by Jeanine Frost
Thanks to NetGalley,, the audiobook publisher and the author for the opportunity to listen to this ARC.
I enjoy the works of Jeaniene Frost. The author has been writing in the genre of paranormal romantasy since the aughts at least, and is a seasoned writer. Her prose is sensible, her storylines are tight without extraneous action or long flowery descriptions. She writes a good sex scene – detailed but does not take away from the story. I was excited to get the first of her new series, set in a new universe and with new characters. If you like Ilona Andrews, you’ll find something similar in Jeaniene Frost.
At least, that was true with Halfway to the Grave which is the first book of her Night Huntress series.
By all accounts this book should be just as good and maybe better, because, honestly I can’t stand vampire stories. And not only less vampires, this is set in a universe with far more potential than the human world of Frost’s first series. This novel is set in a modern day Earth that has numerous portals to other realms scattered throughout the world. These portals lead to new worlds that are home to all manners of creatures, dragons, ancient fae, strange beasts that use human beings as hosts and access primordial powers. Magic can be produced from many sources and a network of powered immortal humans that are called ‘Wardens’ that have been tasked with protecting the earth from all manner of invasive magic species.
The premise is great. Unfortunately the book doesn’t deliver.
The biggest issue is that the audiobook narrator does not work. The producers have decided to go with a single narrator as the book is a single POV, in first person. This is not uncommon in this genre although, it does ask a lot of one voice actor that is required to carry both male and female voices. There are plenty of examples of books where you can listen to one voice and have them move from male to female voices so seamlessly that your brain is fooled into hearing two separate entities. Unfortunately, this is a case where the female narrator just can’t do a believable male voice. It is hard to listen to an audiobook, which requires complete immersion in the story for the listener to stay focused. . A bad narrator is little better than a voice to text application.
Not only does the narrator fail to engage as a male character, but the tone they chose to read as the FMC just makes the character insufferable. I can’t tell if it’s the tone of the narrator, or if the FMC was supposed to be written that way. The climax of the book, the big fight, had the FMC in a quavering fearful voice the entire fight which made her sound completely powerless. It’s hard to explain with giving an example, but “OMG, This is so scary, OMG I”m going to die, OMG he’s going to die, OMG I need to stop this OMG I don’t know what to do OMG dont’ tell me what to do OMG I have no idea what’s going on OMG what should I do with this large sword I found “
The narration of the male character was so uninspiring I’d find myself drifting away on one thought or another, and suddenly I’d be in the middle of a spicy scene without realizing how we got there.
But maybe it’s simply a problem with the writing.
The thing I liked about the author’s first series is that the FMC is actually tough, a girl with a mission. At first she’s working alone, ridding the world of bad vampires, but over the series she takes on a law enforcement role, with her own team that she directs. She’s smart, she can handle herself in a fight and she makes fast decisions under pressure. Then the MMC, Bones, is funny and sexy and the two of them complement each other by balancing each others strength and weaknesses. Then there is a large found family aspect, including Cat’s mother that has a love / hate relationship with Bones.
Here, our FMC, Rain, is a constant victim to her own circumstance. Similar to Cat, she has supernatural abilities that make her a singularity in the world so she is a loner and so she spends her off time hunting down bad folks. But where Cat approaches her self appointed mission with confidence and does not shy away from death and destruction, Rain is constantly worried she will be found out, that she will lose control and cause harm to innocents During one of these incidents, she saves a older man and in doing so she incinerates some evil shape changing beings that had targeted him. Instead of dismissing their deaths as inevitable for being bad monsters she worries and whines about the destruction she caused and figures she must move away, once again, that someone will figure out it was her, somehow. She second guesses every move she makes throughout the book, refusing to kill anything no matter how evil, even if they are a threat to those still living. I mean, yes, it’s a choice, I’m glad she is compassionate. but instead of coming across as having a big forgiving heart, I just get the feeling she is unable to make a decision. I hate a character who can’t stand behind their decisions.
What makes it worse, is that when she is not in a life threatening situation, she feels she is owed a front row seat in putting herself in harm. She meets up with our MMC, Remy, one of these powerful wardens with a lot of experience and knowledge. He acts like a billionaire mobster. It’s a type. Of course he is full of secrets, of which he can’t tell her, because it is not safe for her to know. But this becomes a point of contention for her. She gets mad and accuses him of lying to her all the time, for not being completely honest. This is real Violet and Xaden dynamic, so if her being unable to keep a secret but also whining about not being told secrets drive you crazy, this dynamic will have you screaming at the book, or audiobook. Just give the guy a chance to understand where things are headed.
Of course she is kidnapped and held against her will right away, so, it’s a good thing she didn’t know a few things he kept from her initially… right? She can’t seem to understand this.
Would I be able to wave this off if the narrator didn’t make her sound so whiney?
This behaviour continues right to the end of the book, with Other Woman Drama continually playing out. OWD is not an unusual trope in many of these books and I don’t have a problem if it’s the other women who try to make the FMC jealous. Its outrageous to me that a 25 yr old FMC has a breakdown about a 200+ year old MMC’s prior relationship, when he says the relationship was for political reasons and he broke it off, but she cannot let it go. He left out a detail or two, and maybe he would be with that other women if a bunch of things had not happened, including him falling in love with the FMC. But the FMC cannot stop thinking about it, and I think ti’s such a bad look on a female protagonist.
So, Rain is a weak and whiny female character who thinks she is owed an explanation for everything, even if it puts her personally at danger, but when faced with danger she panics and cannot think or make a decision. And Remy, is rich and likes being in charge and has all the personality of a rock. I am missing the humour and banter of Bones and Cat, as well as the warmth that their found family creates around them. The side characters in ACOBAM are stern faced mafia dudes, ex girlfriends and a few “dangerous” male rivals of the MMC.
And I am not even going to comment on the title, other than “A Bowl of Mac and Cheese’? I thought we were beyond that in this day and time.
I haven’t decided if this means I won’t continue with the series, but I think I’ll wait for the book instead of the audio. I want to believe it’s just a matter of an uninspiring audiobook and a couple of stumbles in a new universe for the author.
3/5 stars.
