Ratings
Content Warnings: Blood, Violence, Smut
Introduction
The Umbra King is about vengeance and retribution. Rory wants revenge for her sister who was killed. To what lengths will she go to exact that revenge? And at what cost to herself?
Pros
- Intruiging world building
- Enjoyable read
Cons
- No map
- Cliffhanger ending
- Disappointing main character
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD
Plot
Overall, the plot was okay. It started off strong with Rory having a clear goal in mind. But it quickly derailed when she stumbled upon the Merrow who helped murder her sister. Most of the plot wasn’t pushed by Rory. Instead, it happened to her.
Well besides pissing Nina off when she could.
But once she got to Vincula and her romance started with Caius, it was like all her drive was gone. She just accepted what happened and hardly tried to do anything in terms of killing Caius.
And even that was a poor attempt. She tried to seduce him once and then it was insta-lust from there. Which is odd considering Rory thought Caius killed her sister still.
I will say that the plot twist of Tallent trying to kill Rory was pretty solid. I wasn’t expecting that and it added an intriguing dynamic in the friend group.
And why didn’t Rory question Caius moving her to the sky room or anything nice he was doing? Why didn’t she question their romance a bit more? She was so complacent it all of it and let it happen. She’s a serial killer, not a damsel in distress.
As I’m writing this, the plot wasn’t really that prominent. I can’t recall a lot of what happened because it repeated the same stuff over and over. But I do know my heart hurt like hell when Rory left Vincula without memories or Caius.
And I am not ready for heart ache right now.
Characters
I’m going to start off saying that none of the characters were really memorable. Rory became flat half way through the book, her friends didn’t have any depth and I often confused them. Even Sam, who I should have loved, was just bland.
You could see the attempts of depth through humor and dialog, but it ultimately was a miss.
I wish I was able to connect with all of them more. I wanted to see a different side to the Vincula friend group, especially.
Hell, the friends from the first half, Dume, Kordie, and Keith were more fun than the characters later introduced in the book. They had more depth and more of a connection, and. I honestly missed them.
Writing
The book felt like it was written as a New Adult high school fantasy. I mean, falling down the stairs can be brutal, but that was not the life or death situation I wanted nor expected for them to bound.
Once Caius and Rory started becoming a thing, it got cringy. A lot of it was insta-lust and just happened so fast. I get the whole eternal partner or whatever explanation, but still. There wasn’t a good build-up.
Speaking of build-up. Rory had a badass build-up at the beginning of the book. She was mysterious, dark, witty, and could handle herself. But as soon as she enters Vincula, all of that goes away. I get the strength and speed magic being removed, but she still knows how to fight. She could have used that a few times.
But ultimately she became a rehashed, mouthy main lead.
Now, diverging from the weird character arc, I want to talk about the odd mystic abilities.
It seemed like a person’s parents didn’t have any play in what kind of mystic the child would be. Like why was Rory’s family all different kinds of mystics? And why was Cora a lamb shifter? It was really odd and confusing for me. And the only mystic that meant anything to me was the sybil. The others weren’t really important/not shown enough.
However, I will say the world-building and the explanations at the beginning of the book were amazing. I loved having that reference and experiencing this contemporary fantasy.
Final Thoughts
I wrote this review a few days after finishing the book, and honestly, I couldn’t remember the characters or plot really well. It was kind of forgettable, unfortunately. I wish it was more and better than what it is, but alas it is not.
I don’t know if I’ll read the second book. I was looking for a stand-alone with this one. So I might come back to it.
Regardless, I enjoyed the book as I was reading it. The experience was fun and I’ll rate it high for that because I’ve had so many duds lately.
What did you think of the book? Did you like it or could you have done without it? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
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