30 Books in 30 Days, Vol. 2
Book 25/30
I spent most of this book angry with Raphael, and I don’t think the book (or Raphael) did enough groveling to get me back to liking him the same way I did before, though Andrea doesn’t seem to be having that issue by the end. I just really wanted him to acknowledge that although Andrea didn’t behave perfectly, either, he was the one that bailed on their relationship first, and he was the one who lashed out with intent specifically to hurt Andrea. (Which Andrea is upset about! And which is never resolved!)
Anyway, I liked the rest of this book just fine.
Andrea was a fun protagonist to follow. She’s a good combination of strong and resourceful, yet flawed. I thought the book did a nice job paralleling her coming to terms with her past (and with Raphael, sigh) with the plot, which involved a crew of shapeshifters seemingly being murdered by giant snakes. As always with this world, somehow this escalates to to a god almost being resurrected and everyone saving the world from existential peril.
A small side-note: I really like Roman as a character and hope we see more of him, but I can do without these little snafus like we have here when Roman uses the r-word and nobody remarks on it. I knew over ten years before this book was written that word wasn’t okay to use. What the hell, publishers? Authors? Do better.