Sunday, October 30, 2016

Review: Pendulum by L.C. Davis

Remus Black is still reeling from an abusive relationship that stripped him of everything -- including his desire for love. Now all he wants is a fresh start halfway across the country, but his new roommate is determined to draw him into his strange world of chains, half-naked men and the infamous Lodge, a BDSM club as lavish as it is secretive.

When Remus is entered into the Lodge's annual Alpha's Pet contest against his will, he finds himself thrown to the Wolf Pack, the very type of men he needs to avoid. What's worse is that the wolves immediately label him a submissive, something he swore he would never be again. Things get even stranger when "wolf" turns out to be far more literal than Remus ever imagined. When both the next-in-line for Alpha and his outcast brother claim Remus as their own, the entire pack is thrown into chaos.

Can Remus learn to embrace the power of submission and choose between the brothers before their rivalry tears the pack apart, or will the tension between them unravel his own sordid past? 

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My Review:
3.5 stars

I feel conflicted about this story because while I loved it, I also had some serious issues with it. First, I enjoyed the characters a lot in this story. Remus was my favorite, and it was so much fun getting to see his evolution as a character, which is still changing and shows a lot of promise. I’m still warming up to Sebastain. The ending didn’t help his image in my mind, and I’m pretty irritated with him. I understand his reservations and why he’s acting the way he is, but he supposedly loved Remus so much and yet when that love is challenged, he sinks. So yeah, not too happy with Sebastian right now.

Victor though…Victor just broke my heart. He went from being a character I didn’t really connect with to one of my favorites. He is loyal to a fault and I can’t wait to see what happens in book 2 now that he’s got his shot (though with all the angst going on at the end of the book, he’s going to have to work for it).

Several of the secondary characters are interesting as well, particularly Foster. I loved his cryptic messages ‘cause I’m just a sucker for slow reveals like that, and I can’t wait to see what comes of them. I’m also really interested in what’s going to happen with Arthur as I can see it going one of two ways, both of which would be extremely interesting and have huge consequences.

The plot was also really interesting. I have to admit, I did not see where this story was going, and I can’t wait to see where it’ll go from here. However, I wasn’t a big fan of the ending. I don’t really know how to describe it. It doesn’t really end on even an HFN, but it’s not a total cliffhanger either. In fact, it doesn’t feel like there was really any resolution at all. I’m not a big fan of these types of endings as it feels like a tease, and not a good one. The last line is literally “Remus Black was dead, and I was the thing that killed him.” At least warn me that the book is going to end without an HFN or without much of a resolution at all. I mean, I kind of saw an ending like this coming once I got near the end of the book and it does fit where the story is at that point, but I was not expecting it at all going in to the book, which again, both good and bad. The epilogue is then basically a big plot twist at the very end of the book. I actually liked this, as it helps set up the conflict in book 2 and was a real “oh snap” moment. I enjoy books that tease little hooks at the end. However, I don’t like that we don’t really have a satisfying resolution whatsoever before the epilogue.

My biggest issue was that the book could have used some major edits. Not only were there quite a few spelling and grammar errors, which kept pulling me out of the story, there was a lot of extraneous information and scenes that could have been cut down to improve the flow and the plot. Some of these scenes actually hampered the overall story and there were some continuity errors.

Even with its flaws, I absolutely loved this book. I really enjoyed the characters and the plot, and am very interested in finding out what happens next in Liminality. So if you can put aside the lack of editing, I highly recommend giving Pendulum a read as it is a great adventure and the start of a promising series.


*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

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