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All in all I love Sona and without her this book would definitely have a lower rating. There is potential for the next book if the world building picks up but after this I’m very skeptical and not sure I even want to read it.

This is just a theory but it might be the dual perspective that kills it. You don’t have to show them developing feelings as much when the reader can just see inside their heads. Just imagine if only Sona had a perspective and the writing had to show Eris slowly growing to trust her and like her through deeper interactions. It would have required more because Eris’s mistrust is so deep towards the pilots.

The romance just wasn’t there for me unfortunately. Sometimes they had chemistry but most of the time their vibes were weird. It almost feels insta-lovey just because it’s hard to say why Eris likes/loves Sona. It kind of felt surface level even though there was a possibility for something deep and meaningful. I kind of wished Milo wasn’t there to distract from their relationship. The drama was pointless.

Sona was the bright light in this book though. The book would have been better without Eris’s chapters because all the emotional force of the book rested solely on Sona. Eris felt like a side character in the story of a rebelling pilot. Sona was just so raw and full of emotion. Her rage and grief was painfully relatable. I was invested until her story became more about Eris than her.

I also had a big problem with the world building. I wasn’t immersed in the world because it just felt too small which made it feel fake. It was just the rebel kids against the big bad government. The book essentially had two locations: the rebel base and the academy. The conflict felt small even though it was about the fate of the whole world. It made it hard to get into the mindset of the gearbreakers.

I didn’t care about the gearbreaker crew because they were so under developed. I stopped trying to tell them apart and just treated them as a one character with the exception of Milo. Although even Milo was one dimentional angry ex boyfriend. I hated having to read about the interactions of the crew because they were such nothing burgers. I didn’t even care when Xander died.

Something about the writing bothered me in this book. I often had to reread parts because the scene wasn’t set properly. It wouldn’t clarify where the characters were and what they were doing before describing some miniscule details. It made it hard to keep up and took me out of the book constantly.

I had such high expectations for this book and feel like I was let down. This was just meh with some good elements. The middle was such a drag to get through.

But none the less the ending was just a short part of the book so I’m okay with giving this a good rating anyways. It did what it needed to do and for the most part I was pleasently surprised.

The ending also felt strangely not fitting for them. It was the formulaic ”gathered with our found family” but I didn’t feel like it reflected the book. It was like they were playing house. Maybe a more fitting one would have been them having a new adventure together and reflecting how that made them fall in love to begin with.

My biggest complaint is the shitty communication. At some point it just started to drag too much how neither of them talked about their feelings. The miscommunications were just so annoying and fixable. Especially the last one that broke them up ruined the ending for me. I couldn’t root for them when they threw their whole relationship away rather than have even ONE conversation about it.

I fell in love with this book. The romance worked for me because it was such a breath of fresh air after all the ”moody broody bad boys”. Both Daphne and Miles had fun personalities and the plot points were entertaining. Sure it was predictable but that what romance books are.

This whole thing just felt pointless and gave me no new insights. I usually love novella’s because I like seeing the plot from a different perspective but here it just doesn’t work. Just a big meh.

I like the idea of this novella more than I liked the actual novella. I did not like that it was a letter to Jude. The focus was on Taryn justifying her actions to Jude rather than Taryn’s actual thoughts. It feels like I learned nothing new about Taryn.

I just did not like this book.

The ending was so lackluster and sudden. It made it feel like most of the book was just filler. I loved Cardan’s and Jude’s dynamic in the second book but here it felt off. I hated how Cardan was a bug for a big part of the latter half.

It’s been months since I read this so I don’t remember all the details. I do remember that this one was a horrible disappointment I like to pretend doesn’t exist. I gave this one 2 stars but mainly because I still like reading about these characters. It was the plot that let me down. I expected so much more after Wicked king.

So to sum up. What a shit book.

For example she finds Cross sooo sexy and irresistible even though he would KILL her and everyone she loves (as far as she knows) BUT she despises the character that turned in his mom right away. She doesn’t even once drool over any of his features or his ruthlessness like she does Cross’. This NEEEDED to be explained but it wasn’t. It made me hate Wren.

As a side note Wren and Lydia pissed me off so much in this book as well. I didn’t like that Wren had more sympathy for the primes that wanted to kill her than for the modified that turned coat to save themselves. At the very least I expected her to hate them all equally. It made her feel like a pick me for the primes. There should have been more inner turmoil to explain why she sympathises with the primes more.

I was officially done with her when she healed the burns that covered her blood mark to make up with Cross. In what world would a survival expert remove this one crucial protection to secure a man??? I could not believe how dumb that was. And to prove my point she got caught almost immediately by Lydia. This was such a convoluted way for her to get caught.

And I can’t believe how dumb Wren is in this book. She’s described to be so smart and cunning and expert in survival but her actions and words don’t show that at all. She should have been characterised differently for her actions to make sense. She also had no depth as a character because the narrative treated her as this perfect badass. She didn’t grow at all. And without a proper plot it was so apparent.

Ah just imagine if Kaine turned out to be Wolf. Now that would have been something. Not 5 stars worthy but at least 2-3 stars.

Honestly Cross turned so weird when the Wolf reveal happened. It felt like he still didn’t want to choose sides. Like he was mad that Wren was a rebel even though his father would kill him too if he knew about him. I didn’t feel like it made their relationship any deeper. It just gave it a very icky undertone that Cross wasn’t immediately explaining himself and apologising how he had to act.

Honestly I wish Wolf was written differently as well. Wren said he was her best friend but there was no depth to their conversations. I kinda wished it was used in the narrative as a ”It’s sad that this is the closest friendship she has” and not as this deep relationship to fuel her and Cross.

The wolf reveal would have hit sooo different if only at that point Wren started to look at him differently. I don’t like how the current trend is that the main character has to be immediately horny for the main love interest. Expecially when it makes no sense.

Also it was so distracting and took me out of the book how often Wren would drool over Cross. It made no sense to me that she could desire that man. He would kill her. There was a possibility for an arc to explain it but the writer was not interested in that. She just wants him because he’s hot and that’s not good enough for me when the man is this rotten.

I was okay with the book until the romance with Cross took over. He has zero charisma or personality. He’s just nothing. It didn’t even sound like he would be that amazing in bed. He likes it rough but has the most vanilla sex ever pls. At the very least I expected some kinky sex after he made sex his full personality. But it was literally the most boring and awkward smut I’ve ever read.

The world building was very poor and honestly clearly there as a backdrop for the romance. This is fine but it in turn put all the focus on the horrible romance and highlighted how there were no redeeming aspects to the book. After I read this book my main take away was that Kaine should have been the love interest. There was way more potential there and it made way more sense.

This book was even worse than I could have imagined and I went in expeting it. I honestly just wanted a fun turn your brain off read but this wasn’t it. There was potential if there would have been better character arcs and the book was way shorter. This did not need to be 500 pages. It dragged so much.