She is swept off at a very young age to a private academy presumably by friends of her recently deceased parents. There she excels and becomes a deadly soldier at age 16 in the fight against evil factions. Desiring to learn more about the world she leaves the academy at age 19 and takes off using the fortune her parents left to her. Once her trek is over she decides to return to the academy only to find it under siege by the man with the cigar. This is not her first encounter with him.
Rochester, the cigar man, has her captured and then put through a series of physical and psychological experiments that test her will and ability to live. These tortures go on for months and months – each more deadly than the last. And, that is where I stopped reading.
As hard as I tried I could not get into this novel. I kept reading and got as far as about chapter 15 or so. The chapters are not numbered so I’m not certain. Anyway, about a third of the way through. There were no glaring grammatical or plot issues. The hook for me wasn’t there.
Raymond’s debut novel, Life’s Defeat (Life’s Series Book 1), never names the protagonist. Her character is very well-developed as is the mindset of the antagonist. I’m sure Rochester’s desire is to turn her into a soldier for his side and have her go against her former team. It takes too long to get to that point. The lack of action and the prolonged torture became boring to me.
Giving Raymond the benefit of the doubt and assuming it is just me, I will give the book 3 out of 5 stars. I wish her the best of luck.
I received this book for free from the author for review consideration. This in no way affected my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Apocalypse Meow 