I don't know what to make of this, but it was interesting, at least.
The plot of this is that five teenagers were prophesied as being possible Chosen Ones to defeat "The Dark One," who was mass murdering via magic. Except this book takes place ten years AFTER those teenagers saved the world and we only hear bits and pieces of what they went through. Our main character is Sloane, the notably sulky/cranky/has whopping PTSD one of the bunch, who's been romantically involved with their group leader Matt for ten years. She loves him, but....honestly, I'm not sure what her problem is, other than maybe he just doesn't get her PTSD. But also it doesn't exactly sound like she goes to therapy or has explained to him the hell that she and her best friend Albie went through when they were kidnapped by the Dark One, either. Either way, she's not happy to get proposed to, sigh.
Then Albie dies of a drug overdose, and soon after that, Sloane, Matt, and Esther (I'm not sure why they had five Chosen Ones, because Ines is given complete short shrift for NO REASON and clearly wasn't actually needed in the story?) are abducted into an alternate universe where almost everyone does magic and another Dark One type--called "The Resurrectionist" because he can reanimate zombies--is causing trouble. This world, Genetrix, lost their Chosen One already, so they are fishing up other Chosen Ones from other universes to go after the guy. You can imagine just how thrilled they are to find out they have to go through this shit all over again....
Then Sloane starts wondering about the Resurrectionist and if he's the same person as their supposedly-dead Dark One, except for jumping universes. She's a girl who works on instinct and she's always had a fair amount of it directed towards him, especially since she's kind of catnip for the dude (of course she is, sigh). When Sloane goes to investigate the situation, things are definitely not what she assumed.... which means the rest of this review goes below the spoiler cut.
Anyway, what can I say here without major spoilage? I like the concept of this. Sloane may not be the easiest heroine, but she has been through some shit and keeps on going, and investigating, and fighting back, so good for her. In this situation, she ends up taking more of a lead, and figuring out the differences vs. similarities in fighting evil is definitely a thing here.
I'm not sure what to make of her relationships or if I am to root for either Matt or the Genetrix fellow that Sloane later gets interested in. I guess I don't quite get why after loving a guy for ten years, suddenly she's just...I dunno, whatever...about it, nor do I particularly get why she goes for the new dude other than he's kind of "same, yet different." I like the development in general that happens between Sloane and...trying to be vague here...the plot, I guess? The ending is a bit of a confusing mishmash, but I could deal with it.
I like Esther, but she and Matt are definitely second bananas in the story this go-round (and like I said, there's literally no point in Ines if she's not even brought along on the adventure, wtf?). Most characters are kinda sidelined, I suppose, though one of them certainly becomes more prominent than you expected them to be.
Overall, I guess it's about 3.5 stars for me, with some more commentary below the spoiler cut.
Spoiler space
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Stuff I liked:
- That the Dark One is not the Resurrectionist--actually, that's the Chosen One! Surprise!
- That the Dark One is a bland dude hiding in plain sight
- The reoccurence of Sloane's old boots and what that did to her
- Finding out that Albie is so fucked up/OD's because Sloane was forced to choose which one of them was going to get tortured. GOOD GOD, THAT'S WHAT SHE'S LIVING WITH?!
- Sibyl is interesting, as is what is going on with Mox.
- Sloane sucking it up and becoming a fighter anyway.
Not so much:
- I'm not sure if there was much point in Sloane and Esther visiting their alt-universe equivalent of their old handler. I would have liked for that to have had more of a factor in the story than being one scene.
- I felt bad for Sloane and Matt breaking up (depression? exhaustion? I don't know? All of the above?) and I dunno how I felt about her hooking up with Mox either. I guess I'm not sure what to make of Mox--I liked that he had hidden nice depthts, I feel bad that he killed other Chosen Ones, I don't know overall?
- The ending in which the worlds mishmash together and Sloane has apparently eliminated her apartment and her mother is....kinda disturbing and creepy.
- Why was Ines even mentioned? Or not used at all? Either use her or don't have her.
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