A review by wardenred
Gloam by Lily Mayne

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

“Why are you so concerned with freeing them? They’re not your problem. They’re not our problem.”
I bristled. “That’s the point. No one else is going to help them.”

Full disclosure, I didn't expect to like this book all that much and just braced myself to power throw it on my way to the one installment in this series I really want to get to (Moth, because I fell in love with the titular character back in The Rycke). I just didn't want to miss out on the overarching plot! I totally didn't expect Gloam to become such a strong contender for my favorite book in the series, but somehow, it snuck up on me. The further I read, the more invested I became.

I love how the series gets plottier and plottier as it moves along. This book is so different from Soul Eater with all of its slice-of-life-ish walking through the Wastes. Stakes! Tension! Seriously messed-up villains! The journey kept getting more and more exciting, and the resolution was pretty satisfying while still living lots of cool threads to follow later in the series. I also loved getting so much lore, both about life in the Wastes and all the tidbits about the monster realm.

The romance took its time to grow on me; on one hand, I enjoyed seeing the bond between Adam and Gloam grow and appreciated how the power imbalance that went both ways between them was handled. And all the communication through notes added an interesting touch. On the other hand, the spark for me just didn't seem to be there (the spark between me and their story, not between the characters themselves). But then in the second half of the book I found myself really shipping them. That tender scene next to the villain's corpse being eaten by the monstrous pet is going to live in my head rent free for a while, I'm telling you, and not just because of the stark contrast.

I am also absolutely enamored by Adam/Rig. I liked him in the previous book, too, but as a narrator he really opens up, and I love love love his personality. He's the best kind of good guy: the sort who will do the right thing even if he knows it's beyond the scope of his abilities, because it needs to be done, damn it, and no else cares to do it, so might as well be him. The world would honestly be a much better place if more of us adopted that outlook. That's my hill and all.

So, yeah, I've had plenty of fun with this one and I'm excited for what comes next!
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