#i don't have the energy to check the spelling/grammar sorry if it's messy

[crowsintheisland]

Now that my M induced high is wearing off, here's a pretty long rant about things I didn't like about the book in general (Especially the last third)

The book started pretty great, I really enjoyed the demo so I was excited for more. By the middle I was fighting to pay attention to the plot and by the end I was rolling my eyes and honestly, pretty over it.

I loved the romance (M route) and the little friendship moments, but the rest... I have seen some people talk already about how it felt like a collection of random scenes and I agree, especially with all the little times skips, it really read like Sera just wrote two separate things and then didn't know how to connect them, so "2 weeks later" "that evening" "time has passed".

General plot

The blood drive was pointless, I don't know if it's possible to fail and have your blood taken, but unless that happens, it added nothing to the story.

The kidnappings were more interesting but got pretty old quickly and I got tired of the same formula every fight. Either you choose the right option and win (And for my deduction/knowledge based detective they were so stupid. If I had a shot everytime the answer was to move aside and let the enemy trip I would be so drunk) or you choose the wrong one and end up being saved by UB.

The Agency

All the agency related things weren't interesting to me, I don't care about the chamber, I don't care about Rebecca, the new friend (In my case Tapeesa) it's not bad but I forgot she existed most of the time. I'm pretty disappointed about having the detective working more with them because I love the station and the people there.

Sin's role

Sin had so much potential and it ended up being so irrelevant. There's no way you can convince me he couldn't actually take the detective, at least if they used his moral conflict as a reason it would be better, but the book was seriously acting like he couldn't do anything after a punch in the face. "The human can pass my barrier so guess I, the stronger, more powerful and able to fly being, can't do anything more. Time to go"

Sir my detective is bleeding out and you're saying you can't catch her because she's around a couple of bricks?

And the resolution felt so weird. I chose the research route, so I was really hoping to talk about him about the reports of trappers trying to make fake bonds and all that, instead my detective just went "The bond is fake! Believe me!!" And it worked? It felt like I was missing pages, because we went from point A to B in five seconds.

And what I hated the most

The final fight.

I'm sorry but it was ridiculous. We had no mention of the trappers even considering to bring the detective to their side and now you're telling me you're inviting them to your weird auction and hoping they will be okay with it? Without any trap? Any secret master plan to take their blood?

And then when they show up you believe they're on your side because your employees didn't smell vampires nearby? No matter that just 2 days ago they were actively fighting against you?

And it would be so easy to fix it, add a couple of scenes with the trappers trying to change the detective's mind or use Tapeesa, or Tina, or Verda as bait to force them to come and try to kill them (Which I thought was going to happen, but then Tapeesa was just used to gauge a reaction?)

And don't make me start on the lack of security. You expect me to believe in such a big event there was no one keeping an eye on the prisioners? Rebecca could just slide there and free then without even alerting anyone?

And of course my detective just took the main guy out by making him trip and fall against a tree.

The whole thing felt so anticlimactic.

Rogue leader

Of course we need the setup for the next book, so suddenly the guy is happy to be arrested because otherwise the rogue leader would kill him. Even though he didn't show any fear before.

We know she exists, we most likely know who she is (I will be surprised if it's not Rook's sister or at least some family member), why have her be some kind of twist at the end instead of using her to develop other characters and their motivations? Show her connection with the trappers instead of telling me it exists at the last page. It just felt like a lazy excuse to introduce the next villain