This one constantly beat me over the head with pseudo-wisdom.

Furthermore, it's supposed to be "show, don't tell" not "show and tell".
It's really sad because it does the "showing" part pretty well but then redundantly explains everything anyway for good measure in case the showing didn't work.
Everything is spelled out in excruciating detail in a way that made me cringe quite a bit.

Apart from that, there is a bit of personality switcheroo going on.
Trust between protagonists is there and gone constantly for no other reason than to keep the drama going. This is a bit vexing because at its core the trust conflict is a fitting plot device that could've worked much better with a bit more planning and maybe proofreading.

I was eye-rolling a lot because of the thick layers of clicheés the plot is wrapped in.

Let's say it's just not particularly original or interesting in any way.

Even though it is a much better contribution to the Mageriverse than "Sterling" was, I don't think it deserves 3 stars. Let's say Sterling was 2.0 while this one is more like 2.9 (or 1.5 vs 2.4 if you do proper rounding I guess). ( )

I tried, DNF. Went nowhere and wasn’t into the characters. ( )

2.75 stars
Raven, the half-mage-half-vampire MC in this story, should probably fall under the TSTL* heroine label. She goes after criminals with an abandon that would make Olivia Benson and Jessica Jones cringe, getting them into tight spaces where she either strangles them to death with her legs (a source of some really irritating sexual humor later in the story) or, if they're vampires, staking them. She can absorb the "light" of other mages and make them mortal for a time, even though doing so makes her sick, and drinking blood gives her no advantages that most vampires would take as a matter of course. She's horrified to discover that all the vampires she's staked over the years actually lived because just staking a vampire in this world, even through the heart, won't kill them.

Half the time it felt like Raven wasn't even sure of her own motivations for doing what she does. She's an illegal crossbreed through what sounds like a mix of bad luck and life choices. Though the author does not really explain this part well, I got the sense that one enters the life of an immortal more by force than by choice, at least until Raven admits she chose to become a mage. To be honest, things were so muddled by this point in the story, I really didn't care anymore. I also got the impression that her (mage) maker left her high and dry without much information to go by, and that her creator just flat out assaulted her and forced the vampirism on her.

The less said about the ridiculous and forced romantic interlude in a story that didn't need one the better. Also, Christian Poe is a jerk and not worth anyone's time. Also, it's a moot point since Raven uses the favor she's gained from the vampire to scrub the memory of a kiss she shared with Christian from her brain - a rather unnecessary bit of cruelty on her part I thought.

The Keystone Group could be any group of mismatched outsiders, with an enigmatic Russian shifter as the leader, with no real visible means of funding (though it sounds like he's probably got money), a mix of friendly and overly cautious people who see Raven as a dangerous rogue among their number, and OTT house rules about "wasting" money on electricity made me want to laugh.

I wasted a perfectly good Audible credit on this book. :

* Truly. Worse yet, she's all over the place emotionally and acts without thinking through consequences when she's been given a chance to improve her life. Yikes.

For a really good review of this book I highly recommend JB Anonym's Review ( )

This was an exciting urban fantasy about half-mage/half-vampire Raven, and her attempts to find a place for herself and do right in the world. ( )

I was attracted to this book by the reviews and ratings. I figured with the genre and the vast quantity of books in the series (and by the album art) that this wasn't going to be deep reading. It's nice to have some fluff once in a while. The beginning of the book seemed to deliver, but then it sort of lost its way.

The point of the main group, Keystone, was vague and fluccuated between hit squad for the rich & powerful and freelance investigative unit. It sort of makes sense at any point in time, but over the course of the novel it seemed more and more ridiculous. The mysterious leadership of the breeds contracted out killings to this group when they couldn't prove guilt enough by normal means. But that same leadership group are the ones making the rules. Why pay this outside group to do this stuff, and why does this outside group randomly start caring about evidence and proof of guilt at odd times.

The characterizations are also pretty flat. I know that's to be expected, but with such a large cast I was hoping for a bit more. I never really got a good sense of who the main character, Raven Black, truly was. Her desires and motivations shifted from scene to scene. For someone who's been effectively homeless for five years I didn't get much of that vibe from her either.

The story itself was okay. The bad guy never seemed like a real threat. The challenges presented all seemed to have much simpler solutions than the characters chose. I don't think I'll be reading anything else in this series. ( )