Born To Be Wilde

Jenn Stark has done it again, kept me fulling entertained and wanting more. In this book, Sara’s past infiltrates her present in the form of Officer Brody Rooks working on a case that requires a visit to the first meeting in Sara’s home town. This book has many twists and turns that require you to pay attention. I have been reading these books back to back having just discovered this author. I can’t wait to begin my next book. I highly recommend this series.

Didn’t love it, didn’t hate it. The story felt less fluid this time around with more rehashing of information and describing the strip a few too many times. Sara feels like she regressed as a character despite getting a jump to her abilities. While it could be written off as a result of confronting her past, it reads more like oversight or continuity issue, which doesn’t sit well intentional or otherwise.

She seems uncertain of the house system despite Kreios discussing them with her in book 1. Sarah expresses concern at owing him a favor even though he already kind of owes her for covering for him in book 1 when Eshe asked about what happened in the abbey. Asking Kreios if he’s her father was sudden and out of left field. She also doesn’t ask Willem about her mom even though it’s the most obvious and natural question to ask when discussing her parentage.

Sara recaps that the last time she saw Nigel they were naked at an orgy, seeking the same fertility idol. But the last time she saw him she tranq’d him after working together to flee from said orgy’s priestess. They were both wearing leggings and tech tops in a Counsel limo. It’s also weird that she seems to wander around on her own in the open right after establishing someone’s gunning for her, and Nikki et al are fine with it. Her end fight alongside Nikki was a blatant cop-out of choreographing a two on twelve fight.

Annika Soo’s part of this book is basically a bunch of obnoxious and problematic racial tropes. Soo’s supposedly Chinese but her goons are ninja complete with gi, both of which are Japanese. They’re martial artists who wield swords in an age of guns and unsurprisingly end up in a gun fight. If authors are going to do this they should throw in Frenchmen swinging falchions or something to balance it out. On that note, Mercault said Soo was against trafficking because she was a slave, but for some reason Sara et al suspect she’s taking Warrick and peeps.

Viktor’s would-be water cycle analogy is terrible and just demonstrates a lack of understanding of atmospheric science, undermining his authority during his first villainous dialogue. The whole infiltration of Viktor’s domain to retrieve Nikki was anticlimactic. Sara and Brody basically walked in, watched a guy almost get possessed, and got spotted by Viktor, who let them all go without a fuss.