After her rather public exposure last book, Jessica
receives an offer from the Gryphons – they want her to work with them as a
consultant, using her unique gifts to catch criminals. For which she will be
paid a generous salary – and not go to prison. It’s less an offer and more a
demand with menaces.
And part of her “unique gifts” involve exploiting her friendship and connections with the satyrs – who are currently prime suspects in a series of grizzly, sex related murders.
The satyrs are not happy about this, nor overly happy
with Jessica. And Jessica may finally be getting her dream job – but can she
live with the strings attached? And is that her dream any more, especially as
she learns more and more about what she is and the source of those
oh-so-mysterious powers.
When reviewing a series that continues good elements it
can be hard to write reviews of second and later books. I mean, how often can
you write about the same world that continues to be compelling, unique and
interesting? Ultimately it’s repetitive – but if the goodness keeps on going
from book to book to book, then shouldn’t it continue to be mentioned? If you
take the “good” as a given and only mention any new badness then your review
looks negative undeservedly
This is my long winded way of trying to excuse being
repetitive – because what I have to say about world building and story for this
book are the same as for the first book. They’re unique, deep and fascinating.
The pacing is excellent, the mystery very well drawn out and balanced; action
scenes blend well with character building and exploration. Mental monologues
provide enough information to both feel the world and the characters’ place
within it without swamping out the actual activity. The plot is twisty without
being twisted and complex without being convoluted
All of this is wonderfully shot through with some really
good complexity that adds so much depth to the world building. Yes there are
sexy satyrs – but the consequences and realities of sexy satyrs are considered.
We’re not supposed to lust over them, we’re supposed to see their moral
ambiguity in their powers, the exploitation and the fearsome control they have
over people
We see a police force that is intrusive and gets in the
way and we’re not just thinking of ways to cover it up – but asking questions
about what’s being covered up, how to negotiate around the Gryphons and not
just falling into the trap of demonising them
The whole thing has layers and complexities all with an
exciting story with lots of twists back and forth to sell the whole thing. There’s
a lot of good here
Jessica is a very real character to me and one that is
surprisingly lacking in tropes – she has good friends (and female friends at
that!), a supportive family (even if she isn’t as close as she’d like). She has
a lot of moral conflicts, a lot of growth and some very reasonable flaws – even
flaws that make me kind of not like her at times, but are very real to her
character: Like the Satyrs
Jessica’s treatment of the satyrs annoyed me. In
the last book, they went to bat for her. They risked a lot for her. They
protected her, they housed her, they risked a seriously conflict with the other
Preds for her. They owed her nothing but still gave and risked so much for her…
and she doesn’t really acknowledge it in this book. She still regards them with
hostility and suspicion. She doesn’t seem to realise any kind of debt she owes
them nor even seriously consider that her being part of the Gryphons can be seen
as a betrayal. Yes she had no choice – but she is still using her connection
with the satyrs to gain information about them without ever really
acknowledging what they’ve done for ever or even trying to be apologetic about
it
I don’t know if it’s a terrible part of the character
though. Jessica, like most humans in this world, has a strong fear and distrust
of the Preds. And not entirely unreasonably, since they feed on humans and
control them through their sin addictions. This is something she does have to
work through with the book and something she does come to realise and adapt as
the book progresses. It annoys me, but I think it’s not a bad part of the
character – it’s an annoying part of a developed character; after all, not
every character is going to be entirely likeable or made up of likeable traits.
Or they shouldn’t be anyway. Jessica has unfortunate preconceptions about
Preds, they’re not always fair and sometimes cause her to be a bit of an
ungrateful arsehole sorely in need to a stern lecture – such is her character
On the other side of the scale, she has a wonderfully epic, ragey moment confronting someone who is behind her unusual nature. It’s epic, I cheered and it’s probably deeply, deeply unwise. A sensible character probably wouldn’t have done it – but I would have and I was behind her all the way.
There’s also some really interesting conflict about
Jessica basically being blackmailed into working for the Gryphons. How do you
react to being blackmailed into obtaining your childhood dream? She’s being
forced, she’s being threatened and her choices are being taken which enrages
her. But then, she had always wanted to work for the Gryphons and thought that
dream could never be achieved… how do you react to being forced to do something
you always wanted and never thought you could have? Not only is it really
complex to pore over, it says a lot about Jessica and her character that her
go-to reaction is anger and resentment – her need for control and agency are
strong which in turn relates back to her fear and hatred of the Preds not only
because of what they could do to her agency – but what they can do to others as
well.
That feeds into a lot of moral conflict with how much she
gives her tacit seal of approval to satyr behaviour, especially Lucen’s
behaviour, while getting on her high horse about other satyrs and using it as
an excuse to disdain them. Then there’s the conflict of the fact the satyrs –
all preds – have to prey on their addicts to survive. Flip back the other way and
all preds actually chose to become preds. It’s a knotty problem worth chewing
over.
Then there’s her own powers and Steph and Olivia (head of
the Gryphons) both calling Jessica out on the uses of her own powers and her
soul trading activities – both of which have consequences, neither of which are
moral. She’s launching a lot of stones from her glass house.
Then there’s the whole definition of monogamy and relationships when you’re a satyr.
In addition to the continuing theme of presenting satyrs
and their magical sexiness as scary and disturbing and a horrifying theft of
agency, there’s another element in this book – F. F is a drug that makes people
unbelievably horny to the point where they have to have sex – and that sex is very
good sex. And while many people use it recreationally between consenting adults
the book first and foremost remembers just how dangerous this drug is in terms
of a date rape drug – that’s the overwhelming message of it; it is so easy to
violate consent and agency with this drug. Just like the satyrs, super sexiness
is not considered a good thing when coupled with magically altered consent.
There’s a blind character in this book, a satyr, and she
faces a lot of prejudice within her community. This prejudice has a full
history and explanation within the satyr’s culture and is also very thoroughly
called out as outrageous and disgusting by other characters. In addition, the
character is very capable, skilled, an asset and sexual; so many disabled
people are presented as completely lacking in sexuality. She is not – she is
sexual, sensual and beautiful. In all, it’s one of the better presentations of
prejudice even though she is not a major character.
In terms of LGBT representation all satyrs are bisexual
inherently – or so it seems – but that’s also linked to them being satyrs
(incubi/succubae); so we have the bisexuality linked with magical sexual
predation and required promiscuity. 2 background, one shot Gryphons are both
female and in a relationship. The main representation is Steph, Jessica’s best
friend and a trans woman who fits no stereotypes, has a powerful moral compass and
is generally pretty decent if rather forced to the periphery of Jess’s life.
The problem is, I can’t recall any line in this book that made it clear Steph is
trans, you have to remember the last book.
There are several POC in background scenes, like in the
Gryphons, in the clubs, some of the victims, but the only main character I can
remember is Dezzi – the leader of the satyrs. It’s not entirely dissimilar to
promotion to obscurity – but Dezzi is an awesome leader; she’s tough, she’s
capable, she doesn’t take any foolishness but nor does she refuse to listen and
she clearly has compassion to go with any necessary ruthlessness. I just wish
there was more of her and hope there will be in future books.
