I Picked this book as my September book club pick for Bai’s Reading Corner on Fable with high hopes that my club and I would be raving about this book by the end of it. We had all heard such great things regarding this book, it even has a pretty high rating on GoodReads and Fable. So imagine our disappointment when no one enjoyed it in the club. I hope to highlight our experience for you in this review and I hope you are willing to share your opinions good or bad in the comments below.
“Don’t confuse courage with recklessness”
Kate Golden, Half City
About The Book
Author: Kate Golden
Publisher: Ace
Published Date: February 17th, 2026
Page Count: 496 Pages
Main Genre: Romantasy
GoodReads Rating: 4.05
Format: Physical
“Life’s too short for multiple-choice questions.”
Kate Golden, Half City
Synopsis
Welcome to Harker Academy for Deviant Defense. Keep your daggers sharp, and your wits even sharper.
Viv Abbot is an average twenty-one-year-old girl. She lives in an expensive city where the rent is too high, works long hours at a thankless job, and is dating a guy she doesn’t even like in the hopes of winning her prickly mother’s approval.
She also happens to be a demon hunter.
Ever since her father’s murder, she’s been forced to hunt deviants alone, meaning everyone, including her family, sees her as an outsider . . . until the day she crosses paths with a dangerously alluring demon, Reid Graveheart. The reformed deviant tells her of a school for people just like her: Harker Academy for Deviant Defense. If she enrolls, she’ll learn to hone her craft, work with other hunters, and never be alone again.
But Viv has a deadly secret. One that not even her new friends at Harker can know about, not if the school might hold the answers to untangling the mystery surrounding Viv’s father’s death. When strange occurrences begin to plague the students, Viv will have to figure out who she can trust, all while trying to ace her classes, avoid falling for a demon, and make it through her first year at Harker in one piece. How hard could that be?
Synopsis From GoodReads
Rating
Review
I picked this book as my first book club pick because I have only heard good things and I wanted to start my book club off with a BANG! Man of man do I have regrets.
Some of my favorite booktubers rave about this book and I really trust their opinions so I felt a little betrayed by them if I am being honest with you. I completely understand that people are entitled to their own opinions but I just don’t see what they see.
This is your warning, I will have major spoilers written in my review below this line so Please do not read any further if you have not read the book. Thank you!
I desperately want to start this review with a few positive things I took away from this book but I am struggling to come up with much of anything. Let’s see here, I liked our MMC for the most part Reid was probably the most interesting character in the book. The twist with her Sister in-law at the end of the book was the one and only thing that surprised me. Hmmm… Yep, I think that is all I liked about this book.
I feel like a kid on Halloween, filling my bag with all the goodies only to get home and realize all the candy has been replaced by my mom with “healthy” treats. So where do I even begin on my long winded rant?
Our FMC (whom I struggle to remember the name of because she was that forgettable) Oh right, Viv, She was insufferable. She felt like she knew everything because she has been hunting since she was a child. Even though she went to this school for hunters I don’t think she learned a damn thing. By the end of the book she still didn’t think things through before jumping into danger. A good hunter, Aeon Blood or not, would have at least a little self awareness. She consistently put herself and her friends in danger despite everyone telling her not to go at it alone.
Great, so she probably has a character arc that shows some growth, right? Wrong! While we were left on a cliff hanger at the end of the book there could be hope that she might have some character growth in book two, but there was not enough growth in the first book to make me care at all about her. I didn’t even feel like she cared about her friends, family or boyfriend all that much. I was really hoping that by the end of the book I would care to find out how all these stories ended but I found that I wasn’t caring about a single character due to being in Viv’s POV. She was very one note and that just made the book drag on and on and on.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I understand that characters can’t always be likeable and I am not saying that I hate all unlikable characters. I just expect to understand the motivation behind these characters so I can grasp their personality. Viv watched her father die when she was young and felt like her mother hated her. Great, I get her back story but it didn’t seem like she once tried to overcome her grief or let anyone in to her true core. She became Ice and this is why her character was one note. Even her best friend whom she lived with didn’t know her. MAKE ME CARE!
Okay lets move on just a tad to the relationships in this book. We slightly discussed her friendships (if we can even call them that) so lets discuss the romantic plot line with Reid.
I LOVE a professor – student story line, when done well. This one did not hit the mark at all for me. Reid didn’t really feel like a professor in my eyes. Sure he taught them a class in the school but he acted more like one of the students to Viv in my opinion. They each felt an Immediate connection to one another that frankly made their relationship dull. Sure it took till chapter 30 something for anything to happen but it felt forced to me as I never once felt like they would actually make a good couple.
I really like a protective male character but the way this book presented that side of him didn’t quite work because Viv is just so head strong. Their relationship didn’t really have the most convincing storyline and ultimately fell flat. Maybe book two will expand upon this flimsy foundation? Only time will tell.
I found this book to be highly predictable. Within the first few chapters I knew the Dean was suspicious and ultimately that ruined my reading experience for me. If you are going to have someone be a plot twist charcter you can not make them so obvious or else the pay off when the main character comes to the realization will just fall flat.
Viv is constantly talking about how much her friends and family mean to her, despite having a rocky relationship with some. Yet she hardly spent any time with them in the book and consistantly made choices that contridicted her intentions. I wish that we got to see Viv interact more with her roomate and family members.
I could honestly discuss my hatred for this book for hours but I really don’t want to bore you much further. If you also have strong opinions please share them with me. I am dying to discuss this with anyone who will listen.
“People don’t like people who make them question their own biases. They don’t like looking their own judgments in the eye.”
Kate Golden, Half City
QOTD: Please share an overhyped book that you think people should skip.
