Becky

Plenty of imagery

Revisado: 12-27-24

I struggled with this one and whether or not to write a review because I struggled to get into the book. I was not sure if that was because I had a hard time relating to the characters or the way the book was written. Ultimately, I decided to share a review in case anyone else finds it helpful.

I found this book to be just average. I suppose you could stretch and say there was character arc and development throughout the book but even though the time span was over a few months, I felt like I was with the characters during a few weeks only. There was quite a bit of storytelling through each character’s thoughts and their thoughts were very artistic. The author conveyed feelings of frustration or fear or happiness through imagery. For example, there was a scene when MC1 was upset about something, and MC2 looked at him from across the room. The internal dialogue of MC2, seeing MC1, was looking into his eyes and the blue of his eyes turning into pools of water, or something like that. In the next couple of sentences when MC2 ran to MC1 (an action totally out of character for him BTW but I imagine it is in there to show us how feelings were changing), cradled his face and asked him what was wrong. That was when we were led to understand the situation a little more. (I apologize for the vagueness here. I’m trying not to give away any spoilers.)

The example just shared is one of many times where the two main characters are staring into each other‘s eyes and we hear the internal voice of one or the other to understand their emotions. This was throughout the entire book. There was actually very little direct dialogue between the main characters and I think this is why it was hard for me to relate to them or feel like there was much growth. At the end, we are given a discussion between the characters to help bring everything to a conclusion. And that’s a good thing because otherwise we would have been left dissatisfied.

The reason I gave this three stars is because I feel this kind of writing style is good and has a place in the literary arts. For me though, it was difficult to digest it in a romance book with dual POV and both of those being male. I don’t know many men who think like this.

I’ve read various reviews in the MM romance category where it’s been implied or stated outright that a female author cannot properly write male leads. I’ve always felt that it depended on the author but I also feel it’s my responsibility as a reader to not judge a “fluff” read all that harshly. I don’t pick these books up for true representations or accuracy. However, I have found I will stay away from books with blurbs where I feel the characters may not be to my liking, unless I’m truly in the mood for it. Such as, a super feminine Twink. With that in mind, this is the first book I have read where I felt the internal voice of both characters thinking in such artistry and imagery was distracting and improbable.

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A real let down

Revisado: 03-20-23

What’s right about the book:
1) interesting premise & lead in to a potential series.
2) the narration.

What’s wrong:
1) one doesn’t have to be a prepper to catch the inconsistencies in the set up. I'm neither a prepper nor someone that expects 100% accuracy. I do expect it won't be so bad that common sense in the fictional world built is non-existent.
2) what one other reviewer said about the view of women in the book is correct. The 'value' of the female supporting characters is terrible but even worse is the inconsistency of the terrible. On the one hand, women are useless then on the other they are speaking up and it’s good for the MCs & story. Then the men are weak for listening to them or making any choice except extreme violence. It's all sorts of ridiculous.
3) the rest of the storyline outside of the initial premise and Nick being the only one who seems to have had character development in the whole book.

Just save yourself the credit. I slogged through and lost all faith in Abram when he didn’t immediately realize Gary, his best friend was an ass when he said to let Abram’s daughter go. Talk about willful ignorance & blindness to a problem in your own backyard. Anyway… just a lot of slow build to BS caused by Gary and a slapped on ending for now.

This one went in my “never reread pile.”

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Engaging and exciting

Revisado: 04-06-21

I think I’ve described this book as (for me) a cross between Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan books and World War Z. Just the right amount of detail and technical information to keep it interesting and be valuable to the story without going overboard which can make me lose momentum. By the end of the book, I had gotten used to the chapter formatting (regarding timelines) and cursed, in an argh the author is teasing me in such a good way, when the chapters jumped from one action location to another. It made the story climax much more intense and captivating. I had to take a break from work for a couple hours just to finish it because I was so caught up.

