If you missed my review of the Shadow City Demon Wolf Trilogy, you can find it here.
Ok, I know that I said I would keep on the Shadow City saga, but I needed a break, so I read Death’s Obsession. I am sorry if I disappointed you. I will have another book review for you next week, though, but not a KU one. It will be A Court of Silver Flame. For now, let’s talk about Death’s Obsession.
Well, this is a spicy book. I did not expect spice, especially not this kind of spice, because it was dirtier than what I had read in KU before. In that, mind you, I am not complaining. The spice was both alluded to and plainly written, which was nice to see. The spice in the book kept me wound up even when the spice was not explicit to the point I was wondering if this book was appropriate to review for you guys. Obviously, you see what I decided, so it can’t be too bad, right?
In this book, we meet Lilith, Lili, to most people. She survived a car crash that killed her sister in a fiery blaze. Her parents are also passed, so she is mostly alone. She has a boyfriend, Evan, who stayed by her after the crash, but he is a piece of work, and thankfully, they don’t live together. I would smack him if I met him. She works at a coffee shop and doesn’t make much in tips. She doesn’t eat much because she can’t afford to. Lili is understandably traumatized by the crash and is kinda under the care of a psych doctor that she can’t afford.
Lili is seeing a psych doctor not just for the trauma of the crash and losing her twin sister but because a faceless man plagues her. He leaves her notes, gifts, and marks on her body. She sees him standing there in one moment, only for him to be gone the next. Any and all proof she tries to provide to prove she has a stalker always disappears, so she can’t show anyone. Lili is mostly dead inside and wants her body to match, but Death won’t take her. Evan says she’s crazy but begrudges her for seeing her doctor.
The faceless man starts being more overt, demanding her attention, bringing more gifts, and pushing Lilith to express herself and heal. He brings her food, pleasure, tenderness, and more. The faceless man’s name is Letum. Even after learning his name, Lili can’t see his face. He won’t let her see his face until she faces her wounds and remembers him.
I like the idea of the story. I wanted to know the end even though I considered stopping my reading of it. I think more editing and more fleshing out of the story would make this a great read. The pacing was frustrating. St. Graves did great with teasing, both emotionally and spice-wise, but overall the pacing threw me off. In the beginning pages of the book, before the actual story, there is a warning that if you are knowledgeable in Greek mythology or Latin, she apologizes for the inaccuracies. Outside of the name Letum, I can’t think of anything mythology-wise or in Latin that would need an apology which again messed with the pacing for me because the back of my head was searching for the mess-ups. As a writer myself, I am of the mind that if you are going to put something such as mythology in a book, you should research it and endeavor to portray it accurately, or the breakdown of it needs to make sense. An excellent example of that is the ACOTAR series. Ms. Maas takes elements from different mythologies and puts them in her story in a reconstructed way that makes sense to the story. In Death’s Obsession, I saw no need to apologize, so why bring it up? Next time just research if needed.
The book was ok. I think Ms. St. Graves has the potential to be a fantastic author. This book just wasn’t it for me. The spice was nice, but other areas left me wanting. It was a quick read, though, so it would make a decent time passer. The whole book is 175 pages, so it only took me a few hours to read all of it. Will you give this a try or pass on it? I will have the next in the Shadow City saga for you soon. Let me know in the comments below. Until next time, have fun storming the castle!
