Diana Pharaoh Francis

I am interested in the fantasy aspect but not the sexual passion aspect (which dropped it 1/2 star). I want to know more about the setting and its magic. I will read the next book and see how that goes.

Riley finds kidnapped children with her tracing magic so they can be rescued. She is very loyal to her family, so when her sister asks her to find someone, of course that becomes a priority.

Price, a cop, also wants Riley to find a person for him. All her life she has endeavored to keep a low profile and tries to avoid coming to the notice of anyone connected to the powerful Tyet families, which Price is.… (more)

I feared this might happen.
I was holding out hope until the absolute last moment but it wasn't to be.

The entire plot construction is incredibly naive.
The certain ruthlessness and cunning necessary for a plot like this to work just aren't there.
The mc stays this soft-hearted and limp dishrag.
But somehow against all odds, she will succeed through some incredibly unlikely scenario.

The world suffers from this weird disconnect from reality.
The different organizations are constantly shadowing each other while having incredible abilities like teleportation, blocking all magic or even just making an entire room full of people fall unconscious.
But for some never explained reasons abductions need to follow some kind incredibly far fetched protocol which basically just consists of "be dramatic or it doesn't count".
The circumstances necessary to abduct or kill someone described in the series so far are utter rubbish.
There constantly are these elaborate setups that somehow are necessary to do a thing but it really makes no sense whatsoever.
This is probably the most frustrating thing in the series so far. It makes no sense and completely robs me of the ability to take the world serious.

Now that I mentioned it the world just doesn't fit the available magic in general. The possible interactions of the magic system with society is basically completely missing.
Magic only works (or doesn't) if it's convenient for the plot. The story never really keeps to its own rules.
The entire null business for example. Apparently, everyone is constantly nulling everything but the mc was still able to expose organized crime undercover for years? What the hell happened? Was there some kind of null revolution that brought down their price to a tiny fraction and now suddenly everyone is nulling himself and their pet? If you make up rules you have to stick to them instead of scooting around them for plot convenience any way you want.

Another problem with this particular book is that shit is being made up on the spot constantly.
Well, one can never tell for sure if something was planned long-term but the reader is only being told one paragraph in advance but I feel justified in the assumption in this case as a lot of the stuff even somewhat conflicts with the previous books.

Related to that are the constant black and white decisions but none of the shades of grey is even being considered. Either trust someone or don't. No middle ground in which you keep the person away from vital information or locations while using their services. There are countless examples of this. Why the hell can't you let a person help you without exposing your back to them? Ohhhh, but then the plot wouldn't work. Dear authors, we can tell!

On another note, there is a lot of complete hogwash logic flying around in general. example: The mother spouts some kind of nonsense that if they go along with the rescue plan they will possibly forfeit their previous jobs/friends or life in general. HOW THE F*** IS THAT DIFFERENT FROM THE SITUATION BEFORE THAT? They already are deeply involved in this deep syndicate business from which the father supposedly protected them from but can't anymore. This was already the case in book one. We even get this bs about her denying reality about it. It's laughably bad real-talk for the atmosphere and tension. ThEy HoLd ToGeThEr As A fAmIlY and all that stupid crap. You can probably tell I am just the slightest bit aggravated.

Well, in conclusion, it's just the same old story. The series is just generally lacking which is only unmistakably confirmed far into the series at which point the reader is supposed to be so emotionally invested that he puts up with the flimsy excuse for a coherent story.… (more)