Held back by 1 scene.

Note: I’m reviewing this book after finishing book 4.

Jeff Hays is one of the best narrators, period.

The story, the action scenes, character progression and stakes in this book are great. Unfortunately, the “Cave Scene” really holds this book back. I’m all for having horrible things happen to characters, especially if its used for character growth. But the way it happened in this book put a bad taste in my mouth. It did do a good job of using that aftermath of that scene to showcase character growth. But, I would prefer the scene not be there, or the tone of the scene needed to be changed up a bit. It felt like the scene was there for a fetish, then later on decided to use it for character growth. If the scene was written differently, I think it could’ve worked, but I hated how it was presented. That being said, if you are on the fence about finishing this book/keep going in the series, I urge to you to keep going forward. Book 4 is well worth pushing through the discomfort aspects of this book.

I really did love a lot of story elements in this book though. The tough position Boxy was put in, the dynamic between Boxy and Fizzy was captivating, the stuff about the gods, all of that was great stuff.