My only niggling complaint is Grace. I feel like I’m suppose to believe she’s a hard ass but the truth is, I feel like she’s a liability. I won’t bore you with my frustration there but as a woman, I think she could have been fleshed out a bit better. The emotions clouding her decisions just annoy me for a character in her position of “elite of the elite”.

Good narration & voice variations.

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Whoa... stick with it!

Revisado: 07-27-20

As another reviewer said, stick with this. I like angsty characters & books that push the boundaries but I almost did not finish this one. Possible spoiler alert follows.

I really hated Zane throughout 90% of this book. It took him a long time to redeem himself for me. He absolutely was a victim but his own actions put him in a situation and he blamed Roach for being in that situation. Maybe 70% of the way into the book the MCs talk about it & we find out that Zane blamed Roach b/c Roach didn’t react like Zane thought a normal person would. This did nothing, I mean nothing to endear me to Zane. He did not deserve what he got but he had no right to lay such fault at Roach’s feet. Because of this blame, he was verbally abusive himself to Roach throughout most of the book.

The author did a great job of weaving in moments of light throughout the dark nature of this book and in chapter 27, when we reached the tipping point of this story, I found myself crying silent tears for Roach’s life and Zane’s realizations.

The book wasn’t finished there, however, the author moved on to share a little after with us so we could see how the characters chose to step forward in their lives and continue the work they started with each other. I appreciated the nod to this at the end.

My last comment, sometimes Kirt Graves can be a little dry for me in his narration at the beginning of books but I always finish listening feeling like I really know the characters. Part of this is to the author’s credit but it should not be overlooked that often, the narrator can bring out their life and emotions just a bit more than when reading. It’s more personal to me and Kirt took these two to a whole new level where I could feel their pain, frustration, hope and longing. I honestly believe that had I read and not listened to this, I wouldn’t have finished it b/c the Zane’s written nuances heard aloud and with emotion, kept me engaged to want to learn more, hear more. This is a 5 star read by Kirt Graves in my opinion.

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Wrong, wrong narrator- story okay

Revisado: 01-20-20 El oyente recibió este título gratis

First off, the story. It was good. Not great but good. I might have given it 4 stars except I think the MCs relationship wasn’t really fleshed out that well. I mean, all the pertinent points were hit & explained but their interactions are mostly sex & we don’t share a lot of their true relationship dialogue/growth except for the very last reconciliation talk. We are told about their interactions and relationship through each MCs internal dialogue.

The narrator. I hate giving 1 star but have to. I’m just going to list the issues I had. 1) he reads fast. I like fast but this one was just shy of being able to reduce speed to 0.75 instead of 1.0. 2) his voice is higher tone. Great for Grant but seemed odd for Kai. That would have been fine except Kai’s speaking voice & internal dialogue voice weren’t the same. Sometimes it felt cartoonish. 3) internal dialogue, reading voice were the same so a couple times I had to pause & rewind to be sure I was following correctly. 4) about 2/3 of the way through the narrator started mixing up the narration and voices of who was talking. A few times. 5) the supporting characters voices were just over the top.

I can’t help but think this story could have been a 4 if narration was better. A well read audio often makes it much easier for me to accept the missing elements of a story because it has me more invested. Here, it made them more obvious and lowered my overall satisfaction.

Sorry folks. I don’t post many reviews but felt this had to be shared. Maybe read this one first or at least know what you are getting into. Mr. Tiwanak your artistry may be perfect for many other books. I hope this review is seen as maybe as constructive feedback specific to this performance & book only since I haven’t heard you do any other audiobooks.

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Enjoyable

Revisado: 05-22-19

After my second time listening to this book I have to say that I find myself wishing to hear more. It bits all the things I like, a little mystery, some romance, a bit of paranormal, and police partnerships/team dynamics. The growth of the MC was well done and the story a good, solid listen. Now I wish for future mysteries, team fun and couple time. It may not be in the cards or maybe the author has plans, I don’t know, but I do appreciate when an author can make me feel connected enough to come back and read more than once.

