9 Followers
31 Following
ashleywithrow

The Never-Ending Bookshelf

I was born with a reading list I will never finish.

Currently reading

Daughter of Dusk (Midnight Thief)
Livia Blackburne
Empire of Shadows
Miriam Forster

Cracked - Eliza Crewe

Cracked - Eliza Crewe

 

Oh, my dear Meda.  What a snarky little bitch you are.  I love this character, especially since she is the MC and not a side character smushed in for comic relief.  She is manipulative and conniving and totally fun.  It is refreshing to see an MC that isn’t some perfect porcelain doll.  Meda is flawed, seriously flawed.  She is sarcastic and even a little mean.  But she is real.  Her internal dialogue had me laughing (and getting strange looks from my husband) throughout the book.    

 

Jo.  Quite the little badass here.  She is angry, understandably so.  And suspicious, rightfully so.  She is the most realistic to me of the characters in her response to Meda.  Coming from a super secret demon killing tradition it makes sense for her to be skeptical and a little paranoid.  I love that she is also a bit manipulative (when she has to be) and can be as cunning as Meda.  They are a great pair or characters.

 

Malachi, sweet, naive Chi.  He has a serious hero complex which plays beautifully into Meda’s schemes.  The lack of suspicion on his part actually makes sense in the grand scheme of the book.  He hasn’t graduated and is only playing at being a true Templar Crusader.  His reaction to Meda (falling for every little manipulation with nary a thought of trickery) is hilarious for me.  I can practically see Jo rolling her eyes everytime he jumps into the big bad hero saving the poor little damsel mode.  I loved his arc throughout and the slow realization that he sees more than he lets on, just not where Jo is concerned.

 

I loved the slight romance angle here that didn’t involve the MC or insta-love.  It was real and touching and hilarious.  I laughed as Jo fought the inevitable and appreciated Chi’s refusal to give up.  It was a small enough addition to the plot that it added tension while giving the reader a break from the primary plot.  This was seriously well done!  

 

Uri is such an old soul, and his story was heartbreaking.  He was innocent enough to befriend Meda without qualms and to see the good in her when she couldn’t.  He was a stalwart both in supporting his friends and his beliefs.    

 

I have been so tired of Templars that when the plot first introduced the mythology I nearly rolled my eyes.  Meda and Jo were enough to keep me from chucking the book across the room.  And I am so glad that I did.  The addition of the Inheritance to the Templar legend was original and fresh.  And the involvement was kept to a minimum so there was no rehashing the entire mythos that I am all too familiar with from other books.


This was fabulous and highly recommended.  Not all heroines have to be good girls, more authors should remember that.