“Primal Sin” (book 1/3) and “Eternal Sin” (book 2/3); My Thoughts
(this is a first impressions review, and I maybe subject to change my opinions should I decide to read through these books again.)
2.5 stars out of 5. (I gave it 3 stars on goodreads.)
Gosh that was so difficult to get through. This review is going to be harder to write, still, and it’s going to be long, so buckle up.
Let it be known that Ariana Nash is a decent writer. She has a flare for the dramatic, which suits her fantasy genre quite well, and most of her style relies heavily on character development. I’ll be honest, it works really really well. She’s adept at building both atmosphere and characters to the point of familiarity, she’s wonderful at world building without running the risk of sounding like a bore with her descriptions *cough* J.K. Rowling *cough*, and overall, her writing was engaging and at times, had me both holding my breath and sitting at the edge of my seat.
But, (there’s a but. I know, I’m sorry.) this particular series was lacking in so many areas for me. The premise of the plot was focused on betrayal and love during extenuating circumstances that allowed for both to hurt our main character, Severn. I was promised a war torn setting where I’d be witness to the betrayal, and to events that would later lead to Mikhail (the other main lead) to fall in love with Severn.
I got absolutely none of either.
Admittedly, there was a lot of pining. There was a lot of plotting. But for the most part, the betrayal happens completely off screen. The betrayal already took place ten whole years prior to when we catch a glimpse of the characters withing the first page of the first book. The best we get of the “big even that sets Severn against Mikhail” are ill timed flashbacks that don’t transpire until book two, contrary to the fact that the summary of book one promised me such content.
The most you get are allusions and whispers of suggestions as to why Mikhail and Severn were supposed to be enemies, but nothing concrete. And honestly, I could not be more disappointed. That big event was suppposed to be what had Severn swearing to end Mikhail, and the whole reason for the existence of this series. It was the foundation of their enemies-to-lovers storyline. Yet we did not bear witness to any of it. What a damn shame.
Alright. So I figured, “it’s fine. We still have the riveting slow burn that was promised, and if nothing else, at least I can fall in love with them along the way.” I foolishly held out hope that at the very least, we’d get to see them fall in love.
No, reader. We did not get to see them fall in love because that also happens off screen. Are you fucking kidding me? Apparently, Mikhail realizes 3/4ths of the way through book 1 that he already loved Severn, and he was just now realizing it, although the entirety of the both books 1 and 2 stresses the idea that Angels do not feel any emotion, whatsoever, so this idea is so fuckin ridiculous I couldn’t even tell you how frustrated I felt reading through the confession scene.
So alright, let me get this straight; we didn’t get to see the big betrayal, we didn’t get to see the war, and we didn’t get to see them fall in love. So what do we get to see, you might ask?
Sex. We get to see sex. Lots and lots of sex. Well written sex, but sex all the same. And alright, i won’t lie, the sex scenes were immaculate. They were the kinds of scenes I wish other authors would write in their long and epic ballads of heroes in their quest to *insert adventure here*. The sex Ariana Nash wrote was the thing of dreams, and the sole reason i gave it as many stars as i did.
But ultimately, this series had been a disappointment because the plot wasn’t supposed to be centered around sex; it was supposed to be about a war, a betrayal, and love (the feelings aspect). I got none of those, but hey, at least i got (great) butt sex!
In conclusion, I would absolutely recommend this to a friend who’s keen on great characters with lots of chemistry, but I would not recommend this series to a typical high fantasy fan.
Maybe I’ll do another read through and a follow up review on how I missed the point of the book the first time I read it. Maybe I’ll love them the second time. But as it stands, it had great characters, a strong beginning, but completely missed its mark for me.
Ariana Nash, you have a gift in writing, and had the summary been a better represantion of the actual contents of your book, I would have given you 5 stars.
