SOCIETY OF WISHES
by Elise Kova
Genre: New Adult, Paranormal
Pub Date: Jan 29, 2018
Publisher: Silver Wing Press
Length: 240 pages
Spoilers: MARKED
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I received this free digital ARC from the author in exchange for my honest review.
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR.
Josephina Espinosa makes her living as a hacker-for-hire in the Lone Star Republic, a remnant of the fractured U.S.A. That is, until the day she and her best friend are gunned down in a government raid.
With her dying breath, Jo uses magical lore passed down from her grandmother to summon a wish-granter. Her wish? To save her friend’s life. Except wishes have costs, and for Jo, the price is the erasure of her entire mortal existence.
Now, as the most recent addition to the mysterious Society of Wishes, Jo must form a new “life” alongside the seven other members, one of which being her savior himself. Living as an occupant of the Society’s lavish mansion should be quite the perk, but while it is furnished with everything its inhabitants could possibly need, it lacks one thing—freedom.
Her otherworldly identity crisis takes a backseat, however, when Jo learns that the friend she sacrificed everything for is headed down the same path to ruin. Jumping in head-first, Jo uses her newfound magical abilities to protect him, only to realize that the ripples of her actions have far-reaching consequences. When the Society’s aloof leader Snow decides to give her a taste of his own ancient magic, Jo discovers that there are threads woven into the tapestry of her new reality that reach far beyond the wishes she is now required to grant. Ones that, if tugged on, could mean the unraveling of the world itself.
Unexplained
The world in this story seems amazing. I love the concept, but I never actually got to understand the world. All of the characters speak in cryptic riddles and indirect answers leaving the reader confused about how the world actually works. I get that it’s supposed to be offering bits and pieces of information, but even the pieces were confusing. It made it really difficult to stay interested when I couldn’t make sense of what was going on.
Slow
This is not a fast read. It’s not long, but it’s not quick either. The story moves at a steady pace, but it acts more as an introduction to the world and the characters than anything else. It felt like a set-up book more than the beginning of a story. This also made it quite difficult to stay interested.
Characters and Relationships
I… am not even quite sure what to say about this section but I know I need to say something. To be quite honest, I had a hard time distinguishing some of the characters from each other, particularly the male characters. Most of the characters got very little in the way of any introduction and none really got any backstory, making it near impossible to understand or care for any of the characters. There were also tons of commentary made about characters throughout the book that were never explained.
Questions
Sooooo many questions! Questions about the world. Questions about the characters. Questions about everything and next to NONE of them were answered. It was beyond frustrating to have a piece of the world explained, but not put in clear terms. Or a character was introduced/described that offered some interesting details and then were never elaborated on, just adding to the ever-growing pool of questions.
Pan
What the fuck was up with pan? She’s like… a cat demon child woman thing? She’s been there longer than the elf so is she some other mystical creature that no longer exists? And why is she shady as fuck? She is literally the most confusing and least explained character in the story yet she seems to play a significant role. It’s maddening how little information is offered to the reader.
Melanie Noell Bernard 