RELEASE DATE: March 03, 2020
AUTHOR: Sarah J. Maas
GENRE: New-Adult, Urban Fantasy, Romance.
PUBLISHER: Bloomsbury
SUMMARY:
Bryce Quinlan had the perfect life—working hard all day and partying all night—until a demon murdered her closest friends, leaving her bereft, wounded, and alone. When the accused is behind bars but the crimes start up again, Bryce finds herself at the heart of the investigation. She’ll do whatever it takes to avenge their deaths.
Hunt Athalar is a notorious Fallen angel, now enslaved to the Archangels he once attempted to overthrow. His brutal skills and incredible strength have been set to one purpose—to assassinate his boss’s enemies, no questions asked. But with a demon wreaking havoc in the city, he’s offered an irresistible deal: help Bryce find the murderer, and his freedom will be within reach.
As Bryce and Hunt dig deep into Crescent City’s underbelly, they discover a dark power that threatens everything and everyone they hold dear, and they find, in each other, a blazing passion—one that could set them both free, if they’d only let it.
I’m a S.J. Maas fan and this was one of my top anticipated reads. First of all, the cover art for this book was gorgeous and I really hope the publishers will stick to this theme and don’t replace it with a dull one in the future. Well coming to the book, I can’t say this was my favorite S.J. Maas work, but it was an enjoyable read. It’s an urban fantasy with a mix of paranormal elements. The story was overall entertaining but the length of the book was unnecessaryly long. It’s one of the major drawbacks of this book.
The story begins with Bryce quinlan who’s half fae and half human. She loves partying in the clubs, hooking up with strangers, and hanging out with her three best friends. She works as an antiquities dealer. When one of her best friend Danika who’s a werewolf gets brutally murdered by a demon, she’s devastated. The case was closed after the accused was sent behind the bars. After two years, when the same murders occurs again Bryce realizes that her friend’s murderer was still alive out there. To help solve the case, she was accompanied by a fallen angel named Hunt Athalar. During their search, many dark secrets are revealed and they believe that things are much bigger than they thought it would be. While fighting their attraction to each other, Bryce and Hunt have to find the killer before it’s too late.
The characters were interesting, but honestly most of them were not memorable enough for me. Each one of them reminded me of characters from the author’s earlier works. The similarities were pretty high. Bryce was introduced as a spoiled party girl, but she’s loyal, fierce, and very protective of her friends and family. I enjoyed her character, but I didn’t like how every male was attracted to her. She’s got beautiful looks and a great bod. On the other hand, we have Hunt Athalor. He’s a broody fallen angel and everyone is pretty much freaked out when he’s near because he’s got this dangerous aura. He’s a morally grey character. He reminded me of Rowan from TOG. The romance was a slow burn. When Hunt was assigned to Bryce, he felt like a baby sitter. They’re both not much fan of their current situation, but they must deal with it. With each day, their daily bickering turns into attraction and it slowly grows into something more. Currently there aren’t any steamy scenes in this book, but I’m pretty certain there’s going to be some in the next one.
The supporting characters were okay, but I can’t connect with any of them. I wish Danika got more page time because it takes time to connect with characters and the author killed her in just few chapters. It’s a little disappointing because most of the book was about Bryce avenging her death. I honestly didn’t feel anything when she was murdered. I enjoyed Ruhn, Bryce half brother and a carbon copy of Dorian from TOG. He’s a fae prince who cares for Bryce unlike his cold father. He always likes to hang out with his three best friend lackeys. Lehab, the fire sprite is one of the characters that I really loved. She’s fierce, innocent, and so much fun. Bryce’s friend Fury Axtar is another character that I really loved. She didn’t get much page time, but I wish she was the main character because when I first heard about Bryce, I was expecting someone like her. She was a total badass. I don’t know what to say about Juniper, Bryce’s other best friend. She’s a fawn dancer and there’s nothing special about her. I also liked Aidas, the white cat demon who helped Bryce. He’s a total mystery and I can’t wait to know more about him. And last but not the least, I enjoyed Jesiba Roga. She’s a powerful witch, and Bryce’s boss.
The plot was definitely interesting, but it dragged in a lot of places. This book was 900 pages long and nothing exciting happens until you reach seventy percent of the book. Most of the plot focuses on Bryce and Hunt investigating the murder mystery. There are no sex scenes in this book but I hope we don’t get bombarded with them in the next book. I do enjoy few steamy scenes, but I also need more action, plot, and violence. If you’re expecting this to be a fast paced ride then you’ll be disappointed. The author tried to make up for it by throwing lots of surprising twists and turns in the end and they really worked. If it wasn’t for them, I would’ve given this book a less than four stars rating. The author’s writing was great, but the too much swearing was cringy. There’s a lot of F***s in this book. The world building was amazing. It’s a futuristic urban fantasy world with a mix of paranormal and sci-fi elements. It has magical creatures like Angels, fae, werewolves, witches, demons, sprites, merfolk, Vampires etc. The first book was set on Crescent city, and there’s so much more to explore.
Overall, this was an entertaining read filled with mystery, magic, friendship, action, and romance! Although it didn’t make a huge impact on me as ACOTAR, and TOG did, I’m definitely looking forward to the next book.
Recommend it?
YES
I would definitely recommend this book if you’re into Urban Fantasy and paranormal romances.
MY RATING:
[4/5 Stars]
So, What do you think of this book? Have you read it yet? Do you Plan to read it?
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See You In The Next Post and Have a Great Day! 🙂
