Nerd Thoughts

I was pretty disappointed by this book, which was sad since I was really intrigued when I read the description. But even though it sounded cool, everything just fell flat in my opinion. I do admit that a little bit of my thoughts on this book might be affected by the previous book I read, but even though I still had too many issues with it. The first and biggest problem was that very little emotion came through, and even when it did it felt wrong. By that I mean what people were saying didn’t match their actions or their emotional reactions didn’t match the situations. Everything just felt like a perfect example of “telling not showing” and, because of that, I never got drawn into the story.

My other big issue was that it wasn’t serious/dark enough. The main characters were in what is, essentially, a gladiator pit without gladiator fights. That completely takes away the opportunity for character development that would come from a kill-or-be-killed moment. Plus, it was boring that Talen’s power had no downsides and was extremely easy to deal with. I was hoping for some more struggle that, of course, would lead to more character development. This book essentially missed every opportunity to add that trauma/drama that would make me emotional and thus have me really get into the book.

I hate to say this because it’s not a bad book, but it failed every chance at being a great book. So, unfortunately, I have to give it a 5 out of 10.