Witches and Reapers

This review is also featured on Behind the Pages: Witches and Reapers

The world Kai Smith has created for his characters is dark and unforgiving. Readers are shown a corrupt monarch who will do anything to further her goals and a man favored by the god of assassins attempting to thwart her. But by doing so, Tobin will give up all he has built for himself through the years.

Witches and Reapers is one of those books that could have had such intricate and complex characters but fell short when building their stories. The Queen is impulsive and given to anger easily. And while she strikes out and shows how intense of a character she can be, her dialog was immature at times. She also wasn't given enough page time to truly build up her intentions and capabilities. And while she did come across as domineering and cruel, her choices were impulsive and resulted in little to no competition. I would have liked to see more of a struggle for her, a harder rise to her position that made her all the stronger for it.

On the other side, Tobin is built up to be a talented assassin. And Kai Smith did an excellent job at intense and gruesome fight scenes. Set perfectly for the world he created, each one was brutal and showcased Tobin's skills. But outside of battle, Tobin struggled to make an impact. His story was extremely plot-driven and readers didn't get to see many of his inner thoughts.

Not a series I will continue. I needed more explanations and time spent on developing scenes and characters. This is an extremely fast moving plot and does not allow enough time to sink into the moment and connect with what characters are experiencing.

Before I say anything about this book, I'd like to give a huge Thank You to @authorkgodin for sending me this ARC of her book. I am beyond thankful! Okay, review time! This story hooked me right from the start. So many things in the beginning were intriguing and had me wanting to know everything about them. Let's start with the basics. The writing in this book was phenomenal. I absolutely loved K. Godin's writing style. The book was extremely well paced and the storytelling impeccable. Oh my goodness, the imagery! I could visualize every character, every town and scenery, every conflict. It was all so visual, and as a reader, I really appreciated that. There were moments of heart-pounding suspense and adventure that kept me turning pages to know what happened. I just felt very present in the story. Moving on to the characters, where do I even begin! I absolutely adored Skylahr. She was such a unique female main character both physically and emotionally. She has insecurities that were extremely relatable as well. Kalian, was so dreamy. He created this exquisite sexual tension between he and Skylahr which had amazing pay off. Three words: enemies to lovers! Can't not mention all of the amazing side character dynamics, I loved them all! I am extremely interested and intrigued to see where K. Godin takes Skylahr's story in future books. This is an adult high fantasy, 18+ for language and sexual content. Please preorder Legend of the Huntress by K. Godin which releases 4/2/22!