Finished: July 19th, 2016
Overall Rating: 3 stars
I received an ARC copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway.
To start with, I enjoyed the original take on magic from the first book, but I was left feeling very unsatisfied in regards to the romance in the book. While there was plenty of mention of physical attraction between the characters, there was no real relationship building to back it up. So I was really hoping that this book would resolve some of that.
In that regard things were halting and slow but I was actually okay with that. While Liam's hot and cold act can get old, the author at least delved more into the reasons why and I felt like the characters came to understand each other and comes to terms with things before moving forward. With so many books the characters just jump into bed in fits of passion only to fight or avoid each other for the rest of the book. I felt like this was more of a slow build and that was good. Towards the end things got to the point where they were starting to make confessions and maybe finalize things a bit, but some twists of fate throws that for a loop. I don't want to give too much away (you'll have to read it for yourself to find out) but by the end of the book Liam has some things he needs to deal with.
I will admit that at first I was frustrated with how that all ended. There were a number of ways that the showdown could have ended without Claire having to reveal her powers. And while I was okay with the changes in Liam, I wasn't okay with how he left things. I wanted more but then my mind follow the logical conclusion that the third book would bring, and I found I could understand the author's reasoning for ending things the way she did. First off, Liam has a lot to come to terms with and chances are if they were to spend the whole next book in hiding, he would spend the whole time taking it out on Claire (consciously or not), and she doesn't doesn't deserve that, not with everything else she is going through. I will say that if nothing else, there should have been a good-bye. Some kind of acknowledgement for her before he left. That does still leave the issue of Claire's decision. I can understand her wanting to be out in the open, but since that was the one thing Liam has been dreading from day one, I felt like Claire's choice was a bad one, and a selfish one at that.
I also appreciate the fact that the author didn't turn this into a soap opera with love triangles everywhere. Claire had brief moments with Malachi and there's obviously some sordid past with Liam and his bounty hunter friend (can't remember her name right now), but it never got to the point where it detracted from the main romance or became a nuisance. By the end both Claire and Liam were clear in their feelings and I appreciate not being given the run around with that.
As far as growth of the characters themselves, I liked how things panned out in this book. I like the side characters in this book and I feel like they all had their contributions and growth in this book. Everyone banded together, everyone took risks, and I feel like it all came together nicely. Their efforts lead to some improvement in the relationship between humans and paras. Granted, it doesn't solve all of their problems and there is still lots more work to do but I felt like there was a lot of improvement in that regard.
The plot itself was fairly well done. The only complaint that I had in regards to plot was that there wasn't very much buildup or urgency. Well, I should clarify. There was urgency in the sense that everyone was working hard to resolve the situation, but there wasn't much that could be done. Besides Claire and Liam's trip into the camp, there wasn't much to be done. They ran to aid in recovery but they were never really in mix when it came to research, searching, or really resolving the situations. The enemies were mostly hidden and so it was more of a waiting game waiting to see when they would strike again. So most of the plot itself resolved around other things. Practicing magic, researching her Dad, training as a Bounty Hunter..etc. Most of it felt fairly unrelated to the main trauma, until the last battle.
Having said that, that doesn't mean that the book is slow or boring, it just means that Claire and Liam were more on the sidelines in this one (as far the action goes, they were still very much the center of the book). And while Gunnar was in the middle of everything, we only heard about it in general summaries after the fact. (On a side note, I would not be opposed to a short story or spin off with Gunner as main POV). But there is still plenty of action and they are still running around for large portions of it, it just didn't have the same on the edge of your seat urgency of the last book.
So, while it didn't keep me up all hours of the night reading, it was still a good read.
And can I just say? While Tadji and Burke may have had some chemistry in the first book, it really doesn't seem like there's anything real building there, and truthfully, their romance is a bit boring. For the next book, I would love to see Tadji and Gavin, That would definitely spice things up and I could see some real sparks exploding there.
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