I started the year with the ACOTAR graphic audios (and have listened to them basically on repeat since), so it seems right that I (almost) end the year with the latest dramatized adaptation from the world of SJM. And honestly, it made the book a whole lot more enjoyable than the 'straight' audio version I listened to when the book was first released! It's not that Elizabeth Evans' narration is rubbish, far from it! It's just the pace of this book is so slow that the sound effects, music and full cast give it more of a lift , and make it far easier to follow the different threads of the story.

The main takeaway I had from this is that, while Bryce's character takes something of a beating in this book writing-wise, I now can see that a lot of my annoyance at her stems from the fact that she spends most of her time misleading and being unapologetically bitchy to characters which I (and a lot of the readership) have come to know and like. As a result, I was drawn to take their 'side' over Bryce's and view her through their eyes. However, when trying to look at things a bit more objectively, I can begin to understand Bryce's actions are those of someone who doesn't know these other characters or understand their motives. Still doesn't stop me from grinding my teeth at her attitude, but I'm really trying to like these books a bit more...

As is usual for the graphic audios, it really does help bring the characters and situations to life. While I am glad they didn't go too 'graphic' with the sounds and voice acting in the more harrowing moments, it does hammer (no pun intended) home the conditions in the Asteri dungeons, for example, which in turn makes the actions that take place down there all the more imaginable.

That being said, there were some elements that even the GA couldn't save. The biggest one is the absolutely massive info-dump/exposition speech by Selene. Yes, the fact that there were sound effects gave it a very slight lift, but it's just something that effectively stops the story for goodness knows how many pages just to give you a potted history of the Asteri, which feels really dull and comes as quite a big disappointment given the build up. There are so many better ways that that could have been woven into the wider narrative!

Having the cast of actors also made me realise just how much 'woe is me' and self-loathing goes on in here. EVERYONE is blaming themselves for something which is clearly not their fault, and as much as I don't get the hate for Ithan and Tharion, this book doesn't exactly give the characters a lot of opportunity to redeem themselves in the eyes of the readers. This does make Bryce's 'bitch queen' attitude stand out from the crowd, but this doesn't do a lot to endear her to me.

The performances are all great, as we've come to expect from the GAs, and overall I just think it highlights the difference in the writing - something went off the boil a bit here IMO and, while it tries to have the same scope and scale of the author's other books, given that so much of it is set in a couple of static locations with no links to the outside world, it misses out on so much of the worldbuilding that we've come to expect. But of course, part two is still to come...