Book Review: Predestined and Ceaseless by Abbi Glines

You know those times where you absolutely adore a book and then when you learn that there’s a sequel you’re really excited to read it, and then it turns out that the sequel is complete garbage? That’s exactly what happened to me when I decided to continue reading the Existencetrilogy, and man, do these books suck. Predestinedwas something that I practically had to force myself to read, and I couldn’t even get through Ceaseless (I read the first few chapters and then skipped to the end). So, why are these sequels some of the worst books that I’ve ever read? Sit back, relax, and read on as I review the two sequels to Existence, Predestined and Ceaseless (though it’s mostly going to be about Predestined).

The Setup:

Predestinedtakes place immediately after Existenceended. Leif has disappeared from the town, and Pagan and Dank are together. Strange things begin to happen when Leif suddenly begins to show up whenever Dank is not present and tries to convince Pagan that she…belongs to him because of some voodoo curse or something. Groan I’m barely even into the review and already I’m pissed off.

The Characters:

The characters in this book, at least some of the main ones, were close to being insufferable. While I still liked Pagan enough, Dank was kind of…unconvincing. I couldn’t believe that Dank was actually Death himself. He sounded too immature and more like a normal teenager than what I would normally picture Death to be. I know that the point is that Dank was supposed to gain human emotions from falling in love with Pagan, but honestly, you never really see why he loves Pagan in the first place, due to an unconvincing romance. The book is actually told from dual perspective, alternating between Dank and Pagan, and when I saw this I thought that we would receive some valuable insight as to how Dank really changed his ways and why he loved Pagan so much, but the book just wants the reader to accept the fact that they’re totally in love. The same can be said about Pagan; you never see why she loves Dank so much. In the first book, it was presented as more of an adolescent crush that had gone too far, which is understandable, but in this book it seems as though their relationship is trying to come off as actual love. I may not be much of a love expert, but that does not seem realistic to me because they never truly expressed why they loved each other yet they acted like they do. Heck, I don’t think that they ever had a conversation talking about each other’s likes and dislikes throughout the entire book! Moving on, I thought Leif was absolutely despicable in this book. He is the definition of a creepy stalker, and didn’t seem to have any other emotion except for, “I love Pagan so much, and I’ll do anything she wants, except for releasing her from my prison.” If I have to give the book some credit, it does consider Leif to be a villain, but at the same time it just wasn’t convincing.

The Story:

You know, now that I think about it, unconvincing sums up practically everything about this book. Nothing felt natural, and everything felt forced. The supernatural stuff within the book felt like it was part of a manuscript that was not well thought through, and everything about the book suffers from it. I can suspend my disbelief to a certain point, and this book crossed that point, beat that point over the head, mounted its head upon the wall, and then continually mocked it. Everything was so sloppily put together that I was actually laughing at how bad this book was, all the while wondering how the heck this book actually has fans.

The Writing Style/Grammatical Errors:

The writing style was rather simplistic, rushed, and was just messy. It was like I was reading a book that a third grader wrote. While the first book’s writing style wasn’t the greatest, it was still smooth and its simplistic style helped the atmosphere of the book sink in. In this book, there is not atmosphere to let sink in. The grammar errors in this book were horrendous, and it really distracted me as I was trying to enjoy what little enjoyment value I could find in this book, which was mostly just laughing at how bad it was.

(Why I Won’t Read) Ceaseless:

The third book is something that I couldn’t even get through, and yes, I am going to spoil it. So, after claiming that they love each other and making sacrifices for each other, some big people in the sky decided that they needed Pagan to actually make a choice as to whether or not she loves Dank, and to do, they wipe her memories and they have to fall in love with each other all over again. WHAT?! What was the point in that? I guess the big people in the sky didn’t think that this story was all that convincing either, so they wanted to see some real development. However, when you already establish that two people love each other, DESPITE it not being all that convincing, I’m pretty sure that the audience will get pretty pissed off at the fact that you’re TEARING THEM APART! Are you seriously telling me that I have to sit through the same exact story over again? You seriously couldn’t come up with a better way to continue the story?! I CALL HAX! I seriously just skipped to the end and, what do you know, Pagan chooses Dank. Well, who would’ve GUESSED?!

Final Judgment:

I’m seriously considering putting these two books below Deadly Crush and Incarnate as the worst books I’ve ever read. There is practically nothing redeemable about them whatsoever, everything is so lazily put together, the characters are unconvincing, the story is more laughable than enjoyable…for any anime fans reading this, this is pretty much the book counterpart to SAO’s second half; it’s so bad that it’s enjoyably laughable. I give Predestined a 1 out of 5 stars, and a recommendation to seriously skip it. I can’t give Ceaseless a proper score due to not reading it, but if you skip Predestined then you’ll probably skip this book too. If you like the books, fine; it’s always up to you to decide your own opinions.
ScoreCard: (notice: Laughably bad means that the entertainment value is always going to be 5/10. Half the time I'm enjoying how bad it is, the other half I'm sitting there disgusted by how bad it is.)

Further Recommendations:

Anything BUT this. Seriously, though…

The Lux Series by Jennifer L. Armentrout

If you’re looking for a quality paranormal romance series, stay as far away from the Existencetrilogy as you possibly can and check out these books. They have a wonderful writing style, the world is well-developed, and the characters are believable.

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

I can’t believe that I’m recommending this, but Twilight is actually better than these books. If you want a book that is laughably bad that is better than these books, this is the first book that I’d point you towards.

Anime review next week! Here's the hint: Can someone tell me what a double dollar is?

See you then!