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A review by courtney_saba
Wicked All Night by Jeaniene Frost
2.0
Wow. I never thought I would be giving lower than a 5 star for a Jeaniene Frost book, but here we are.
Listen. I enjoy Frost's Night Huntress world immensely. It's one of my favorite series of all time. But this one had some serious flaws.
****warning: spoilers ahead. Proceed at your own risk****
1) everyone was overpowered. Ian did a stupid thing with a relic, became unbelievably powerful with a potentially lethal consequence, and was saved in the end VERY conveniently. I love seeing power and being awestruck by abilities, but it has to be believable and have flaws/consequences. Yes, there was a lethal aspect to the relic, but we never really saw it. So it lost its meaning and deadliness. It just became a convenient plot device.
Ranging from Mencheres, Vlad, Bones, to Veritas herself, everyone was overpowered and doing things so easily when before they struggled to do so much. They also felt like caricatures of their previous personas, all of them. Saying B movie shit and acting unlike themselves.
I get it, immortal god plot, but come on. The overpoweredness threw out Frost's previous writing and rules. Frost's prior installments were so well done, with believable plots and action packed situations and steamy romance, but this story was bogged down with convenience and made me feel exasperated most, if not all, of the time. Shame.
2) romance took a backseat. There was one sex scene, I think. Maybe a short second one? I don't need a lot of sex, but a paranormal romance IS a paranormal romance for a reason! And all Ian and Veritas could do was yell at each other because of their respective overprotectiveness. Repeatedly. It got old real fast. They are one of my favorite couples in this world because of their willingness to do anything just because they want to and because of their delicious wickness. I didn't see this as much in this installment. Shame.
3) it was entirely too rushed. Everything was extremely convenient and the ending was dull. Frost tried to add too many things into this when she should've just stuck to the style of her previous books. Teleporting became a thing and now every one can be in a place super quickly, overpowered people again, easy wins and little losses. I remember her prior books having consequences and losses that HURT (still not over Rodney), and this book had no stakes or risks. Veritas was caught in a net for the entire battle and so she couldn't use her abilities (after all the talk about how powerful she was, a demigod in a vampire's clothing, and then she doesn't even live up to the hype?? What?? DISAPPOINTING). They got rid of one of the gods suuuuuuper easily, so it made the hype about their powers meaningless. This book just felt like Frost didn't put much effort into it, didn't follow her own book canon, and needed to spit out a book for a certain deadline. That's it. Shame.
4) loose ends kept loose, re: the vampire council (what's gonna happen with them and all the prejudiced laws they abolished? Which was also pretty convenient and unbelievable since these laws had been in place for thousands of years. I get it, the risk of not doing it could be catastrophic for the world, but the build up until that point was stupidly convenient), the Cain cult (they brought Timothy to the forefront in book 2 a little and then forgot all about him for the rest. I get it, other things to worry about, but still. That's a threat. Maybe Frost has plans to write more with this plot point in the future), Veritas and her father (definitely wasn't resolved or left at a great place), all of our favorites and the outcome of the vampire/ghoul alliance and the battle...(Ian and Veritas left waaaaaaay too quickly. Frost normally has pretty abrupt endings, but this one takes the cake for the most sudden ending of all her books. I needed to know about the aftermath!).
5) the overprotectiveness and the lack of trust between Ian and Veritas. This was annoying. More annoying since we're in the third book and these two should've gotten over these things and worked through them already! They were worse than Bones and Cat, and they had some definite issues, too. The back and forth of "no, I'll protect you, NO, I'll protect YOU" got tedious and they didn't just trust one another! They had to constantly say "trust me" just for the other to calm down. There was a bit of a lack in communication too, and both of them weren't very forthcoming with their secrets, so it became a whole ordeal in the book and it was just so dramatic and irritating.
6) Veritas and Ian becoming stupid, reckless, dumb messes that weren't as intelligent as they were in the past. They weren't THINKING. They didn't make the best decisions and they let impulsivity and recklessness take control. Ian is known for these things, but he's also a master manipulator, clever, cruelly designed, and extremely calculating. Veritas used cold logic and rationality her whole life, for 4 thousand years, and now she's this stupid puddled mess of stupidity? She forgot about her own powers, for God's sake! They both made out-of-character decisions, making the whole book exasperating. I missed who they were in book 1, and really, who they were in the prior books when they were first introduced.
7) plain and simple: the evil, world conquering gods plot. I didn't enjoy this plot. It was exaggerated, boring, unbelievable, and just too much! I remember Frost's first book of the Night Huntress world, Halfway to the Grave, and that was about stopping an evil vampire who was involved in human/sex trafficking (!!!!!!). That book's plot was simple and uncomplicated and REAL. Maybe it's because she's on the 14th(?) book of this world and so she has to come up with more stuff to write about, and the further you get into a world, the more complicated it gets, but still. Though, the books after book 5 in Cat and Bones's series weren't as entertaining either. So maybe it's Frost losing momentum the further she gets into a certain series, I don't know, but this one was disappointing. Shame.
Book 1 and book 2 of this series were worlds above this one. Not to mention, the other books in this world were so much better as well. I'd say stick with the previous books, read book 1 and 2 of this series, and leave this one alone.
