(Review thanks to a free digital ARC from NetGalley)
Raven has been trained by her father to be a reaper. If someone hires her to kill someone, she will do it. But, every time she kills someone, she must save someone's life in order to redeem herself. She finally feels fulfilled and plans to head back home. On the way home, she saves a young baron's life. Because Raven saved the baron's life, the Baron of New Haven wants her to fulfill a mission. Take the young baron to the Wood Witch in the hopes that she will be able to save the boy from a strange illness that he has. Right when Raven had thought she left her reaper life behind, she is pulled back into it and must save the young baron's life.
I have extremely mixed feelings with this book. At the beginning of the novel, I really enjoyed reading it. It compelled me to keep on reading. There was action right from the start of the book. We got to learn more about Raven and how she followed her father in the reaper way of life. But as the story progressed, I became incredibly bored. Some of the action scenes were good, but for the most part, a lot of the scenes fell flat. The plot became very predictable and I did not feel there was much to forward to.
The book is split into two perspectives: Raven's and Captain Jack Grant's, who is part of the royal guard. I thought it was interesting to see Jack as a choice of character point of view. Although as the story progressed, it became very clear why he was chosen. He becomes interested in Raven in a more romantic way and his perspective was used more to show how he slowly starts falling for her rather than focus on what is going on in the main plot.
The only character that I enjoyed was Raven. This could be due to the fact that the story is in her point of view but she is just a very likable character. She is very badass; she is able to defend herself with pretty awesome defense tactics. But she also is able to show vulnerability. She does not necessarily show it to the other characters, but in her internal dialogue, she allows the reader to look more into what she is thinking. She is also not afraid to voice her fears in her internal dialogue. In my opinion, she is the redeeming quality in this book.
Other than that, this book is not super spectacular. It is not terrible either. It lacks a lot of that wow factor for me; it does not really stand out. It is pretty disappointing since I was excited to read this book and had quite some expectations for it. I expected a lot more than what I received.
