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A well earned 4.3 stars.
If you’re looking for something spooky, supernatural, and thrilling with a good dose of humor from the main character, then you’ll like this. Joey has a lot of sarcasm and impulsive decision making throughout the whole story, so you never really know what she’s going to do or say next while she’s searching for her lost friend, Wayland Cross.
Throughout the book you’re introduced to Baltimore, or “bodymore” as Joey aptly calls it. It’s a city riddled with murder, violence, and an assortment of nasty street crawling criminals. Police are so overworked that they barely do their jobs, but that’s hardly the largest problem in this place.
The world building for the supernatural elements is pretty solid, and it all works its way back into the beginning of the story once Joey discovers the secrets beneath Baltimore. The themes and the analogies for suffering and regret woven into the story are also wonderful and were some of my favorite aspects.
The feeling that seeps in through this was so potent that I legitimately had to take breaks sometimes or risk beginning to mirror those emotions myself, so I’d say the atmosphere of everything was conveyed very well. There’s a lot of pain, doubt, fear, and regret, but there’s also hope for an odd new beginning at the end.
The parts that seemed to come out of left field were some of the tone changes. In the beginning, it was hard for me to tell just how close Joey and Wayland were meant to be and he felt more like someone that might be a casual acquaintance. They were obviously friends on some level, but it took several chapters before the depth of their relationship was explained. Some instances of Joey’s and Jag’s relationship also seemed a bit sudden or just lit up at unusual times, particularly the first time. However, those snags seems to smooth out towards the latter half.
This voice actor for this audiobook was excellent by the way. He was super expressive and really put in the effort to differentiate each character’s voice. It made listening to it really engaging and I could tell who was speaking without the book having to say it, so shout out to that guy.
Thank you to the author for this arc, I loved listening to it! [There’s more below the raven, but be warned, it has some spoilers!]
You’ll get it if you read the book:
Some rambling thoughts:
There wasn’t much time with Wayland or much exploration into his character, but I really like this guy. When Joey and Jag snuck into his house and started flipping through his things, I knew I was going to like him right away. Jag is great as a steady friend/boyfriend/what have you, but I guess there’s just something I really sympathize with in Way. A nerdy sweetheart with social anxiety that has a huge crush on someone he’s too afraid to admit it to, then regretting it so much that he tried to escape judgement. Aw, my heart. The only way he could control himself from strangling Jag was holding Joey’s hand? AWW. So freaking cute. You win.
Aside from that, all the characters in purgatory really stay true to their vibe. Sol is immensely annoying, obviously knowing way more than she’s willing to discuss and acting like a computer program or a person that’s forgotten how to approach new situations.
Val is a strange one, almost like there might be more personality under the surface than he lets on despite being kind of animalistic and raven-like, but he enjoys being jarring and blunt. It’s hard to tell if he’s really as void as he seems or if he has more compassion than one might expect.
Then Kairen… Karen? Keiran? I listened to the audiobook, I don’t know how it’s spelled. Reaper dude. If reapers were real, that’s how I’d imagine one. His little ornaments and tools really sold it with the crystal jars and magical chains. He was trying to be patient but is obviously 98% done with humans being confused and fussy.
Even though Joey’s father was awful, you actually gain a bit of insight into his personality at the end. He returned, drowning on regret to come back to the living, yet he never killed Joey. Joey was struggling not to beat people’s heads in – even Jag’s – upon returning, and Wayland tried to murder Jag several times, so the amount of self restraint going into Joey’s father not killing her for years is interesting. He was still a piece of trash, but a slightly more three dimensional piece of trash than you first expect.
Some things that came a little out of left field for me were some of the tone changes. It was hard to tell for a while how close Joey and Way were due to her reaction to his car having a body in it. She seemed surprisingly calm for a while until she finally asked Rocky if the man in the trunk was Way. Given that it took her so long to wonder that made me think light acquaintance rather than someone you supposedly didn’t keep any secrets from.
When Joey’s leg slipped into the silver puddle in the park while searching for her MIA friend, it was only a few minutes after that when she and Jag were making out despite her leg being on fire. The timing of it is what seemed a little off.
One of the best twists, and the only part I rewound it to listen a second time, was when Joey said her father was dead for the first time. That he had a funeral, I believe it was, and that she’d need to ask Way if he remembered attending it. That was the best way to introduce this because for a while it left me wondering if Joey was actually a crazy person. Which, with how impulsive this person can be and the life she leads, didn’t seem like an impossible outcome.
The only questions that remain now are how Way died and what the heck he’d gotten himself into. If Ian decides to continue the series, I will be on the second book immediately.