Book Review: "No Peace for the Damned" by Megan Powell

No Peace for the Damned review
Author: Megan Powell
3 out of 5 stars

Book Info: Genre: Dark Urban Fantasy
Reading Level: Adult
Recommended for: Fans of darker urban fantasy

Disclosure: I received a paperback ARC from the Amazon Vine program in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis: Magnolia Kelch is no stranger to pain. Beautiful and powerful, she's spent her entire life at the mercy of her sadistic father and the rest of the Kelch clan, who have tortured her and tested the limits of her powers. After one particularly heinous night that leaves Magnolia nearly dead, she finally sees her chance for escape. But this first taste of freedom is short-lived when she collides with Thirteen, head of the Network – a secret organization dedicated to fighting supernatural criminals – who recruits her into the group. Even as she's coming to grips with this new life and the horrific memories that still haunt her, she's conflicted by her growing attraction to fellow team member Theo and the emergence of new, untested abilities. After months of grueling training, her loyalty to the team is tested when she learns her target is the Network's most wanted: the Kelch family. Revenge may course through her veins, but so does the blood of the Kelches. And opposing her family may cost her the thing she treasures most. After all, Magnolia is still a Kelch. And the Kelches are damned.

My Thoughts: This is a darker urban fantasy, and one that we sort of jump into the middle of the story, which makes it a bit hard to get one’s feet under oneself as the story starts rolling. However, most questions are answered by the end of the book.

My main problem with the story is this: Magnolia has been being tortured by her family all her life. She is 22 before she escapes, yet she’s completely rational and well-adjusted to modern life. How does that happen? She should be bug-house nuts, at the very least, and certainly not the least bit comfortable in the real world.

To add to that: I’ve read books where other reviewers have complained about insta-love, but in this book, there really is insta-love between Magnolia and Theo, only Magnolia has no experience with any sort of soft emotion, so she has no idea what is going on.

So, when it comes down to it, I just don’t know how to feel about this book. Don’t get me wrong – I liked it, overall, it’s just that it makes no sense to me that Magnolia is a functioning person. There’s no explanation as to how she has managed to maintain any sort of sanity, nor as to how she manages to maintain reality. We do eventually get the reason that her family has tortured her all her life, but even that isn’t until the very end of the book. It’s due to these confusions and questions that I have rated this as three stars, not due to any lack of interest in my part in the book. This is this author’s first book, and is the first book in a series. I will probably be watching for future books in the series, to see if any of these questions are answered.

If you like dark urban fantasy, and are very willing to suspend disbelief, then go ahead and check this book out.