Fated

Warning: old woman's rant up head.
I'm sorry in advance.

I hate myself a little for thinking this book was a good idea. I can't say for sure whether it's really that bad or I'm just not the right audience for it. With that in mind, proceed with caution (...?)

All these characters are dumb. And by dumb I mean extremely unintelligent. The only character actually being referred to as dumb is Starbreeze, and let me tell you, Starbreeze is the fucking star of this show.

Our main character? Mysterious Mr. Alex Verus with the dark background and a secret name that's his real name? Yeah, he's bland, boring, got no real emotions and has just about zero integrity. And he says things like:

“I can see the freaking future and women still don't make sense.”

The male characters are of the dangerous and dark stereotype ??? even the “clever” ones are dumb. The female characters are emotionally unstable, submissive to a dark, dangerous man, or producing clothes for a living.

For a while I thought, “hey, it's okay, this is written 11 years ago (and it shows) but the world building is kind of cool” but after too many cringe-worthy dialogue sequences I changed my mind...

... I'm frustrated.

I started speed reading about halfway and eventually only turned pages to figure out what would happen with the dumb red crystal cube (Star No. 2 of this show).

I actually like urban fantasy. And I liked Rivers Of London. I really wanted to like Alex Verus too.