Happy reading, Goodreads fiends.
Listen. I enjoy Frost's Night Huntress world immensely. It's one of my favorite series of all time. But this one had some serious flaws.
****warning: spoilers ahead. Proceed at your own risk****
1) everyone was overpowered. Ian did a stupid thing with a relic, became unbelievably powerful with a potentially lethal consequence, and was saved in the end VERY conveniently. I love seeing power and being awestruck by abilities, but it has to be believable and have flaws/consequences. Yes, there was a lethal aspect to the relic, but we never really saw it. So it lost its meaning and deadliness. It just became a convenient plot device.
Ranging from Mencheres, Vlad, Bones, to Veritas herself, everyone was overpowered and doing things so easily when before they struggled to do so much. They also felt like caricatures of their previous personas, all of them. Saying B movie shit and acting unlike themselves.
I get it, immortal god plot, but come on. The overpoweredness threw out Frost's previous writing and rules. Frost's prior installments were so well done, with believable plots and action packed situations and steamy romance, but this story was bogged down with convenience and made me feel exasperated most, if not all, of the time. Shame.
2) romance took a backseat. There was one sex scene, I think. Maybe a short second one? I don't need a lot of sex, but a paranormal romance IS a paranormal romance for a reason! And all Ian and Veritas could do was yell at each other because of their respective overprotectiveness. Repeatedly. It got old real fast. They are one of my favorite couples in this world because of their willingness to do anything just because they want to and because of their delicious wickness. I didn't see this as much in this installment. Shame.
3) it was entirely too rushed. Everything was extremely convenient and the ending was dull. Frost tried to add too many things into this when she should've just stuck to the style of her previous books. Teleporting became a thing and now every one can be in a place super quickly, overpowered people again, easy wins and little losses. I remember her prior books having consequences and losses that HURT (still not over Rodney), and this book had no stakes or risks. Veritas was caught in a net for the entire battle and so she couldn't use her abilities (after all the talk about how powerful she was, a demigod in a vampire's clothing, and then she doesn't even live up to the hype?? What?? DISAPPOINTING). They got rid of one of the gods suuuuuuper easily, so it made the hype about their powers meaningless. This book just felt like Frost didn't put much effort into it, didn't follow her own book canon, and needed to spit out a book for a certain deadline. That's it. Shame.
4) loose ends kept loose, re: the vampire council (what's gonna happen with them and all the prejudiced laws they abolished? Which was also pretty convenient and unbelievable since these laws had been in place for thousands of years. I get it, the risk of not doing it could be catastrophic for the world, but the build up until that point was stupidly convenient), the Cain cult (they brought Timothy to the forefront in book 2 a little and then forgot all about him for the rest. I get it, other things to worry about, but still. That's a threat. Maybe Frost has plans to write more with this plot point in the future), Veritas and her father (definitely wasn't resolved or left at a great place), all of our favorites and the outcome of the vampire/ghoul alliance and the battle...(Ian and Veritas left waaaaaaay too quickly. Frost normally has pretty abrupt endings, but this one takes the cake for the most sudden ending of all her books. I needed to know about the aftermath!).
5) the overprotectiveness and the lack of trust between Ian and Veritas. This was annoying. More annoying since we're in the third book and these two should've gotten over these things and worked through them already! They were worse than Bones and Cat, and they had some definite issues, too. The back and forth of "no, I'll protect you, NO, I'll protect YOU" got tedious and they didn't just trust one another! They had to constantly say "trust me" just for the other to calm down. There was a bit of a lack in communication too, and both of them weren't very forthcoming with their secrets, so it became a whole ordeal in the book and it was just so dramatic and irritating.
6) Veritas and Ian becoming stupid, reckless, dumb messes that weren't as intelligent as they were in the past. They weren't THINKING. They didn't make the best decisions and they let impulsivity and recklessness take control. Ian is known for these things, but he's also a master manipulator, clever, cruelly designed, and extremely calculating. Veritas used cold logic and rationality her whole life, for 4 thousand years, and now she's this stupid puddled mess of stupidity? She forgot about her own powers, for God's sake! They both made out-of-character decisions, making the whole book exasperating. I missed who they were in book 1, and really, who they were in the prior books when they were first introduced.
7) plain and simple: the evil, world conquering gods plot. I didn't enjoy this plot. It was exaggerated, boring, unbelievable, and just too much! I remember Frost's first book of the Night Huntress world, Halfway to the Grave, and that was about stopping an evil vampire who was involved in human/sex trafficking (!!!!!!). That book's plot was simple and uncomplicated and REAL. Maybe it's because she's on the 14th(?) book of this world and so she has to come up with more stuff to write about, and the further you get into a world, the more complicated it gets, but still. Though, the books after book 5 in Cat and Bones's series weren't as entertaining either. So maybe it's Frost losing momentum the further she gets into a certain series, I don't know, but this one was disappointing. Shame.
Book 1 and book 2 of this series were worlds above this one. Not to mention, the other books in this world were so much better as well. I'd say stick with the previous books, read book 1 and 2 of this series, and leave this one alone.
Happy reading, Goodreads fiends.