Nikki wanted to stay out of any further conflict with the
Olympians. Konstantin had stepped down, she could now avoid any more fighting.
But Anderson wants vengeance – and Nikki to hunt it down for him
She adamantly won’t do that, but when someone starts targeting
her life and her family, she feels like she has no choice, especially when
innocents begin dying. Of course, the question is who is actually targeting her
– and whether they can be stopped without violating the treaty that prevents
the more numerous Olympians going to war with Anderson’s Liberi.
I think this book is, in part, meant to give us chance to
catch our breath and recover from the big, dramatic game changers that took
place in Deadly
Descendant and it definitely does that but I’m not sure it’s needed
since there already was the novella Pros
and Cons in between to help break up the action.
I’m also not entirely sure if the book was supposed to be
a slow lead in to more action or if it just came across as a slow lead in and
wasn’t really meant to be.
This ambiguity kind of follows me throughout the book. Nikki
is being targeted by cruel and terrible unknown forces (well, the Olympians)
who are burning down her parents’ home and her own flat! How terribly
traumatising and upsetting…. I guess. I mean, I think it would be terribly upsetting
and it certainly is for her sister and parents but Nikki? I don’t know, she
doesn’t seem all that upset. Is this supposed to be her emotional disconnect to
things, or how she’s moved on from these places? I don’t know – it’s kind of
left out on a limb and I’m extrapolating her emotional distress more than it
actually being portrayed.
Similarly, when she flips from being willing to risk her
life and Anderson’s wrath to not be a murderer to accepting the need to hunt
down Konstantin. I can see the reasoning, I can follow the reasoning, I agree
with the reasoning – but I don’t FEEL the emotional change I would expect
The same applies to Nikki’s growing affection for Jamaal,
it just isn’t really sold to me. Surprisingly, his affection for her is really
clear and blatantly obvious even when Nikki doesn’t realise it.
I don’t know – is this “show don’t tell” being taken just
a little too far? We can infer Nikki’s emotions based on the vague cues and our
knowledge of how we’d feel in her shoes but it feels stand-offish for the
protagonist.
