MeowMeow

Imagine yourself sitting in your favorite place (an armchair, a sofa, whatever). Imagine the temperature at just the right degree that you love, and you are wearing the most comfortable clothes ever, feeling contented and cozy. Sipping your favorite drink, just allowing your mind to drift into thoughts that make you feel good.

That's what reading this book is like. Fair warning that yes, it can be slow, but it's the kind of deliberate slowness that makes you savor it like a hot chocolate on a chilly morning. There were times when I had tears sliding down my face when reading about the realizations that the characters had, feeling a quiet pain in my heart in acknowledgment.

I know I can be pretty harsh when I rate/review books, especially ones that disappoint me greatly because in that moment of emotion I feel betrayed and foolish for wasting my time. But when I do come across a book that gets my cold, bitter heart feeling a rush of warmth, I pay attention.

This is a character-driven story through and through. You won't go on an adventure, nor will you fight enemies or save the world. But that's not what this book is about. If you're willing to read a character study and allow yourself to let go of expectations for a plot-driven story, then you will be in the right mindset to read this book.

I was all set for this to be a deliciously wicked 5-star read with some wickedly clever characters, but just a few chapters in and I was already disappointed. The characters were not clever but contrived and cliche and just so boringly common ... and the worst part is that they believe they are the smartest people in the room. You know who's simultaneously the smartest and so-naive-as-to-get-tricked people in the room are? Us readers, who figured out exactly who was behind the assassination plot as soon as those characters were introduced – and who got this book in the first place thinking we were going to get something so much better. I cry for us all.

I knew I should've known better than to be taken along on certain people's hype train about this book. Uninteresting, shallow, stupid characters, flat villains, and an equally ‘eh' storyline that is just ... boring. The main character pissed me off with how much of a horrific dumbass she was, and all her glares/grumbles/whining/complaining/snarky comments are just cringe-inducing (apparently we're meant to find her funny or endearing or strong, what in the actual EFF). As an Asian person of similar ethnicity to the writer as well as the characters in this book, I sometimes want to have stories that feature those “like me” but I do NOT want them written with such amateur skill. It's fucking embarrassing.

It was an interesting story, I guess, but in no shape or form does it live up to the hype that's being generated by Tor and certain readers. I came away from it pretty disappointed. The world building is lacking, it was tiresome to be in Gideon's head, and the so-called competition/trials thing to be SuperNecro was a complete let-down.

The best thing about this book is the cover. The first few chapters made me want to give up on this multiple times. A number of character names are beyond ridiculous, by the way, but I think the thing that tripped me up most is that this book reads like an urban fantasy with the same oh-I-am-so-edgy-hear-me-snark, smart-mouthed main character. It's like the author began writing this as an urban fantasy but then decided to change tack and try dressing it up to look and act like a more serious fantasy story. (The juvenile edginess of the main character didn't help matters – I began to like the story a lot more when she was forced to stop talking.) Also ... I feel like it was written in first person POV, which then was changed to third so it wouldn't scare away readers who hate first person perspective.