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Book Review: Splintered Path, by W.R. Gingell

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I contributed tothe Kickstarter campaign for a copy of W.R. Gingell‘s Splintered Path. It is book 4 of the Shattered World series, and I have been reading/reviewing them as they come out.

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Viv thought that her life was gaining some sort of equilibrium.

Yeah, there’s something dodgy in her family tree, and yeah, she’s living in a magic Tea House in Melbourne that has fae residents and feathered-and-or-tentacled visitors; but at least she’s starting to get the hang of it. She’s been keeping an eye on her not-quite-sane and perennially murderous co-worker Luca (while convincing him not to kill quite everyone who looked at him sideways), getting closer to her mysterious and probably-fae-royalty boss Jasper, and catching humans and behindkind causing trouble between the worlds.

But now one of her house-mates has kissed her—and she may have accidentally kissed him back. Romance wasn’t meant to be a part of Viv’s new life at the Tea she’s still just trying to figure out how her mother connected with the world in which Viv now lives, and making sure she doesn’t get killed either outside or inside the Tea House. She would also settle for just figuring out what her father is hiding from her and why he has what he has in his safe at home. She doesn’t have the bandwidth for romance as well.

Meanwhile, outside the Tea House, the “men” from Forex have begun to take a closer interest in her…

my review

As always, I enjoyed this new installment of the Shattered World series. I laughed frequently at Gingell’s (and the characters’) dry delivery of lines, enjoyed the small cameo-like references to characters from other books/series, and was caught up in the mystery. However, there was significantly less interaction between the main characters and less forward progression on the larger series-level plot arc than I might have liked. I suppose I could describe my complaint as the whole thing just feeling very middle-book; something to get through to get forward. All in all, I didn’t love it as much as previous books, but I still very much enjoyed it.

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Audiobook Review: Echoes of the Tide, by Emma Hamm

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I borrowed an audiobook copy of Echoes of the Tide by Emma Hamm through Hoopla. I reviewed Echoes of the Deep and Song of the Abyss, books 1 and 2 of the series, in 2024.

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Ace has spent her entire life hiding who she is.

First, it was from friends and family who didn’t know she was stealing from the rich. Then, it was hiding her true self in a prison city under the water. The worst was hiding herself from new friends who helped her destroy Alpha. What she didn’t know was that the decision would force her to come into the light.

Maketes has always been the jokester. No one takes him seriously, and if they do, it’s only because he was born violent. But then he starts talking with a human through droids and finds a kindred spirit in them. When he’s given an opportunity to find out who this human really is, he takes it.

What he finds in that prison city is not just the person he was friends with. He finds a villainous group of people who wish to use him to their advantage and a woman who captivates his entire soul.

Together, they travel through the remains of Gamma, a city long forgotten. While they search for a key that will change how they see the entire world underneath the ocean, they find themselves growing closer. Soon enough, they realize that perhaps hiding their entire lives has prevented them from experiencing the greatest part of life.

Love.

my review

I enjoyed this in a shallow sort of way. I liked the characters a lot, and I see how the events of the book fit into the larger series arc. But somehow I just never found myself particularly invested. There was a lot of swimming around and doing things (and one really questionably convenient coincidence that raised my eyebrows), but not much else. I didn’t feel like there was much chemistry between Maketes and Ace, or maybe the reader isn’t given enough of them to coming to know and appreciate one another. IDK, as I said, I enjoyed it, but I don’t think I’ll remember much of it by tomorrow. The narrators, William M. Watt and Carmen Rose, did an excellent job, though.

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Other Reviews:

Bookish Delights: Echoes of the Tide Book Review

 

 

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Audiobook Review: Her Soul for Revenge, by Harley Laroux

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I borrowed an audiobook copy of Harley Laroux‘s Her Soul for Revenge (narrated by Desireé Ketchum and Gregory Salinas) through Hoopla. I read and reviewed book one in the series  (Her Soul to Take) last summer. 

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Juniper

After a cult tried to sacrifice me to their wicked God, I went on the run, doing whatever was necessary to survive. Until a demon offered me a deal: give him my soul and he’ll help me claim the vengeance I seek. Blood will be spilled, and the monsters I once ran from will soon be running from me. But damning my soul was just the beginning; it’s my heart the demon wants next.

Zane

I’ve been hunting souls for centuries, but she’s the ultimate prize. Vicious and feral, she has a broken soul as dark as my own. I thought claiming her would be a simple game, but Juniper is far from simple. I chose to follow her on a path drenched with the blood of her enemies, but it’s our blood that may be spilled next. As an ancient God wakes from Its slumber, neither of us may survive.

Her Soul for Revenge is book two in the Souls Trilogy but can be listened to as a standalone. It contains sexual scenes including kink/fetish content, horror elements, drug use, scenes of trauma, anxiety, and PTSD.

my review

I tried, I really tried. I checked out this audiobook from the library, but I had to renew it 2 more times before I managed to finish it. (Goodreads says I started it Dec. 12 and finished it Feb. 7!) Honestly, I should have just DNFed it, but I’m nothing if not stubborn. I think, maybe, there just wasn’t enough new to the story to keep me interested. The events of the book are basically what a different couple is doing simultaneously to the couple in book one. Which means there’s not much in the line of new plot points to hang this romance on. I was bored stiff. And because I was bored, I never got particularly invested in the characters or their romance. So, the smut didn’t even interest me. Honestly, I started fast-forwarding through a lot of it (and it still took me weeks to reach the end).

As a side note, that couldn’t have helped my opinion of the book. I found that when listening to this smutty book with an a-hole alpha-y male lead and humiliation and power dynamic tropes, I really REALLY hated having a male narrator read it to me. I could not seem to get the distance needed to keep it in the remember-the-character-likes-it, he’s not just being a dangerous real-world misogynist, realm of fantasy. I couldn’t help imagining how much a real-world man (male narrator) enjoys getting to indulge in what, outside of fantasies, is pretty toxic and abusive behavior around women and sex. I’m not saying the narrator did or does (or that he did a bad job with the narration), but I couldn’t get the distance to separate him from the shit in the book. There are just far too many systemic attacks on women (by men) in our society, at the moment, and it’s bleeding into my reading. This was a lesson learned, and I will avoid male narrators for such books in the future.

Other Reviews:

book review | Her Soul for Revenge by Harley Laroux | Souls Trilogy 2

“Her Soul for Revenge” Harley Laroux