Review of ‘Deadline’ by Stephanie Ahn
3.75 Stars. I needed a little break from ARC’s so I decided to give ‘Deadline’ a chance. Parts of this book I really enjoyed, others I had some issues with. I had some high expectations before reading this so part of my discontent might be an issue of my own making. On the other hand, I did enjoy this enough to read book 2.
I was impressed with the writing. This was a debut by a college student so that blew me away a bit. Ahn has a good imagination and it showed. I was happy with the world-building. Ahn did not fall into the trap of info-dumping on the reader which was so appreciative. She withheld the information and surprises and slowly leaked a little bit and a little bit more as the book went on. To see this so well done by a debut Urban Fantasy author was really impressive.
What I struggled with was the at times passive main character that could be dumber than a box of rocks. There were parts of Harry that I loved but she also drove me nuts. I like strong kickass women but she was more a strong woman who gets her ass kicked. I don’t expect her character to do a 180, but I am hoping she is a little smarter in the next book.
There is no romance in this book. Harry has maybe two possible love interests. Is it weird that I’m rooting for the demon Lilith to get with Harry? I can’t help it since Miriam, the other possible love interest, was too annoying for me with her constant criticisms of Harry. As a reader, it only took me a few minutes to realize Harry’s limitations including her lack of common sense.
After knowing Harry for years Miriam should not be acting like Harry’s faults are a big surprise. While Harry gets kissed a few times there is no sex in this book either. There is a bit of pain kink meaning whips and the like. Harry is part-masochist and uses pain to boost her magic which I found to be an interesting twist.
This book definitely had its ups and downs but for me, it was nice to read a well written Urban Fantasy book. Even the parts of Harry’s character that drove me nuts, she was endearing enough that I want to know more. I will be reading book 2 when I get another ARC break so fingers crossed it’s even better than this one.
