but I felt like they got too close too fast because the initial romancing (?) had to happen in the first book instead of because it was the natural progression of things. Nothing big, but certainly something that made me only kind of interested in their relationship instead of full on invested.

The other thing that bothered me was the worldbuilding, or the lack of it. There is no infodump or anything of the sort, which is nice, but the world – Sahara – feels too thin. The history of humanity’s arrival also felt too sparse and I couldn’t actually follow how everything happened.

Now on to the rep: the more I think about this book, the more confused I get about Braeden’s sexual and romantic orientations. Yeah, he defines his asexuality as not wanting sex, which wouldn’t be a problem if it wasn’t made clear that’s how it works for him and not for every ace (asexuality is about attraction, not behavior, and yes, lots of aces don’t want sex because they don’t feel sexual attraction, but not having sex =/= ace), but that part didn’t bother me much, to be honest. Which left me puzzled was his romantic orientation. Or how he doesn’t even considers it.

At first, back when 27 Hours had just been announced, Braeden was said to be aroace. Then the author corrected it and said he was only ace and would find out more about his romantic orientation in the book. Which, fine, I get it. Except… he doesn’t? Maybe she meant in the series (which will be a trilogy, if I’m not mistaken) and not the first book in specific, but the thing is, Braeden doesn’t even think about his romantic orientation. During the whole book, he mentions many times that he doesn’t want sex and doesn’t get how everyone is always crazy about it, but not once does he reflects on how relationships can exist without sex (or sexual attraction) and where he fits in all this. I got strong aro vibes from him and really strong queerplatonic vibes from him and Trick, though I’m still thinking that is me projecting. If that’s the end game, I will be really happy, but still puzzled. If Braeden finds out he is aromantic or at least in the aromantic spectrum later, what let him to not question his romantic orientation sooner? Didn’t he know about aromanticism? If that’s the case, why did he know about asexuality and not aromanticism? (Or why did all other queer identities were known, but aromanticism was not?)

Again, this is all me speculating because as far as I know Breaden can end up being bi or gay or hetero or whatever and not aro. But I did feel like he was aro.

Last thing about the rep: Aimal wrote an awesome review highlighting how 27 Hours centers colonialist views since most characters are colonists and even the one who isn’t is still a human aka the alien species aka the invaders. Not one of the POV characters is a chimera, the indigenous species to Sahara.

But now that I’ve talked about the bad and the confusing, let’s move on to the good, or the reason I still liked this book and plan on reading the next volume: 27 Hours is fun, engaging and well, important. Most of its characters are diverse and all of them have well developed personalities. It’s easy to feel for them, to care about them and their problems, and to hope everything will turn out okay for them.

My favorite was Rumor. He was, in my opinion, the most complex of all and the “core” of the book, so to speak. He went through a lot of shit, is (rightfully) angry and is at the same time honest and just good. He’s the main reason I’m interested in this series.

I also loved Breaden and Dahlia (and, well, all of them, but mainly these three) and really enjoyed some of the worldbuilding, like Nyx being able to hear the moon and the tech the characters used. The chimera were also really interesting and I liked how they were not a monolith, each of them having their own personalities and ideologies. Even the antagonist pleased me.

In conclusion, 27 Hours is a flawed debut that still manages to be fun and entertaining, having the most interesting and well developed cast of characters I’ve seen in some time. 3.5 stars.