iorio

Nick and his brother Alan are on the run from magicians, trying to keep their mother and a talisman she owns safe. Their entire lives have been spent moving, staying one step ahead. When the magicians find them again matters are complicated when Alan decides to help a brother and sister who have run into trouble of their own. Jamie has a third-tier demon mark and it's only a matter of time before the demons claim him. His sister Meg isn't about to let that happen and soft-hearted Alan volunteers to help. I struggled with this book. The main character, Nick, is not an overly sympathetic character. Seems like every page is filled with him being irrationally angry and just generally pissed at the world and everyone in it. The one thing he cares about is his brother and otherwise he's completely self-involved, detached, pissed-off and violent. He kills without a thought. All of that makes it hard to connect with Nick as a character and I toyed with idea of stopping the book. But the underlying ideas were intriguing. Despite some technical faults in the writing (minor, but noticeable like over-repetition) it is an interesting story. For 2/3 of the book I could have continued or stopped reading and it'd have been fine either way. The book hadn't caught me. The last third however did everything the first part of the book didn't. It made sense. All of the things that bothered me about Nick were explained and had a purpose. I don't see how Brennan could have written him differently. But she brings everything to a satisfying conclusion and in the end, I do like Nick and Alan. I enjoyed the book. I guessed the big reveal about halfway through but I wasn't 100% sure so I kept reading. It felt natural and not forced and a logical outgrowth of the story before. Brennan did a good job laying her ground work. I strongly suspect there may be a follow-up novel and if so I'll definitely be reading it.

2023-03-02 10:07