I think this book would be awesome if the two main characters bit it early and the other characters took over. Cool premise and world but I opted not to continue to book two. Barely made it to the end of this one. It’s almost impressive that it’s a duo of super opposite personalities, and somehow both manage to be so unlikeable.
The narrator is great, it’s Jeff Hays, so no surprise there. Pacing is sort of weird, but not awful or anything. It just sort of oscilates between really fast and really slow in an odd way. Really solid side characters with strong motivations… until those motivations oppose the MC’s and then they fold inexplicably without any sort of explanation or consequence. Sort of a kids book/cartoonish style of emotional plot armor and that’s just all there is to it.
Anyway, if you can get behind one or both of the MC’s you might like it. Oversimplifying it, there’s the “I treat everybody like trash, but it’s ok because I have trauma” guy and the “I’m just a poor little baby who deserves your understanding and respect even when I make stupid decisions, but it’s ok because I have trauma” guy. There’s an abundance of trauma. Only theirs counts though.