Wednesday 10 February 2021

Review: Night Watch (Soul Reader Series Book 1) by Annie Anderson

Night Watch Night Watch by Annie Anderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Interesting Urban Fantasy

I'd probably give this book 3.75 ⭐ if I could.

Sloane Cabot went to bed human and woke up next to a grave, anything but. Next to her grave was her parents’ graves. Alone and scared she kills a creature that attacks her, finding out that she can consume the blood, memories and soul of those she bites. Terrified of what she has become she spends the next year killing to feed and to protect humans from the evildoers she has discovered. A year after starting her killing spree she is taken in by the Night Watch, a group of Arcane bounty hunters and a new phase of her existence begins.

As I was reading this book I felt that there were a few areas that were thin on explanation and it wasn’t until towards the end of the book that I realised that though this was a new series, it was set in a world that had already been long established. These abbreviated descriptions may have been because the author didn’t think anyone would jump into reading this book first, either that or she didn’t want to hammer things home too hard when other readers would be annoyed by repetitive explanations.

I liked Sloane, what I could see of her personality anyway. A lot of what is shown of Sloane is based on her immediate reactions. There is little history, so her personality doesn’t feel fully formed to me. People are not comprised of the events of a single year, they are based on a lifetime of memories and emotions. We are shown very little of Sloane’s past with the exception of a few paragraphs scattered here and there throughout the book. However, this treatment is not applied to just Sloane but to all the characters. We just get a thumbnail sketch of everyone. This means that the book is essentially plot-driven and fast-moving. This makes for a fast and exciting read, but it didn’t leave me particularly emotionally satisfied.

I feel that this author probably writes her books as part of a series and therefore each book is part of a greater whole. However, whilst I can assume that this is the case, I can’t say definitively that it is. I can only hope that the series as a whole is more emotionally satisfying as we get to know the characters involved. Aside from this, it was a straight forward and interesting plot, based in a fascinating world that I would like to get to know better.

Borrow Free From Kindle Unlimited

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases, made after using the above links.

No comments:

Post a Comment