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jaaay_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
I'm so sorry but I hated this book. I still finished it because I paid a lot of money for it through Kickstarter and I was honestly hate reading at the point to see where it went.
I was with the book in the beginning. Cyberpunk? Cool. Ads everywhere, even in your dreams, are very dystopian and an interesting thing to explore. Vampires are here? Weird but cool. Vampires actually being caused by a blood curse from a dead god and witches with seemingly no or only very vague limits to their powers existing? I'm sorry, you lost me on that last point.
Maybe it's that I am just not one for soft magic systems. Maybe this is a personal preference issue. But, the moment Oscar says that vampires are from a blood curse and magic is real, all my suspension of disbelief went away and I was pulled straight up out of the book in that moment.
Like, Jordan can seemingly do anything. Even that disgusting (cw: body horror, no plot spoilers) eye thing where acid drops out from slits in the back of her eyeballs . I do not like how Jordan can seemingly do anything with no rules because I feel like that allows the ability to write in magic that solves any plot point and it can't be argued that it isn't possible. No rules have been established.
Taya is annoying. She has flaws for sure, but I don't think those are addressed. She honestly seems like kinda an asshole. Yes, her fiance dying from cancer sucks. But, I don't understand how she can be so cocky with her fighting skills after a year of training. Or how she is totally fine with beating guys up, close to death, and enjoying it, but has a mental breakdown after seeing a corpse. Like, those two facts don't line up in my world.
Oscar was my favorite character. He was what was pulling me through most of the book. But then he just started flip-flopping around in ways I don't understand. He works with Jordan but seems super mad at Jordan, and is now going with Taya. But, he is still in with Jordan. Like, he just stopped mattering to the story and became a piece to move around. I don't get him.
I also have no idea what is actually really going on in the plot. I get the basics but what Jordan and her crew want is elusive to me. I don't get it. I don't think we are supposed to know the details but the book from when Sarah dies and onward is bad. Like, it is super repetitive, everything seems rushed. I felt like I had no connection or grounding to the story. It was just zipping by. All of Taya's fight scenes at the end are too similar and boring. I was bored during the fight scenes. I know that from the Labor side that they want power and money but it is boring and I don't understand exactly what they are doing either. Does anyone know what is going on in this book or is it just me?
I didn't like the writing. Characters seemed to be swearing in a way that made it seem like they were just doing it so the book was sound cool and more adult. I got so tired of just reading FUCK! as an individual thought.
The world does not seem lush to me. I think there are good seeds here but we don't spend any time actually sitting in them. The environments are not described in a way to makes them feel real. We just hop around and are supposed to fill in the gaps.
I think this book needed more editing. I caught a few typos. One or two is fine or even funny in a trad published book but I feel like I caught 4. Also, dialogue topics seem to randomly shift. Or we would change scenes but not even have the little in-chapter line break. That made the book feel disjointed.
The tagline, "What would you do to keep your dream ad free?" has nothing to do with the plot at all. It's a sick tagline but has nothing to do with the story.
So, yeah, suffice it to say that I hated this book and gave it one star. I did not wish to do so, but I think while there were some cool ideas, this needed a lot more fleshing out to improve the characters and the plot. I think this is planned to be a series?? I will not be continuing on. And I honestly don't know if I will read Daniel's future books. Maybe if I hear a bunch of rave reviews maybe??
I was with the book in the beginning. Cyberpunk? Cool. Ads everywhere, even in your dreams, are very dystopian and an interesting thing to explore. Vampires are here? Weird but cool. Vampires actually being caused by a blood curse from a dead god and witches with seemingly no or only very vague limits to their powers existing? I'm sorry, you lost me on that last point.
Maybe it's that I am just not one for soft magic systems. Maybe this is a personal preference issue. But, the moment Oscar says that vampires are from a blood curse and magic is real, all my suspension of disbelief went away and I was pulled straight up out of the book in that moment.
Like, Jordan can seemingly do anything. Even that disgusting (cw: body horror, no plot spoilers)
Taya is annoying. She has flaws for sure, but I don't think those are addressed. She honestly seems like kinda an asshole. Yes, her fiance dying from cancer sucks. But, I don't understand how she can be so cocky with her fighting skills after a year of training. Or how she is totally fine with beating guys up, close to death, and enjoying it, but has a mental breakdown after seeing a corpse. Like, those two facts don't line up in my world.
Oscar was my favorite character. He was what was pulling me through most of the book. But then he just started flip-flopping around in ways I don't understand. He works with Jordan but seems super mad at Jordan, and is now going with Taya. But, he is still in with Jordan. Like, he just stopped mattering to the story and became a piece to move around. I don't get him.
I also have no idea what is actually really going on in the plot. I get the basics but what Jordan and her crew want is elusive to me. I don't get it. I don't think we are supposed to know the details but the book from
I didn't like the writing. Characters seemed to be swearing in a way that made it seem like they were just doing it so the book was sound cool and more adult. I got so tired of just reading FUCK! as an individual thought.
The world does not seem lush to me. I think there are good seeds here but we don't spend any time actually sitting in them. The environments are not described in a way to makes them feel real. We just hop around and are supposed to fill in the gaps.
I think this book needed more editing. I caught a few typos. One or two is fine or even funny in a trad published book but I feel like I caught 4. Also, dialogue topics seem to randomly shift. Or we would change scenes but not even have the little in-chapter line break. That made the book feel disjointed.
The tagline, "What would you do to keep your dream ad free?" has nothing to do with the plot at all. It's a sick tagline but has nothing to do with the story.
So, yeah, suffice it to say that I hated this book and gave it one star. I did not wish to do so, but I think while there were some cool ideas, this needed a lot more fleshing out to improve the characters and the plot. I think this is planned to be a series?? I will not be continuing on. And I honestly don't know if I will read Daniel's future books. Maybe if I hear a bunch of rave reviews maybe??
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death and Grief
runitsthepopo's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
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