A New Kind of Revenge Story

filled star filled star filled star star unfilled star unfilled
krlga00 Avatar

By

**Reviewed at https://smadasbooksmack.blogspot.com/
Poe has made it her mission to create armor and equipment to protect the ships that mine the rivers for gold. It is her life's work and the only thing that she can do after her love Call was taken away from her. When she is told she has to go on the last mission of the vessel, something she never thought she would have to do again, she learns that her world is not as simple as she always thought.

I will admit that I struggled with this book. I really, really wanted to like it and I was excited to jump into the story and the world. But unfortunately this just did not work for me. I can fully appreciate the world that Ally created, kind of like an alternative history with some interesting gadgets and ideas, but that was about all I liked.

Poe, the main character was not someone I could connect to, which is a requirement for me to like the book. I love characters and the ability to understand and relate to them, but I was missing any sort of spark from Poe. She was a girl who had hopes, dreams and love, but it was cruelly taken from her one night when her boyfriend Call was murdered by raiders- setting her on her path for revenge that motivated the rest of the story and her actions. She never really developed past her grief and desire for revenge, keeping people at arms length (including me the reader) and distrusting everyone for no reason, and then at times completely flipping her views with what appeared to be no motivation or warning. I did not really like her or care what happened to her.

Overall I just had a really hard time engaging and investing in this story. I like Ally and her previous books, and her short chapters were perfect to keep me reading "just one more" chapter until I was finished with the story. I am sure someone else will really enjoy this angsty tale of revenge set in a cool alternative history.