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katyanaish's review
4.0
Fun, fast read. It's a short, so you don't get much character stuff, just a run through of the story. That's made enjoyable because Jade, the main character, really appeals to me. Her sense of humor, her gamer and nerd in-jokes, they are all right up my alley, so I'm happy to run along with her on an adventure while listening to her nerd-girl internal monologue. It's loads of fun.
kk7's review
4.0
This story told more about Jade's past and she learned more about herself and her powers. Although I enjoyed it, there was potential to flesh the story out and I wish the author had done so.
themanfromdelmonte's review
3.0
I really must resist the temptation to buy these things cheap on Kindle. I don’t care for the D&D tropes and the reading age must be somewhere between 12 and 16
vikingwolf's review
2.0
Having enjoyed the first book, I was looking forward to the next in the series. It had a beautiful cover which is always a bonus. But sadly everything that made the first book so good was lacking in this sequel.
Jade's estranged father comes to her for help, asking her to come back to the tribe to solve the murdered and find those who are missing. Despite serious misgivings, Jade agrees as a Justice investigating in the area has also vanished. However the tribe are not welcoming and family secrets are going to be a shock to her.
The first thing I loved about the first book were Jade's shifter and gaming friends, all of whom were absent for pretty much all of the book. I certainly missed them and the fun they bring to the plot. Instead we had Jade and Alek meeting her family from hell and those characters did not appeal to me in any way. They kicked her out of the tribe for not becoming a crow shifter, they ignore and abuse her and tell her to leave again, they don't try to help the investigation, they offer no thanks for what she does...why is she even there? It is a total waste of time and the non stop family angst got old really fast.
The second thing was her relationship with Alek. Despite his friend being missing and him being a Justice, Jade is determined to trust him with nothing. She continually goes off to do her own thing and solve things all alone, getting into trouble all the way. Alek was a good alpha male in book one but here he is reduced to wandering about trying to see what Jade is up to, and being there to fight with. Their fledgling relationship crashes and burns here which adds more angst than the book can cope with.
The fast paced plot all vanishes as well. Instead we are left with Jade talking to people, Jade wandering around mine shafts and woods, and Alek wandering around trying to locate Jade. It is repetitive and boring, and has little relation to the first book in this series. Jade herself becomes whiny and annoying, doing things that hacked me off as much as the dull plot did. Did I care what happened to the tribe and its members? No. We already knew that Jade had a bad upbringing so we didn't need to see it for a whole book and at the end of it all, were things resolved to give her closure? Well, no! So I saw no point to this entire storyline.
I was so disappointed by the standard of this book that I decided not to read on with the series.
Jade's estranged father comes to her for help, asking her to come back to the tribe to solve the murdered and find those who are missing. Despite serious misgivings, Jade agrees as a Justice investigating in the area has also vanished. However the tribe are not welcoming and family secrets are going to be a shock to her.
The first thing I loved about the first book were Jade's shifter and gaming friends, all of whom were absent for pretty much all of the book. I certainly missed them and the fun they bring to the plot. Instead we had Jade and Alek meeting her family from hell and those characters did not appeal to me in any way. They kicked her out of the tribe for not becoming a crow shifter, they ignore and abuse her and tell her to leave again, they don't try to help the investigation, they offer no thanks for what she does...why is she even there? It is a total waste of time and the non stop family angst got old really fast.
The second thing was her relationship with Alek. Despite his friend being missing and him being a Justice, Jade is determined to trust him with nothing. She continually goes off to do her own thing and solve things all alone, getting into trouble all the way. Alek was a good alpha male in book one but here he is reduced to wandering about trying to see what Jade is up to, and being there to fight with. Their fledgling relationship crashes and burns here which adds more angst than the book can cope with.
The fast paced plot all vanishes as well. Instead we are left with Jade talking to people, Jade wandering around mine shafts and woods, and Alek wandering around trying to locate Jade. It is repetitive and boring, and has little relation to the first book in this series. Jade herself becomes whiny and annoying, doing things that hacked me off as much as the dull plot did. Did I care what happened to the tribe and its members? No. We already knew that Jade had a bad upbringing so we didn't need to see it for a whole book and at the end of it all, were things resolved to give her closure? Well, no! So I saw no point to this entire storyline.
I was so disappointed by the standard of this book that I decided not to read on with the series.
athenaevarinya's review
4.0
As I said about the first story: Too short. I hope the author goes back one day and really fleshes out each story more.
xvicesx's review
4.0
In line with the previous book, this is a solid 4-star, very entertaining with characters that don't come across as so into each other as to not realise whatever else is going on in the world. I quite like Jade and her partnership with Alek is really entertaining, if only because they're the nice kind of couple who don't need to be around each other for every breathing moment. Jade's development is really good as well, in that she doesn't have complete control of her powers out of the blue. She's learning and that makes it a good adventure.
j_j_catcrazydragon's review
2.0
Baddie gets to be a creep, supposed innocent side-liners pretend it never happened and blame the good guy.
Good guy makes some mistakes, but is punished for everyones bullshit.
She punishes herself, without acknowledging the unfairness of others bullshit.
Side-liners are not innocent, but nobody admits this, or makes them accept any of the responsibility or consequence.
If the rest of the works are like this, one shining hope for a new series to obsess over, will go in the 'never again', 'no respect', 'DNF' categories.
Only gave this a 2 ⭐️, and not a 1, because of the beginning and my hope it was just a temporary lapse in style.
Fingers crossed we will return to the fun and strengths of the first... ?
Good guy makes some mistakes, but is punished for everyones bullshit.
She punishes herself, without acknowledging the unfairness of others bullshit.
Side-liners are not innocent, but nobody admits this, or makes them accept any of the responsibility or consequence.
If the rest of the works are like this, one shining hope for a new series to obsess over, will go in the 'never again', 'no respect', 'DNF' categories.
Only gave this a 2 ⭐️, and not a 1, because of the beginning and my hope it was just a temporary lapse in style.
Fingers crossed we will return to the fun and strengths of the first... ?
elisabethei85's review
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
hgranger's review
4.0
Super quick read. Interesting premise of magic and the supernatural woven into the gaming community. Jade is an entertaining protagonist and the other characters are well done as well, especially for such a short book.
kepheus's review
4.0
These books break my long-standing rule of not reading anything with a cheesy, bad-Photoshop-style cover. That said, they're fun, fairly light, and very heavily influenced by the Dresden books. So long as they keep that up, I'll keep reading.