Divina

On the darker side

Revisado: 11-22-24

I liked following the wolf around it was interesting to see him grow. His abilities are op but despite that the struggle is real. I wasn’t expecting it to be as dark as it is. It’s somewhat muted because of the practical survival animal pov we get most of time, which is a good thing because without that distance the gruesome aspects might have been hard to get through. This is not a feel good story about a good doggy, and honestly wolf is a bit of a misnomer wolves in that world have nothing to do with the one’s from Earth. As it is I enjoyed it. I’m looking forward to see where the hints of plot will take us after this.

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An un-stressful romance

Revisado: 02-12-24

This was sweet and lighthearted. The two leads are refreshingly undramatic, by which I mean that when difficulties occur they tackle it like adults. Tristan is a hardass CEO who’s actually a very sweet man outside of work. And Freddie grew up with the loving support of her family who turned her into an ambitious woman with a plan. They’re both maybe a little too perfect sometimes, but it made for an un-stressful listen while keeping my attention throughout. Who doesn’t need that sometimes? Got to say that Joshua was my favourite though. I do wish we got to meet some of Freddie’s family, and other side characters remain a little anonymous in the end, but I suppose we’re here for the love story.
I will add that while the voice actors did a very good job, there is the occasional “wet-mouth” sound at the end of sentences. It’s something I’m a little over sensitive about so I’m sure it won’t bother most people.

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Not as satisfying

Revisado: 11-15-23

There’s a lot going on in this one. A lot of big events and a lot of secrets so far only hinted at being uncovered. More than usual I would say. There’s few things I love so much as learning plot secrets!And yet I came out of it feeling a bit unsatisfied. And it took me a while and a couple of reads to figure out why, because it wasn’t obvious.
Usually Jacky resolves the inciting incident and in doing so something is revealed that advances the bigger picture of the entire series in some small but impactful way. There’s the potential for that here, and the overall story does advance, but it is past revelations that do the advancing, not the new ones many of which get only a small mention and no exploration at all. Perhaps as a result a lot of important moments feel less impactful than I would expect from past experiences with this series. And since this book has a lot of important moments I became a bit frustrated. Another common thing that I love in these books is how Jacky always deepens her relationship with the people around her. Not to get spoilery, but Jacky spends a lot of time with Landon in this book, and learning about the mysterious Nikolaus, and yet it didn’t feel as if their dynamics changed in any significant ways by end (which I would expect based on previous books) a lot of conversations they have with the potential to do that end up interrupted and remain mostly superficial. Even the final confrontation ends up interrupted at its climax. I understand why, but the way it was done took away it’s impact and shifted it to something else… I’m still not sure if it was a good thing. There was also missed opportunities to see Dirk interact with his father which I feel I’d been waiting for since first meeting Dirk. I expect we’ll see more of the results of this in future books, but I missed seeing it here. Jacky also reminds us of past book events on multiple occasions and they aren’t always useful ones. Her mansion in Dallas is mentioned several times along with why she owns it even though she spends no time there at all and there isn’t much relevance in explaining it. Another problem is that there’s a lot happening off screen that then requires an explanation. I’m fine with telling instead of showing when it makes sense, but rushed tellings end up lacking any satisfying details which is disappointing. A bit like hearing someone speak in a different language and being able to understand the emotions involved based on context, but not getting the content (which incidentally is something that happens several times as well). It’s also sometimes unnecessary. There’s some Heath pov in the book, and later Jacky gets a summary of what happened with Heath… all of which the reader/listener knows already. I won’t describe events, but Jacky didn’t actually need to know the details only the results and the readers know the details so it felt redundant. There’s a few other things.
None of these would be a problem on their own, but the accumulation makes for a sometimes frustrating and often superficial read, especially since the previous two books were brilliant and in my opinion the best in the series (Rogue Alpha has become my go to every time I want to read but have nothing new and I don’t want to spend time looking for something, I’ve probably listened to it at least 6 times, which feels a little much). The fact that some events end up being deeply pivotal makes it even more frustrating. It also makes it hard to rate. In terms of execution it is the worst of the series (let me be clear that the bar is high, each book in this series has impressed me with how well events lead into one another and how well they influence and change the characters, but that’s exactly why I’m inclined to be harsh). The story and plot are very good and I’m only disappointed because I think they didn’t reach their full potential and I expected very great things. I understand that this is most likely a result of the difficulties the author had been experiencing and I’m grateful that she pushed through to finish this book anyway. I hope she takes all the time she needs to recover. Despite being a bit disappointed in this book it has opened up some very interesting potential for the next one, and I’m incredibly eager for the next book, and that’s why I will wait as long as the author needs. I will keep an eye out for this series even if it takes a few more years.

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