trice

this was a rideee

there's so much action and double the romantic tension in book 1. general madigan and his spies are everywhere while jack, ethan & sergey's allies are steadily losing ground, in the midst of public disfavor.

there are explosions and shootings and chaos almost every chapter of the book - i read for stress relief and this decidedly does not make me less tense. i binged the book and that cliffhanger-

sigh. on to the third book i go!

honestly i was so mad at jack at first after leslie resurfaced but he definitely wanted to stay with her not because of love but more of loyalty to his marriage vows and guilt soooo jack was likely going to make amends and choose ethan

but not gonna lie the writing was slightly questionable solely because of one sentence:
“feel the slick, hot slide of someone's eyeballs against his skin”
what - no one's gaze is going to feel so physically slimy like that

4.5 stars!

It's been a few months since I've read a BrandoSando and this book is definitely a great way to reconnect with the cosmere. Lots of cosmere info here, I'm sooo curious about what the SA and MB characters are up to now. There's unexpected stuff about Threnody too. Fingers crossed that the Night Brigade is going to be dealt with sometime in the future to give Nomad some peace.

welp the ending totally destroyed me...

i- this was genuinely so stressful to read
but it was so thrilling
and emotional
and hopeful
and glorious in the masterful plot execution
and made me swear a lot
so...5 stars it is.

debating if it should be 2.5 or 3 stars.

the first thing i thought when i started this: wattpad vibes (the ones that feel like its written by a 15 yo)

the reason i thought this was because, well, the traumatized but unique and overpowered MC, the dialogue that sounds like it fits a middle/high-schooler's persona more (“dweeb”), the constant biting of lips etc.

the characters were okay, kind of bland(plus Micah and Zeke have so much trauma but it's so easily brushed off). the romance wasn't really that slow paced, it honestly started earlier than halfway through(for Micah/Zeke/Hyde). the action portion of the plot was okay as well, it's nothing too surprising and didn't take up a lot of the chapters since the romance was the main focus. also, do the LI's have to get a hard-on every time they see Micah?