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Couldn’t stop listening

Revisado: 03-29-19

This hit all my emotional buttons and I listened well into the night. Even when I forced myself to stop so I could get some sleep, I dreamed about it wondering what would happen next and I only managed about 4 hrs of sleep.

It is told in a single POV which often disappoints me because I like to see both MCs develop but truthfully, the plot and MC interactions somehow show you both of their growth over time. That’s a good bit of writing when that happens. I felt for Jack, I cried for Jack (& I hate crying) but I never thought of Jack as weak despite all the things happening around him. It wasn’t said but it seemed Nick saw that too and it played into their building relationship.

I don’t know what to say without giving up too much but truly, one of the best books I’ve listened to in a long while.

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Ok story made worse with narration

Revisado: 03-21-19

I’m just going to cut to the chase, the narrator makes this story difficult to finish. I can’t count the number of times I found myself wishing I had read this instead of grabbing it on Audible. At least then, words would have been pronounced correctly and pauses would have followed punctuation and normal speech patterns. The intonation in the various voices slipped at times and between the odd pauses, it sometimes became difficult to know which character was speaking.

Aside from the narration, I found this story just okay. I liked the concept but I felt the characters were a bit all over the place. The innocence of the necromancer is contradicted with a confident magic user. Okay, it could work, except the immaturity in jumping to conclusions in his relationship doesn’t mesh with his immediate acceptance of a situation after the miscommunication. While we might see self reflection and growth, very late in the under devolved wolf-mate, we don’t see the same with the me romancer. As to the other MC, it’s like there are bits of cliches pulled from the trope but it doesn’t quite work. It’s almost as if the thought to write it in was, “oh, this is a good time to show he’s protective so let’s put him snarling in here.” Yet the danger has passed or, during the epilogue, he was the one knocked his mate to the ground.

The idea for this book was solid and the author should get props for wrapping up the details of the story. It’s just too bad this narrator has convinced me not to listen to any other by him and with the narrator making this a hard “read” the just okay story doesn’t encouraging me to go purchase the Kindle edition either. Perhaps I’d try book 2 if it were on Kindle Unlimited but it’s not. I am left a little disappointed because I really do love series books like this with magic and mystery and a little romance. -apologies for any typing errors, I’m writing this on my phone.

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esto le resultó útil a 4 personas

Eh - it’s okay

Revisado: 08-09-18

By the time this story ended, I was ready for it to end. It’s a slow roll story even with several elements that were intended to build suspense and/or intrigue.

The love connection had just enough shared to make you feel like it worked but I felt I had to fill in too many blanks and I found myself thinking more time may have passed than really did in the storyline for the main characters to have such a working relationship.

The remainder of the story was also just, there. No real suspense building so that by the time one important arc came up, it was rushed and I was too distracted by the characters’ ridiculousness for going away without guards.

Maybe all of that wouldn’t have left me feeling like I might have wasted a credit if I didn’t truly believe the narration contributed significantly to the flow. The narrator wasn’t bad but his inflections and more, his pace and pauses just didn’t drive me further into the story and that’s what I wish for when I listen to a book.

Overall, I’m left with this being okay and not much more.

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Ugh narration!

Revisado: 03-14-18

I liked this story. Yes it was lengthy but I think it made sense for the characters. However, for all its length, I still felt like the world building lackedq a little bit and the character development was too slow. It just left me feeling flat.

That said, I’m not sure if that was the story or the awful narration. The long pauses where normal speech or reading would not have them were frustrating! They kept taking me out of the story. Why, why did the narrator do this? Just be warned. By the time the end rolled around I was waiting for it. It wasn’t until after I realized I didn’t necessarily want he story to end but the narration. It’s sad because the narrator had decent voices and actual reading when he wasn’t stopping all the time.

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