Dani.Reads.Books's Reviews > Metal Slinger

** spoiler alert ** I wanted to love this novel. At first, I did. I was fully enraptured by the ending, how it fooled me, the crazy wild ride, it was great. Then, once I had finished the novel and really started thinking about it, I couldn’t help but find more and more plot holes throughout the novel. Many of these can be rectified within the next novel, and I’d be so happy if they were, but there were also a series of inconsistencies throughout that took me out of the novel.

What I liked:
-I enjoyed the romance and I liked the whole “match” connection that they had (for the most part).
-I think this book did something that not many romance novels do a good job of: actively demonstrating how these two fell in love. The forced proximity, the special moments, the banter. I actively saw (read) these two fall in love and it was beautiful.
-The writing is really easy to read and understand. It’s fast paced and it doesn’t stop.
-The ending did have me fooled. I didn’t see it coming. I was very shocked.

Inconsistencies:
-Our heroine’s eyes are described as hazel, then she’s told they’re blue later on when she’s with Merrow, she says “your eyes are blue now” and he responds “so are yours.” Then they’re hazel again by the end of the novel.
-In a conversation with another couple, we’re told the woman was disinherited because she was awakened and married a commoner and then two pages later the prose states she actually hadn’t awakened. So now I’m confused. That whole conversation was also pointless and made me mad because they were supposed to be getting more information on their match and got no new information.
-There is a reveal with Grenadine that doesn’t make sense because wouldn’t Acker have recognized Grenadine when he was on the same ship as her, living right next to her, and when they pay her off before they depart the ship?
-There are a lot of times when the characters’ movements or actions aren’t explained well and it’s clear the author changed something but didn’t change everything around that.
-There are some moments of dialogue, especially at the end, that don’t make sense. The characters dialogue clearly changed and the author didn’t change the dialogue around it.
-In the beginning of the novel it’s established Jovie can call her knife TO her. So, wherever the knife is, it goes from that point, to Jovie. Later on in the novel, Jovie says she will call her knife TO her after 3 days. 3 days later she has a scene where she has to GO TO the knife to get it and then come back, ultimately so that we get a scene where her Mother gets to see her. But that makes no sense with the magic system established.

Questions I needed answered:
Assuming Jovie knew everything about her heritage while living aboard that ship with Wren, I need to know:
-Why she elected to stay there that entire time?
-Who actually kidnapped her or was she kidnapped? How did she actually end up there now that we know she’s aware of her parentage?
-What actually happened with Wren and why were they all exiled if Wren is supposedly a good guy?
-Why does Jovie claim to be the leader of the resistance? And what resistance is she leading? Is it -Wren’s or is it her own or is it Kai’s?
-Why her Mother didn’t do shit to get her back once she knew where her long lost daughter was?

With regards to the evil king:
-We have a King who’s been in power for hundreds of years and yet knows nothing about matches or the power that yields?
-Ok we have two people who have this incredible ability, because they are matched, to be invisible and in whatever place their match is at and the King 1. Doesn’t realize that the match leads to extra incredible powers and 2. Doesn’t realize the potential that would give to his son and ultimately to him and his quest for world domination? Seriously? This King doesn’t realize that these powers would make Jovie and Aleck incredible spies among other uses?
-The ending arc where we have the King who just wants Jovie to be a concubine but that neglects the fact that 1. He needs her Mother as an ally and this would do nothing to win back favor and 2. Jovie’s Mother has the bigger army. Why would this King, who again isn’t stupid, do something so politically dumb?

With regards to the world:
-What is this heir system? It didn’t make any sense to me whatsoever.
-I’m going to need to know what is actually going on with Wren and if he’s a bad guy or a good guy because why he was pushed out and why they’re exiled to the ships now makes no sense.
-Who is the rebellion against? Everyone? Just the king? Wren? Who?
-How the heck did Jovie convince Beau to do that? The fact that it happened off page and we didn’t see an ounce of it doesn’t make sense. I would love to see this explained more in the second book. The fact that this is first person narrative but now we have an unreliable narrator is kind of insane to me.

What I didn’t like in the Romance:
-First I’d like to say that I don’t recall Jovie actually ever trying to actively demonstrate how horrible Aleck’s Father was to him or trying in any way to sway him to see through his Father’s lies. She didn’t even try with him yet somehow managed to convince Beau in .5 seconds.
-The actions at the end? He hits her? No. No I don’t care but no. He literally said he “would never hurt her ever not for any reason” and then this happens and he is beating up on her? No thanks.
-The “I don’t trust you” argument is so repetitive and this couple has the same argument 5x.
-The whole “concubine” arc at the end makes no sense in the world or in the political machinations developed.

Ultimately, yes I’ll be reading the second book because I do want to know what happens. I do. I also want these plot holes filled and I want better development. I want to see what happens. I’m also incredibly frustrated by this read because it had so much potential, but did not live up to it in my opinion.