When I started this book, I wasn't sure if I liked Josiah and was wondering if I'd regret my decision to listen. He initially came off as a bit of a callous, self-centered womanizer. As the book progressed though, it was possible to see that there was a lot more to him - not to say that he's the sweetest guy on Earth, but he definitely grew on me. (There are a couple of fun characters, including a talking tarantula. The talking tarantula was honestly the character that made me decide to continue on with the book when I wasn't sure if Josiah was someone I'd want to get to know).
The book is told in alternating first person POV, between Josiah and Khaleda Morningstar, a succubus he rescued from Hell just prior to the start of this book. Khaleda also frequently thought Josiah was a bit of a jerk too, even if he did rescue her. It was interesting seeing the contrast between what Josiah had going on in his head vs. what Khaleda thought he had going on in his head, (and vice versa). Khaleda definitely had her own issues, trauma to process, and flaws too. Although some readers might find miscommunication and misunderstanding tiresome, an ability to communicate well would not have been realistic for these two characters.
This book isn't a romance between Josiah and Khaleda though, even if (at the risk of a spoiler), there is a small amount of sex. (Khaleda is a succubus afterall). Instead, their relationship is a semi-reluctant allyship while they figure out how to tolerate one another and deal with their own internal issues in the midst of a rather large crisis. A part of the story that is almost a romance is one between Josiah and Daniel - all I'll say about that is that their feelings and interactions are seriously complicated and not exactly warm and fuzzy much of the time. Some people have a god complex - Daniel leans toward the other side, you might say.
As the book progressed, along with Josiah becoming more likeable, (at least I found him so), and Khaleda getting her head on straight, the suspense grew for the overall story arc too. I did not like when I had to stop listening for real life, because I wanted to see how things played out.
I had been meaning to read this book for some time, but I hadn't had a chance to get through all of the preceding Lazarus Codex books. I love audio books, (and find it easier to complete them while multitasking), so when this book came out on audio, I decided to take a chance and skip ahead. Having done so now, I definitely want to go back now to that series. This is not to say that I couldn't follow what was going on, but I think it would have added something.
With regard to the narration for the audio, the chapters from Josiah's POV have a male narrator (Cowlrick) and Khaleda's have a female narrator (DeWard). I personally found this jarring, as Cowlrick's voice for Khaleda was nothing like DeWard's voice, and DeWard's Australian accent left something to be desired, at least for me. I felt that Cowlrick did the various male characters' voices very well - I enjoyed those portions of the narration quite a bit, and for that, I would not hesitate to listen to another book with him narrating. (I will say that his female voices were on the deep side & I can't decide if they were good or bad, since DeWard's female voices were so incredibly different and it might have thrown off my perception). I might even listen to the next book, now that I've gotten used to the narration. For my own sanity, I decided to view it as Josiah telling the story from his point of view and Khaleda doing the same - and each mimicking the other characters' voices as one might do in real life.
All that being said, I definitely will be reading - or listening to - the next book. (And I've already started Lazarus Codex again to catch up.)
Fractured Souls
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This is my favorite of Copen's books that I've read so far, and I've liked all of them. Good balance of action and development of story and characters. Copen writes well in the urban fantasy niche. I look forward to reading more.
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