This is my least favorite installment out of the 3.5 anna and charles stories I’ve yapped about so far
The first 3/4s of the book is a big nothing burger and you basically just sit through a bunch of meetings and people just walking around dumping background information on you. The whole ghost thing is just a bunch of nothing and they are banished by Charles just thinking to himself “actually i’m not a bad guy after all” . The puppy wish Leslie has and Hueters early talk of being a hunter and having access to a fae database make it extremely clear what is going to happen and kinda ruin the reveal and make everyone seem kinda dumb for not also seeing it with the reader.
The only action part is woefully similar to Hunting Ground where Anna gets kidnapped, uses the wolf as protection, Charles flips his crocs into sports mode and saves the day. I think PB just really loves writing Charles going apeshit and having everyone cow to him to find his woman
There’s this weird disconnect where things are stated constantly about charles and anna by both themselves and other characters that really dont match up with their words and actions. I don’t actually find either of them likeable and I like them better in other characters words but the actual characters dont match that. I like the idea of them but they aren’t executed well by Briggs most of the time if that makes sense. The fanfics of the mercyverse series are better than anything shes written lol.
Everything is explained ad nauseam except for the super important ghost thing imo i’m still wondering how exactly that worked
I’m tired of the over-explaination of hierarchy of every single character in every scene in comparison to charles. it’s exhausting and a waste of page space but a sure fire way to hit a word count ig
I’m tired of positive werewolf PR stunts its lame to me sorry
The bond thing is also being exhausted in this series. I wish she made the magic of the bonds different/wayyy milder and not a psychic connection so she wouldnt keep having to “shut them down”
Like in HG, it’s hard to have other characters in the same pages as charles and anna bc no one is allowed a spotlight other than them. All other characters serve as a sounding board to echo how great charles and anna are. I like Hally even though i dont think briggs intended it and Isaac was cool but again everyone pales in comparison to charles and anna and he was given a POV chapter just to show from outside charles’ mind how epic he is. I also like Leslie and Beauclaire. Also credit to PB for including Lizzies mom in the ending supporting her kid even though theres like three dead/deadbeat moms in this book lol (b. hueters, leslie, sally reilly)
This book and River Marked both attribute developmental disabilities to violent, cruel fae and I think thats fucked up personally like people can be dumb and mean… you don’t have to compare them to autistic people. Like that’s actually really shitty. and Anna saying she volunteered in high school to babysit kids with autism and such and they were “usually sweet unless their parents spoiled them” its CRAZY. maybe im too sensitive to this because I have a family member with autism and thus have been around a bunch of autistic kids - some do definitely have behavioral issues but to blame it on them being “spoiled” shows me Briggs knows nothing and did no research about kids on the spectrum.
Anna saying crazy shit often makes me wonder how im supposed to see her as a peace bringer when she seems super uninformed and ignorant about anything that doesnt have to do with werwolves or charles and if this was pointed out to her and a reason for her to get her own life and grow in the stories that would be actually fantastic but it isnt annas a perfect werewolf princess to everyone around her ugh
PB truly uses rape way too much in this series there’s:
-leah’s backstory + all the singer’s victims
-lizzie in the fair game + all the other victims
and that’s just what I remember from the top of my head
I don’t mind dark topics in books but its like the only evil things Briggs knows is either mind control or rape and that gets old after 20 books.
- Charles hating to use technology but being an amazing incredibly high level computer scientist and software engineer is weird to me. When and where did he learn all this?
- anna saying she isnt a counselor when shes always fucking counseling people
-- “anna was okay because charles found her and taught her to be strong” ummmm yikes
——-- apparently anna was going to be the next yo-yo ma (thats an exact quote) gimme a break
———-- i want a sally Reilly short story from PB love a woman entrepreneur lol
————what drugs did they use on Anna? i thought werewolves couldnt be drugged and that was the whole reason Gerry making the silver concoction that allows drugs to enter the werewolf cells in MC
————— anna just airing out all charles’ business to anyone who would listen talking about his magic and heritage that would pmo and also seems weird bc charles is private/reserved i wouldn’t think he’d appreciate it also its just wasting more page space rehashing shit already mentioned in this book and every other installment
- on a positive note charles talking about how small the boat is was pretty funny : “if they found Lizzie, they might have to tie her to the bow or make her swim for it”
—————-- ah yes moira and anna are “fast friends” just like honey and mercy are friends