Next for Mark This Book Monday, the sequel to the previous review! Reading and reviewing back to back!
And this one was also part of my September is for Sequels challenge, which btw I failed! My goal was to read 8 sequels and I only managed 6!
Tainted by A.E. Rought
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Tainted is the sequel to Broken and getting it from NetGalley/AngryRobotBooks was what really made me read Broken already, since it had been in my list for a while. As always I'll try to keep this review spoiler free, but some spoilers for Broken might come up.
Tainted starts quite shortly after the ending of Broken, and since I read them one after the other on the same day, it worked pretty well for me.
Broken was told from Emma's POV and Tainted is told from Alex's POV. It works pretty well with the storyline of the book and offers a different insight to what we already knew from Broken.
Alex and Emma are dealing with the aftermath of everything that happened in Broken. They need to figure out a bit their relationship, Emma's parents and specially her mom are a bit more protective than usual, and Alex has inherited quite a mess to clean up from his dad if he really wants to distance himself from all the ugliness that Dr Franks championed.
Two characters that were barely in the background in Broken take a new prevalence in Tainted, Paul and Hailey, both important in Alex's past and both becoming massively important on what the future would hold for both Alex and Emma.
The change of pace in this book was quite something, where Broken was more slow on building up things and focused so much for so long on Alex & Emma's relationship, Tainted has plenty more action and quite a few unexpected surprises and twists, which were quite welcome! Still it seemed quite obvious for me who the "bad guy" behind all the strange happenings was, even if I didn't know clearly all details, so it was a bit frustrating having Alex distracted and muddled with details and not being able to figure out the bigger picture more easily.
More action doesn't mean no romance or less emotional content, I got quite emotional by then end of the book, so be warned, there can be tears!
Tainted was darker, even if still not a proper Gothic novel, it had enough disquieting and disturbing events to put it nearly there. Well deserved 3 stars.
View all my reviews
And this one was also part of my September is for Sequels challenge, which btw I failed! My goal was to read 8 sequels and I only managed 6!
Tainted by A.E. RoughtMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Tainted is the sequel to Broken and getting it from NetGalley/AngryRobotBooks was what really made me read Broken already, since it had been in my list for a while. As always I'll try to keep this review spoiler free, but some spoilers for Broken might come up.
Tainted starts quite shortly after the ending of Broken, and since I read them one after the other on the same day, it worked pretty well for me.
Broken was told from Emma's POV and Tainted is told from Alex's POV. It works pretty well with the storyline of the book and offers a different insight to what we already knew from Broken.
Alex and Emma are dealing with the aftermath of everything that happened in Broken. They need to figure out a bit their relationship, Emma's parents and specially her mom are a bit more protective than usual, and Alex has inherited quite a mess to clean up from his dad if he really wants to distance himself from all the ugliness that Dr Franks championed.
Two characters that were barely in the background in Broken take a new prevalence in Tainted, Paul and Hailey, both important in Alex's past and both becoming massively important on what the future would hold for both Alex and Emma.
The change of pace in this book was quite something, where Broken was more slow on building up things and focused so much for so long on Alex & Emma's relationship, Tainted has plenty more action and quite a few unexpected surprises and twists, which were quite welcome! Still it seemed quite obvious for me who the "bad guy" behind all the strange happenings was, even if I didn't know clearly all details, so it was a bit frustrating having Alex distracted and muddled with details and not being able to figure out the bigger picture more easily.
More action doesn't mean no romance or less emotional content, I got quite emotional by then end of the book, so be warned, there can be tears!
Tainted was darker, even if still not a proper Gothic novel, it had enough disquieting and disturbing events to put it nearly there. Well deserved 3 stars.
View all my reviews
I like it when the pacing is moved up a notch in a sequel, especially once that was more world building oriented in the first installment so you don't miss out on that either. I'm glad you liked it, Pili! I'll have to keep an eye out for Broken! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot, Giselle!
DeleteIsn't it amazing that we find a book average while reading it but when we reach the end we realise how emotionally attached we got? Glad you enjoyed Tainted more than the previous book, Pili!
ReplyDeleteJeann @ Happy Indulgence
Thanks Jeann!
DeleteAnd yeah, sometimes you don't realize how much you've connected to some characters till the ending!
Oh, I didn't know that this was out on Netgalley! I'm going to have to go see if I can get it! Thanks so much for participating in my September is for Sequels Challenge. I hope to see you again next year!
ReplyDeleteI will be back for sure, Lisa! I'm hoping I'll do better next year!
DeleteHope you'll enjoy Tainted!
This sounds like an exciting series!! Its going on my tbr!
ReplyDeleteIt was quite an interesting retelling!
DeleteI've not heard of either of these books! Not sure if I'll read this one but certain aspects interest me...such as you being so wrapped up you cried.
ReplyDeleteMy Friends Are Fiction
Yeah, it was quite well done in the emotional aspect! Do let me know if you check them out, Kristen!
Delete