Scan barcode
A review by magnafeana
Sine Qua Non by Nenia Campbell
2.5
So.
Hm.
I have thoughts.
<b>LIKES</b>
✅ As always, Nick is a cruel ML who has a plan for everything. Good on him.
✅ Jay’s mother finally gets her comeuppance. She was thoroughly unlikable and Campbell did a great job of that!!
<b>DISLIKES</b>
❌ I don’t think I’ll ever like Jay/Justine. Dark romances are a hit or miss with FLs in MF DRs. I enjoy girl failures, but Jay was just pathetic in a “I don’t know why I should care about you” way. I get the story wanted her pathetic, but when the whole world is somehow against the FL, it feels…oddly contrived? To me—subjectively, personally, just my opinion—I lose interest in an MC that the author goes at length to make Gaia’s most hated child. At the same time, books where the MC is Gaia’s most favored child don’t appeal to me either. Why? Because I don’t see a reason for it. As in: what reason do so many characters have to be offended by or in love with the MC? Because…they exist? Even the MC being the daughter of a sex worker—so? Unless Jay’s mother was a highly visible sex worker and porn star, then I can see the sleaziness towards her. But…these were rumors? I’m trying to understand this. I understand why the author isolated the FL this much. But narratively, I never saw the reason for it. She was pathetic. And…yup.
❌ Non-linear storytelling confused me. This was my gripe with the last book too. There was a lot of back and forth in time that wasn’t really justified. Authors do this to give their story some mystery in revealing things. But in reality, you still need to justify if that mystery is needed and how to execute it. I didn’t care for the time jumps in the first book. I cared for them less in this book when the author forewent the appropriate tenses to mark a flash back and we’d be back in the present with no discernible sign.
❌ This is small, but the grammar issues kinda were ehhhh. Like—a new speaker of dialogue means a new paragraph. Unless Nick is now he/she—which is fine, I read books where characters have dual or carte blanche pronouns—then he should have he/him consistently. From the lengthy asides too, I just…wish this was edited better.
❌ Ending was kinda… Huh. Just rushed maybe? I was surprised at just it ended.
<b>WHAT WOULD HAVE IMPROVED MY RATING</b>
✨ More hard editing into not just grammar but craftmanship and execution. If the world is going to he against Jay, that’s fine—but prepare a reason for it. It’s one thing for Jay to think the world is against her when it isn’t. It’s another when it is for no other reason than the author said so.
✨ A little more warning through visuals or tense switching would help a lot with any sort of flashback.
<b>OVERALL</b>
I read this story more for Nick than for Nick and Jay or Jay. Nick was definitely a dark and cruel ML that may not be palatable to everyone. Jay isn’t my type of girlfailure, so I wasn’t sold with her. But this was still, a 2.5⭐️ that I round up as I really enjoyed Nick.
Hm.
I have thoughts.
<b>LIKES</b>
✅ As always, Nick is a cruel ML who has a plan for everything. Good on him.
✅ Jay’s mother finally gets her comeuppance. She was thoroughly unlikable and Campbell did a great job of that!!
<b>DISLIKES</b>
❌ I don’t think I’ll ever like Jay/Justine. Dark romances are a hit or miss with FLs in MF DRs. I enjoy girl failures, but Jay was just pathetic in a “I don’t know why I should care about you” way. I get the story wanted her pathetic, but when the whole world is somehow against the FL, it feels…oddly contrived? To me—subjectively, personally, just my opinion—I lose interest in an MC that the author goes at length to make Gaia’s most hated child. At the same time, books where the MC is Gaia’s most favored child don’t appeal to me either. Why? Because I don’t see a reason for it. As in: what reason do so many characters have to be offended by or in love with the MC? Because…they exist? Even the MC being the daughter of a sex worker—so? Unless Jay’s mother was a highly visible sex worker and porn star, then I can see the sleaziness towards her. But…these were rumors? I’m trying to understand this. I understand why the author isolated the FL this much. But narratively, I never saw the reason for it. She was pathetic. And…yup.
❌ Non-linear storytelling confused me. This was my gripe with the last book too. There was a lot of back and forth in time that wasn’t really justified. Authors do this to give their story some mystery in revealing things. But in reality, you still need to justify if that mystery is needed and how to execute it. I didn’t care for the time jumps in the first book. I cared for them less in this book when the author forewent the appropriate tenses to mark a flash back and we’d be back in the present with no discernible sign.
❌ This is small, but the grammar issues kinda were ehhhh. Like—a new speaker of dialogue means a new paragraph. Unless Nick is now he/she—which is fine, I read books where characters have dual or carte blanche pronouns—then he should have he/him consistently. From the lengthy asides too, I just…wish this was edited better.
❌ Ending was kinda… Huh. Just rushed maybe? I was surprised at just it ended.
<b>WHAT WOULD HAVE IMPROVED MY RATING</b>
✨ More hard editing into not just grammar but craftmanship and execution. If the world is going to he against Jay, that’s fine—but prepare a reason for it. It’s one thing for Jay to think the world is against her when it isn’t. It’s another when it is for no other reason than the author said so.
✨ A little more warning through visuals or tense switching would help a lot with any sort of flashback.
<b>OVERALL</b>
I read this story more for Nick than for Nick and Jay or Jay. Nick was definitely a dark and cruel ML that may not be palatable to everyone. Jay isn’t my type of girlfailure, so I wasn’t sold with her. But this was still, a 2.5⭐️ that I round up as I really enjoyed Nick.