Rhiannon Hargadon

I received an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
—Some possible spoilers—

The premise of the book is really cool — it’s a dark fantasy romance about Death (Grim Reaper). Super cool. We see a young Morena grow within the confines of the Grace castle, kept captive by her mother Malinda (who is no longer alive, think weird Fae zombie/Davy Jones). Morena learns some of her powers, but not all of them. Also there’s these weird zombie creatures that are part of an undead army called Cullen. (Personally, I’m not a huge fan of the name, but that’s just my opinion). Anyway, after several failed escape attempts, she just relents. It’s not until some people show up, and say “Hey, we’re destined to be married” that Malinda finally lets Morena leave the castle. Morena learns about the outside world (much like Rapunzel), and she learns just how much other people can lie, manipulate, and betray. Anyway, the undead Cullen army begin to ravage the towns, and Morena (being Death) has to find away to stop the undead. And also defeat her mother, and rescue her grandmother (Atropos the original Death Fate) from confinement.
Ok, overall this book is not bad. The author probably could have used another 100 pages to really develop some of the characters more or explain some more things. When I got to the other Fates, Selene and Vitess, I wanted a bit more from them; especially Vitess, the Fate of Time. And the ending— what a whirlwind that was. Vitess (who reminded me a bit of Dr. Strange) and all the time paradoxes. And getting the one “right” — but was it really the “right” ending? I don’t know — we traded one supposed villain for another, and it has world-shattering consequences. I know this is already going to be a series, because it ends on a very big cliffhanger. Overall, this book is decent.… (mehr)

I so love a strong, fierce MC and this book delivers. Morena starts out as meek and by the end of the book has totally transformed. Her life was never easy and she has to learn, the hard way, that in the end she has to step up and take control.
The author did a good job with the character development and I got the characters. However, even after reflecting for a bit on this book, I still don’t have all the feels for the love triangle. I realize this is more about me than about the story. But I still can’t help wishing Jasper had just been a friend.
The plot moved quickly and had lots of action to keep the reader engaged. There was one negative, I thought the plot needed to be a bit tighter. The author made some things overly complicated. Without spoiling anything, there were two things I thought could have been removed or put off to a sequel. I know this is a bit of nitpicking but sometimes less is more.
In short, this is a Grim Reaper origin story. It has lots of depth and plenty of twists along the way with a banging ending. If you like dark fantasy this is book you will want to read.
I received a free review copy in exchange for my honest review. See my book blog at www.thespineview.com for more reviews.… (mehr)

This book was received through LibraryThing Early Reviewers.

I have mixed feelings about this book... On the one hand, I really enjoyed the world-building. I'm not sure if all of it worked together (Greek mythology mixed in with other folklore systems was a bit confusing), but at least there was an established fantasy realm to figure out. On the other hand, Morena was completely confusing. Sometimes she seemed spineless, but then she'd become fierce. She hated killing people but would do it without question when Malinda demanded it, and yet when a Cullen was killing a deer, she freaked out and did everything in her power to save it. I'm still not sure why she didn't just kill Malinda in the beginning chapters of the book.

Beyond the fantasy aspects, this was also a romance. I do love romantasy typically, but I didn't love the insta-romance/love triangle here. Morena never truly seemed devoted to Jasper or Elijah, and I wasn't exactly drawn to root for either of them. Mainly I wanted Morena to figure out what she wanted, both romantically and in terms of her power.

I really wanted the friendship between the three Fates to be expanded upon, but it felt like they were acquaintances at best, just starting to tread the friendship waters. It threw me for a loop when one Fate told Morena that she was her best friend. Really? Did I miss something?

This book clearly has potential. There are some typos, but nothing major. There are some beautifully-written sentences and scenes. I just think that the characters needed some polish to be more dimensional, and the love story needed to be clarified a bit. I heard this is going to be the first of a quartet though, so maybe the future books will make things clearer. I'm not sure if I'll read the next book, but I'll definitely keep tabs on it just in case!… (mehr)