(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).
(This review may contain spoilers).
Having read the first two books in this series and enjoyed them, I was really happy when I was approached to read this book. If I’m honest, the blurb did put me off a little bit… mostly because I wasn’t sure how that particular subject matter would be handled.
I didn’t like Pandra at all at the start of the book, though there was a part of me that felt sorry for her. There are very few characters in books who can cause a complete turn-around with me in terms of me going from hating them to liking them… but somehow, Pandra managed that.
I was a bit disappointed that so much time passing was glossed over, I have to say. I could see that Pandra had changed, but I wasn’t given much insight into her mindset during the time period.
It was nice to see more of the other characters, but because there were a few different romances, I felt none of the couples really had much time spent on them. Since all of them were new relationships, I felt that a lot of the development between them fell by the wayside.
It was good to see that there was plot in the story, too. The other society was really appalling. It was difficult to understand how someone could be so integrated, she would blame the victim for putting up a fight/not wanting to be taken by force. (It does, however, reflect a lot of attitudes… so I felt the author did a good job of showcasing that and I felt the culture wasn’t portrayed as a good one).
I really liked seeing how the whole society was set up and run. I was a little confused about who some of the characters were, I have to say – which was probably mainly because it’s been a little while since I read the previous books in this series.
I did like Thomal in this book and I could understand his reluctance to get personally involved with Pandra. It was nice to see it accepted that they’d both made mistakes in their time together.
I liked Faith and Kacie in this book and would have liked to see more of Kacie, as well as their aunt. I hope to see more of them in later books.
I did feel there was more of an air of mystery here and it was good to see the very real danger the characters were in. While I do wish more time had been spent showing the developing relationships, I did like most of the elements and I thought that Thomal’s battle against his ‘true’ nature was quite interesting.
I certainly hope to read more books by this author in the future. The world and characters are intriguing and the book was really easy and quick to read, despite just having had two night shifts before writing this review.
Like a lot of plot with your romance? Then I recommend this series highly.
