The premise of this book really drew me in. Shape shifting, gender-fluidity, queer romance, mafia!? I jumped at the opportunity to read this.
I don't think this is a bad book. However. I also don't think it was as compelling or engaging as I wanted it to be.
Some things I didn't like:
The world building was lacking. There were times I would get descriptions which were beautiful, but it really wouldn't help me imagine the world or characters very well.
The magic system confused me. Rules were made and then seemed to be broken. Two characters have the same (?) power, but one can do so many other things than the other and I'm not sure why. And then other characters have different powers and those powers can affect other characters but in different ways - I'm obviously trying to not spoil anything, but I think you get why I was confused!
The characters - I never got attached to any of them, wasn't given the opportunity to, so I didn't much care what happened to them or why.
The ending. Things happened for seemingly no reason - OR they happened and there was an alternative that would have made much more sense given the rest of the story.
And overall, I just found this incredibly boring. It took me SIX months to read it because I would try to read and get through one chapter and move on to another book (that I would devour in two days).
Some things I did like:
The writing was absolutely beautiful. There were many times I was drawn into the descriptions and I didn't think it was over-done or confusing. Capetta is a good balance of flowery and blunt.
The representation - duh. There was a great, diverse cast and I loved exploring gender fluid characters (as I personally only read one other book with this rep!).
I liked where the story arc wanted to go, even if it didn't stick the landing for me.
Overall, I'd probably give the book a 2.5. Not my least favorite, but I don't think I would continue the series.
I don't think this is a bad book. However. I also don't think it was as compelling or engaging as I wanted it to be.
Some things I didn't like:
The world building was lacking. There were times I would get descriptions which were beautiful, but it really wouldn't help me imagine the world or characters very well.
The magic system confused me. Rules were made and then seemed to be broken. Two characters have the same (?) power, but one can do so many other things than the other and I'm not sure why. And then other characters have different powers and those powers can affect other characters but in different ways - I'm obviously trying to not spoil anything, but I think you get why I was confused!
The characters - I never got attached to any of them, wasn't given the opportunity to, so I didn't much care what happened to them or why.
The ending. Things happened for seemingly no reason - OR they happened and there was an alternative that would have made much more sense given the rest of the story.
And overall, I just found this incredibly boring. It took me SIX months to read it because I would try to read and get through one chapter and move on to another book (that I would devour in two days).
Some things I did like:
The writing was absolutely beautiful. There were many times I was drawn into the descriptions and I didn't think it was over-done or confusing. Capetta is a good balance of flowery and blunt.
The representation - duh. There was a great, diverse cast and I loved exploring gender fluid characters (as I personally only read one other book with this rep!).
I liked where the story arc wanted to go, even if it didn't stick the landing for me.
Overall, I'd probably give the book a 2.5. Not my least favorite, but I don't think I would continue the series.