3 out of 5 stars
E-book. Kindle Unlimited. 1st edition, 350 pages. Published March 8th 2019 by Self-Published
Blurb:
Sebastion survived as a fox among wolves by running from everything he ever loved.
Sebastian is an omega who has never even dreamed of finding his alpha. A fox raised among werewolves, Seb has spent his entire life fighting to survive, until Liam rescues him from a demon from his past.
As an alpha werewolf, Liam is everything Sebastian has spent the last year, and his entire life, avoiding. Except that when they are together everything makes sense, the stars align, and fated mates becomes Seb’s reality rather than fiction.
When Seb’s past catches up with them, he and Liam will need to accept the bond or die fighting the darkness that is determined to tear them apart.
This MM romance features fated mates, an alpha and omega, a ghost cat, a snarky kitsune, a lot of action, and some super hot romance.
Likes:
- Some interesting concepts.
- Liam’s pack was different from the traditional structure.
- Sebastian wasn’t a pushover.
- Omegas weren’t weak or submissive.
- Good fight scenes.
- Liam and Sebastian were both interesting characters.
- Full Metal Alchemist reference.
Dislikes:
- The prologue was dark as fuck.
- Most of the werewolves were too ‘dominant assholes’ for my tastes.
- Sebastian made some TSTL decisions.
- Liam was too perfect.
- Rape.
- The Underhill chapters had me confused.
I picked up this book because I wanted something angsty. And, yes, it was angsty. The entire book was absolutely saturated in angst. Which was what I was expecting.
What I wasn’t expecting was how dark the first chapter was. The book literally starts with Sebastian having been beaten, raped, and left for dead in a pool of his own blood. It was darker than I wanted, and I put the book down. But I was lazy, and didn’t want to go searching for another book to scratch my angst itch, so I ended up picking it up again.
Credit where it’s due, I was interested enough to finish the book. But it’s not the kind of story I usually gravitate to, and I won’t continue on with the series. The werewolves were a little too ‘macho dominant assholes’ for my tastes. Misogyny, homophobia, and bullying are huge factors in the Volkov’s pack.
On the other hand, Liam’s pack was different. He had high ranking women and was open about his relationship with Sebastian. It was a breath of fresh air in an otherwise oppressive culture, and it made the book readable for me. Liam was a genuinely nice guy. In fact, I’d say that he’s perfect. It almost felt like he couldn’t have any problems of his own because Sebastian had enough for the both of them.
Obviously, Sebastian had a whole heap of problems, and not just because of the situation he was in at the beginning of the book. His problems were almost a character in and of itself. But I liked that he was trying. Trying to live, trying to find a place where he could be happy. Most of Sebastian’s actions and decisions made sense given what he’s endured. However, there were a few TSTL – too stupid to live – moments that really pissed me off. Still, for all his faults, Sebastian wasn’t a weaking, despite the fact that he was an omega.
In fact, one of the things I liked most about the world building was that omegas weren’t actually submissive, despite what people thought. Sebastian described them as “They were other. Neither dominant nor submissive.” Omegas settled a pack and made it better.
There was more to Sebastian than just his omega status. It was obvious what it was since it’s in the series title, even though Sebastian himself didn’t know until later in the book. When it was revealed, it gave me Naruto vibes, and I can’t help but wonder if Naruto was an inspiration for the story, since the author clearly knows at least a little about anime given the Full Metal Alchemist reference. But whereas Naruto is an upbeat guy, Sebastian felt like a combination of Naruto’s situation and Sasuke’s issues.
I did get confused during the Underhill chapters. I wasn’t sure if they were real or a dream. This book definitely had a lot in it, and I got the feeling that the author was trying hard to build a world that could easily contain several books, and that the foundation was being laid. It made the story take some unnecessary detours that I wish had been cut out.
This book definitely had some interesting concepts. The fight scenes were well written, and the romance was fine. Despite that, I have no desire to continue on with the series.
Love is Love Reviews 