emmayvonne's review
2.0
In my reviews of the other two books in this series, I picked up on some negative aspects of Delaney's work, but the absolute worst thing he writes are character deaths.
Does no one care about anyone? People die left and right in this book and there is no mourning, no grief, no sadness. Also the deaths themselves are written in one line, I never have any time to feel remorse, I absolutely loved Deinon and not only did he not speak a word in this book, but his death was glossed over so quickly, and Leif didn't even care! When characters die in a Joseph Delaney novel, there is no dignity or sadness, both with this series and his Spooks.
Delaney is also terrible at writing endings, everything seems to fall flat, there are always more questions than answers and I never end up feeling fulfilled or happy with any sort of outcome - even if it's something that I liked.
However, Delaney is one of those authors who are unafraid to kill off major characters, which obviously isn't great because we care about them, but it's realistic. It doesn't feel as if Delaney is writing unrealistically in order to keep his readers happy, if he wants to kill someone, then they're as good as dead. Therefore, I never felt safe, constantly throughout the novel I was on edge, worried about whether characters I liked would die - the threat was always there.
Even though Delaney's writing is riddled with flaws, I have so much respect for the fact that he writes what he wants, there's no censorship, there's no beating around the bush. Delaney doesn't seem to care about whether he is making his readers happy or not, he's just writing for himself, and that is something I can fully respect.
Overall not a bad series, I'm not sure if there will be more after this, but I will probably read it, just out of curiosity.
Delaney is also terrible at writing endings, everything seems to fall flat, there are always more questions than answers and I never end up feeling fulfilled or happy with any sort of outcome - even if it's something that I liked.
However, Delaney is one of those authors who are unafraid to kill off major characters, which obviously isn't great because we care about them, but it's realistic. It doesn't feel as if Delaney is writing unrealistically in order to keep his readers happy, if he wants to kill someone, then they're as good as dead. Therefore, I never felt safe, constantly throughout the novel I was on edge, worried about whether characters I liked would die - the threat was always there.
Even though Delaney's writing is riddled with flaws, I have so much respect for the fact that he writes what he wants, there's no censorship, there's no beating around the bush. Delaney doesn't seem to care about whether he is making his readers happy or not, he's just writing for himself, and that is something I can fully respect.
Overall not a bad series, I'm not sure if there will be more after this, but I will probably read it, just out of curiosity.
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