nocturnalbookworm's reviews
75 reviews

 This pulled me in from the beginning and kept me guessing throughout. It was a face paced and bloody story that did an excellent job of setting the claustrophobic scene. This book takes place on a submarine and Kent and Kaufmann did an excellent job of setting the stage and emphasizing the feeling of being trapped. Though the reader can pretty much figure out its vampires early on (so much so I wouldn't even consider it a spoiler), the reveal to the characters is slow and makes sense. I appreciate that the crew of the Roanoke seemed to not just blindly accept it and it took time to really come to that conclusion. It felt like there was an appropriate level of denial and it felt realistic, which I like in a supernatural creature story. The tension in the book was kept up from the very moment of chapter 1. The only thing that didn't make this a 5 star read for me was that a couple of the "surviving" moments of some characters felt a little too lucky. However, I will say that this book doesn't hold back on killing characters you fully expect (and hope) will make it to the end. Even with those moments, I was still left scared that some characters I had grown attached to wouldn't make it. As well the characters that I didn't care for that ended up dying I felt like there was justice in their deaths and I found them very satisfying when they happened.

This book was provided to me for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

I was super intrigued by this one and it did not disappoint! The Visitor gave me major 1984 vibes, with a more modern feel and more action. An excellent sci-fi dystopian story that executed its social commentary excellently. The one big complaint was the big cliffhanger at the end, I want to know what happens so badly! Alas, I will just have to wait patiently for the arrival of the 2nd book. Picking a favorite character is hard because honestly, it’s such a close tie between Aetius and Sasha.

Plot ⭐ ⭐⭐⭐⭐
World Building ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Characters ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Writing Style ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Enjoyment ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Overall Rating 4.6/5

Read as part of a Book Tour, I was provided a free copy in exchange for an honest review 

 My first impressions and speculation on how this would all play out were somehow both met and wonderfully thrown out the window. I struggle to list all the things I like without giving away spoilers. Loneliness, trauma, and what it means to be human are all wrapped up in this gory psychological thriller. There were a few times that I had to reread because I got a bit confused but overall this was a gripping read.

Plot ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The book is set almost completely in Mattias Goff’s artic home in the winter. The first bit of the book has our MCs traveling to this location. There wasn’t much set up in the outside world and but the isolated Crystal Falls is well described and at some point, the location plays a role in the plot.

World-Building/Setting ⭐⭐⭐

The book cycles between the POV of Goff’s 5 guests. They are Chris, Jenny, Sarah, Patrick, and Cassian. First impressions I thought that Chris would be my favorite and that Cassian would be my least. As the book progressed I turned out to be half right. Sarah ended up being my fav and I hated Cassian. Each POV felt unique to the character, they were all distinct with their own views and ways of thinking that really come out well-executed.

Characters ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The writing was well done overall, at the end I had trouble navigating the technical jargon. Be prepared to look up a few of the words as you read, but hey learning something new is rarely a bad thing. The unsettling feeling crept up a slow pace which I love. Things get pretty crazy but it ramps up so gradually that it was easy to suspend disbelief.

Writing Style ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Personal Enjoyment ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Overall Rating 4/5

I received a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review, This did not affect my review in any way and all of the above are my honest thoughts and feeling. 

 Just finished this one and I have to say I quite enjoyed it. It wasn't a masterpiece of fiction but it was very enjoyable and kept me engaged and it's been a while since I've really fallen into a book and thought about it so much so that has to count for something.

Written In Red follows Meg Corbyn who is what is called a blood prophet, basically when she is cut she sees prophecies after she escapes from where they keep people like her to hide in the mini-town of the courtyard. The area reserved for all the supernatural peeps living in that area (Lakeside). As the book goes on you meet (along with Meg) many of the non-human residents of the Courtyard and some humans of lakeside, as well as watch as things get really crazy because the people who Meg escaped from what her back. Like really bad. Like bad enough to do some really stupid shit.

My Thoughts:

~The World~
In this world from what I can tell it's supposed to be modern-day. Non-humans of various types from shapeshifters to powerful elementals and more have existed basically forever and when humans came around we tried to do our human thing and spread across the earth and act like we own and rule everything. Many fight back and forth ensued with the end result usually being the humans getting their buts kicked (or killed) in the end. As of the time of the book, there is an uneasy peace in most places. Big cities will have a Courtyard where the non-humans known as The Others reside. Lakeside, where the book takes place, is a bit odd in that humans are actually allowed in parts of it. Honestly, though this is mostly for observation and curiosity purposes on the part of The Others. I liked the world. I'm really interested in learning more about the different types of Others.

~Meg The Innocent Main Character~
I liked Meg, though I will say I hope there is more character development with her in future books. She had spent her whole life in a controlled medical environment and had little to no emotional connections/bonds or knowledge outside of what was deemed needed to properly deliver prophecies. So the way her character is makes sense to me. She is almost childlike in a way. It does seem like she is evolving a bit though from living in the outside world and interacting with others.

~Tess~
Tess intrigued me the whole book. She is a freaking badass in such a subtle I don't even have to say or do anything you can just feel that you don't want to be on my bad side. The whole book I was desperately trying to figure out just what she was. You do eventually find out and I wasn't disappointed.

~Simon aka Grumpypants Mcgee~
He read like a typical moody brooding romance novel male protagonist to me. I do feel like the animalistic side of him kinda makes that make sense though? I really kept expecting a bunch of romanc-y things to be going on but all the stuff that did happen was very subtle. I'm interested to see if romance does develop in the future.

~SAM The Adorable Puppy Boy~
All I have to say is SQUEEEEE SAM WAS SO CUTE AND ADORABLE AND HIS PART WAS HEARTBREAKING BUT SWEET AND I LOVED IT ALL

Overall I enjoyed this and plan to read the rest of the series. I really liked how the book ended with a conclusion to the big epic crazy clusterf*ck of kidnapping attempts and shenanigans but still left a lot of uneasiness, loose ends, and the like without feeling unsatisfying. 

 Honestly, the first half to three quarters was a five-star with the last bits being more in the three range for me. Overall an enjoyable read for me, I'm really looking forward to reading the next volume.