Seiren is supposed to be 17, a student in high school and we're supposed to believe she can hold down three jobs - enough to pay the bills single-handedly - scale buildings in her free time and maintain her school life. It felt like she spent a great deal of the book trying to convince us that Seiren is strong and fearless but in reality, that just didn't come across in the writing. I think Jones intended for Seiren to be a strong, independent sort of MC but I didn't get any of that.

We get a bunch of tell but not nearly enough show. But there wasn't much character development at all. She apparently likes to run, scale buildings, work in bars with these creatures she supposedly hates, work at hot dog stands and a few other places just so she can afford her crappy apartment with her sperm donor. I didn't get a sense for who she was so much as what she does. Seiren - which I've been pronouncing like Siren. In the first few chapters the writing takes leaps in logic that the reader is supposed to be able to follow but it doesn't get explained until ten or so pages later. That being said, I don't feel like this book was written with the reader in mind. There is a fine line between babying your readers and expecting them to be able to read your mind.

Calling them Haydens didn't and doesn't make much of a difference because a few characters refer to Haydens as supernatural beings anyway. I think it's a really cute effort to be different but it was kinda just.yeah. Instead of calling supernatural creatures supernatural creatures, Jones calls them Haydens.

Especially when you have elements in your book that are Supernatural. Whether it's even on Earth or in this universe. But it didn't stay that way.Īlbertos isn't in the USA but Jones never mentions where exactly it is. High school setting, the characters seemed interesting enough, albeit I was only about five pages in. But sadly, I didn't like it very much at all. There are gaps in the plot, one dimensional characters, words being used in the wrong context, typos and just - it was too much for a 238 page book. I'll start off by saying that this book is a grammatical mess.

Desolate City by Racquel Jones