Tom's Reviews > Sacrificial Magic

I really love this series and this book is no different. I’m going 4.5 even though I believe it was a step down from City of Ghosts. Instead of doing a review and explaining the book I’m going to justify what that 5th star is doing up there.

This book wasn’t much different than the others in the series. The first 20% was like reading every other first 20% in the series. But I loved every bit of it. I even saved this book as a rebound book to get me over a 5 star book which worked out perfectly. Now I’m a lot like Chess. Okay I’m not a church witch, or drug addict, or morally compromised broken human being and I’m not even a female. Okay I guess I’m not like Chess..haha How I can relate to her is the million things running through her mind. That is how I function. I try to see every possible outcome in a situation and try to think 10 moves down the line. Anyone who functions like that understands that insecurity is at play there, always afraid of making the wrong decision and ultimately just living with the results of your actions. Living with the outcome doesn’t mean that you don’t replay the situation over and over again. It never seems to be the good outcomes that we replay in our mind. I’ve been married for 23 years so haven’t had to deal with the new relationship for most of my life but I am sure I would have every bit of angst that Chess goes through with putting herself out and being afraid of what she gets in return is real or not. That would totally be me if I had to join that scary world of giving yourself wholly to someone with the chance that you could end up being used or made a fool of because you gave everything and they just didn’t really feel the same way.

Most books usually have a slow spot or two and in theory this book had it too but I just never get tired of reading the Downside Ghosts story. Does it deserve the 5th star? Maybe not but I loved the whole book and as demented as it might sound I can relate to all of Chess’s insecurities and maybe it just makes me feel better about my life, reading how freakin bad hers gets at times.