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A review by tita_noir
Wrath of the Goddess by Lauren Dane
2.0
There was something about this installment... not sure what it was...that made this one largely a miss for me. I really love this series and remember reading the first book and being so pleasantly surprised by the main characters and the world. And each installment has been pretty good about maintaining and growing the character development and forward story. But this one just left me feeling largely empty and unsatisfied.
At the end of the previous book, Carey, one of Rowan's employees and close friend was murdered in front of her at a time when she was at her happiest: Celebrating the formalization of her marriage to Clive. It was an act that was supposed to show her vulnerabilities and weaken her in the eyes of the people who relied on her.
This book was supposed to be about her wreaking vengeance on those who did that in such a public and devastating way. I mean, it is called the Wrath of the Goddess. I wanted to feel some wrath happening.
But weirdly it felt like a lot of hurry up and get nowhere. There was a lot of telling but less showing. Some other people close to Rowan are murdered and we are told a that she feels grief but it felt too distant. I wanted some more emotional resonance.
I think other than Clive and Rowan and to a lesser extent, David and Alice, I didn't feel anything for any of the characters. Genevieve, a minor character from the previous books, take a major role in this one. She is Rowan's sidekick in almost every scene. It is revealed she is some super powered witch who can do almost anything. And much of the trouble Rowan finds herself in, Genevieve is conveniently there to do her version of the nose twitch and fix it through magic. In fact this book felt almost like a backdoor pilot into a new series starring Genevieve.
Also the reveal at the end felt really hollow. This person has been trying to hurt Rowan specifically by hurting those closest to her. And yet when we find out who it is all I could do was say "who?" There really is no emotional payoff at all.
At the end of the previous book, Carey, one of Rowan's employees and close friend was murdered in front of her at a time when she was at her happiest: Celebrating the formalization of her marriage to Clive. It was an act that was supposed to show her vulnerabilities and weaken her in the eyes of the people who relied on her.
This book was supposed to be about her wreaking vengeance on those who did that in such a public and devastating way. I mean, it is called the Wrath of the Goddess. I wanted to feel some wrath happening.
But weirdly it felt like a lot of hurry up and get nowhere. There was a lot of telling but less showing. Some other people close to Rowan are murdered and we are told a that she feels grief but it felt too distant. I wanted some more emotional resonance.
I think other than Clive and Rowan and to a lesser extent, David and Alice, I didn't feel anything for any of the characters. Genevieve, a minor character from the previous books, take a major role in this one. She is Rowan's sidekick in almost every scene. It is revealed she is some super powered witch who can do almost anything. And much of the trouble Rowan finds herself in, Genevieve is conveniently there to do her version of the nose twitch and fix it through magic. In fact this book felt almost like a backdoor pilot into a new series starring Genevieve.
Also the reveal at the end felt really hollow. This person has been trying to hurt Rowan specifically by hurting those closest to her. And yet when we find out who it is all I could do was say "who?" There really is no emotional payoff at all.