Top critical review
2.0 out of 5 starsDirty birds
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 16, 2019
Losing your last bit of family sucks. Waking up in another world, completely lost, new rules and a new body suck even worse. The fun part, other than hateful attitudes, is that the gallant gryphon that's supposed to be lurking inside seems more like a horny chicken. Yay! So, this whole other nonsense about prophecies spouted by sarcastic ghosts is just icing on the cake.
Spoilers ahead.
I love Ivy Asher. Her Sentinel series is amazing. Her Fools standalone is hysterical. This one? It sort of fell flat for me. I liked the concept. Something in the fleshing out just lost it.
*How could a reasonable person dropped into a new world not want to know more about it?
*There's a war going on, wouldn't you want to learn why? Basic vagueness of magical slavery doesn't cut it for me.
*Wtf is up with the men in this world? Are they Klingons in their foreplay? Slamming down, biting, hitting. The not taking no for answer pushes it from Klingon into rape, though. And then shaming her for using the only method available to her to make him stop?? Oh. Hell. No. He was already on shaky ground with me as an H, he lost it after that. I hope he's served up with BBQ sauce in book 2. No. Means. No. Especially with the background scene he provided. The misunderstanding from their first scene made him seem like he wouldn't be a knuckle dragger. Then he 180ed and ended up a complete jerk. It wasn't a lack of character growth, it was character devolvement. BTW, one yes isn't a blanket yes for all future attempts.
*She's got an itch, we get it. She was looking for a lay before she got realm swiped. New layout just provided new opportunities. And I liked Sutton. A lot better than the 2 freaking turkeys that are apparently supposed to be her "men". He was sweet, actually talked to her, not at her. One of her Hs had some random chick on his lap but she slow dances and he loses it? Screw him and his double standards.
*As her hormones keep getting yanked into knots, wouldn't a girl want to know just a little more about gryphon mating habits? Since her inner chicken seems to be the one calling the shots?
*I get that no matter where you wind up, there's always going to be opposition. But why is Loa being so hateful? From the go, just pure ugliness but no reason why.
*We get these 2 week gaps, yet she seems to learn almost nothing in them. Barely fighting skills, not a peep about culture, she's building them a hot water system but she's been there months and still knows nothing of importance.
*If some ghost popped up and told me that I was the key to ending magical slavery, something that pretty much everyone currently hates her for (yay lucky genetics), I would be grabbing that knowledge with both hands. I'd want to help people, if for no other reason than it'd leave me a lot less worried about knives in my back. And get me back home away from creepy thing 1&2, the less than lovely love interests.
*Pheromones or not, her gryphon should be very interested in protecting itself, no matter if it's her human form or animal form. It doesn't seem very keen to do so. Not her body, not her head, not her heart. Being injured on arrival would only slow it down. If it has healing powers, why would it take weeks when a broken bone is healed in hours? Does it not have any inherited memory? Does it want to see her human half demeaned by hateful would-be lovers? I don't get it.
*On Earth there were several types of shifters. Does this world only have gryphons? If so, why?
I'm always amazed at the world building Ivy Asher does. Little bits of history, culture clues, hints via conversations, breadcrumbs that leave you looking for more of these amazing new worlds. This one felt more like a bludgeoning than a leading. I want book 2, but only because I hope there's some way she can get her inner chicken to break the bonds to those 2 and snag Sutton. I don't care of it's some role they are playing. I don't care if they're worried about her possible "powers". If they were that worried she wouldn't be in their secret hideout. She'd be under guard in a cell or a remote cabin away from potential victims. There is no plausible excuse for their behavior and I'm crossing my fingers that she grabs Sutton and gets to go back to Earth. She can introduce him to Netflix, ice cream and hot tubs.
