I have many feelings, the crux of which involves how disappointed I was in the main trio of characters. Don't offer me assasins and give me teen dysfunction. ( )

Let's start with fact that I thought this would be a fantasy book. It's not. I should have read the blurb before I started the book, but I have a tendency to just pick an ebook and read, so my bad!



Instead it's some kind of futuristic world. Perhaps a parallel world. So this is more steampunk than fantasy. Which would be fine with me of the story had been good. I should have followed my instinct and stopped at 20%, but I was tenacious and continued instead.



We have three young people training to be Seekers, Quin, John and Shinobu. One girl and two boys. See the problem? WARNING LOVE TRIANGLE!!!!!



Apparently Quins's father doesn't want John to be a Seeker (even though he for some reason have agree to train him?) and fails him and after that everything goes to shit! Also, Quins and Shinobu realize that being a seeker wasn't the glorious thing that had hoped for instead it's a nice word for hired assassin and now they are pissed off.



Around 70% I stopped care and more and more skimmed the book, just to get through it. There were some kind of fighting towards the end (whatever) and perhaps a cliffhanger, I don't know. I just didn't care anymore.



½ star

I received this copy from the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review!

Review also posted on A Bookaholic Swede and It's a Mad Mad World ( )

An interesting story where the dark hints become reality as Quinn is swept into a destiny far different than she thought. Love triangle, steampunky elements, some time travel and a lot of questions about power and morality. A good read.

Advanced Reader's Copy provided by Edelweiss. ( )

I did not dislike this book but I also did not think it lived up to all the hype I saw leading up to its release. I found the world building to be rather weak and frankly I was bored by the story and had to force myself to finish it. ( )

Exceptionally well written, gritty and action-packed. I can't explain the DNF reviews, except it seems that the majority of those reviewers were expecting a fantasy novel (blame the jacket blurb). If you read all the way through to the very end, then you know this is sci-fi - set in a universe just a few tics away from our own. It made me think more of Phillip K Dick than George RR Martin, which seems to be what some people were expecting. Picture the Hong Kong-esque settlements in Firefly. In fact, I spent the entire time thinking this would make a fabulous, dark, dirty and bleak TV series. My only complaint is that the characters were too young at the beginning of the novel, but that's resolved quickly. And the audiobook narration is top-notch. ( )