Q U I C K S T A T S
Characters-⭐. 5
Setting- ⭐⭐⭐
Writing style- ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Overall rating- ⭐⭐⭐
// Content Warning: Blood / Body horror / Gore / Incest (implied) / Violence // (A really dark book in general)
Publisher: Little Blackbird LLC
Age group: Adult
Genre(s): Fantasy
Pub date: November 1st 2021
P R E M I S E
Among the immortals that inhabit our world, Arnaud Demeure is known as the man who can fulfill your one true wish or who can also conjure your worst nightmares.
Eight invitations are sent to eight immortals, and when Arnaud Demeure hosts a party, none refuse his request. Why have they been summoned? Is it for a celebration or does a sinister fate await them? After all, in the ways of magick, a party can also be a ritual to end the world.
As the mystery deepens, the attendees must overcome their personal grudges to unravel the threads of Demeure's grand plan that has been centuries in the making. But, with one of the guests secretly working with their host to sabotage the group's every move, it seems impossible to look behind the curtain to learn Demeure's true intentions.
With each guest hiding dark secrets and darker intentions, will they be able to uncover Demeure's mysterious motives or will the party prove to be the deadly nightmare that they each fear?
M Y R E V I E W
This book shifts between timelines; the past is told in first person by an anonymous narrator who turns out to be the main antagonist, Arnaud Demeure (this reminds me so much of the final scene in A Little Life except it wasn't narrated by the antagonist) and the present is all third person and follows a group of eight immortals (who I will address as 'kids' every now and then) somehow stuck in this weird alternative reality where time isn't accounted for (or something). A lot of physics stuff going around there and although I didn't have the right amount of brain cells to comprehend the systems enough to provide an explanation, I do have the enough to understand that this was the coolest thing ever.
Aside from all the sparkle unicorn jazz, I did find the storyline a tad bit confusing. There were too many characters and was somehow the new Keeping up with the Kardashians™. But I do remember there being a dude called Daniel who seemed really nice I think and an Alex who would topple the patriarchy with her bare hands (Queen shit if I do say so myself). Valentina and Arnaud gave me real Camila-Charles vibes and to be honest, I was revolted (Charles and Camila are characters from The Secret History). I get her brother was supposed to play a psychopath but ??? Why the thing going on there, bestie? You could've done anything and you go with that.
But hey! We see all kinds of cool supernatural beings and I think I saw a sparkling vampire at some point in the story and there was a werewolf (you know, like the guy from Teen Wolf AKA the show I haven't tried watching because it doesn't look appealing). At this point it was literally The Vampire Academy except vampire is swapped with super naturals here. While I did enjoy the book as a whole, I was thrown off by the multiple biblical references which I am not very familiar with so I couldn't really, you know, understand most part of it.
Even though it took me a while to get accustomed to the sporadically changing perspectives (and timelines), I really enjoyed the build-up and if the entire book had followed the pace the first act had, it would have been so much better. I didn't understand the ending. At all. But I did enjoy this book and would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a dark fantasy spanning decades (or centuries) with a full cast of morally grey characters where the 'good' guys suddenly turn evil. Dark.
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