This Job Sucks! Review

DISCLAIMER: I bought this book with my own dollar bucks because I liked the sound of it, and I’m reviewing it because that’s what I want to do. The author didn’t ask me to do this, and I’m doing this without compensation. Doing this is a fun side project, and it will be a spoiler-free review.

So… that was a book. Boring and baffling and way too surface-level in both characterization and plot to be nearly 350 pages long, yet it very much was just a book. Give me a few months, and I’ll completely forget I ever read it.

Okay. I’m being a bit hyperbolic about it being all boring. Don’t get me wrong, so much of the story is snooze-worthy, but there were two bits that had my full attention, and I wanted more. Madraeus and Rami tell Whitney when and how they became vampires, and that was the best part. I could read a book about their backstories and the one where they met and became friends, too. At these parts in the novel, I was fully engaged and excited.

Unfortunately, that eagerness didn’t last. Mostly, that’s because Whitney is the main character. There is nothing intriguing about her. All I can say about her is that she’s pleasant and has a backbone. Oh, and she’s very, very stupid. Several times in the novel, she makes the most mind-numbing decisions, and no one really calls her out on it. They’re just like, “Oh, that’s Whitney,” and she’s allowed to continue being a moron. I lost all sympathy for her long before the half-way point, and, at times, I was rooting for the bad guys to finish her off.

I don’t get how Madraeus has any romantic interest in her. Maybe it’s because he’s as dull as her. I don’t know how a character as old as he is and in the position of power he’s in can be so uninteresting, but he is. I also think he’s a massive fraud. He’s supposed to be such an important person with all these obligations, but he barely does any work throughout the book. Most of the time, he just seems to hang around in his office. I hope he’s not getting paid for his slacker ways.

The other issue with this book is the lack of detail. There are supernatural creatures in this novel with a whole governing body and system of how they exist in the shadows, but none of it is really talked about. I like the few details about the grounded-in-reality ways the creatures go about their days, but there aren’t enough of them. I reached the end of the book with little more understanding of the way this world works than what I started with. Some of this could be explained if Whitney were the sole main character, but Madraeus is also a POV we get a lot, so there’s no excuse. Also, I don’t get how Whitney didn’t ask more questions. I wouldn’t have stopped blurting things out. It wasn’t as if she didn’t have several creatures around her who were more than willing to tell her almost anything she wanted to know.

And it’s not just the lack of world-building that was frustrating. For example, there’s a party Whitney and Madraeus go to at the beginning of the book, long before she knows anything about the supernatural world. This would have been a prime time for her to feel a sense that more is going on than she knows, and it could have also given a bit more insight into how Madraeus operates in his role. But no. The entire event passes in a page or two. There’s no real description of anything. Hell, this part could have even given a tiny reason as to why Madraeus starts to be interested in Whitney. Yet it does none of this. I honestly see no reason why it’s in the book.

Or what about the fact that Whitney works for a temp agency, but that isn’t mentioned until a good chunk of the book has passed? I assumed that was the case early on, but there aren’t many clues. And it wouldn’t have been difficult to drop that nugget of information. I just don’t understand the decisions made here.

The main bad guy is lame, too. She’s neither commanding nor sassy nor intelligent. She only succeeds because she’s not as stupid as the good guys. I don’t get why she’s still alive if she’s such a colossal problem for the entire supernatural world and has been for a majority of her life. That point is actually brought up, too. All that’s said in response is that she just can’t be gotten rid of. It’s not like she’s super powerful or anything. Just no.

And, of course, Whitney doesn’t press the issue, though her life is on the line, and clearly the main bad guy has it out for her. No, why would she want to know the reason the ass can’t be killed? That wouldn’t be logical in the slightest.

This book is clearly meant to set up a trilogy or a series (it definitely can’t just be a duology), but there’s so little meat to it. I can’t imagine anyone would want to continue after getting to the end. This is some truly underwhelming foreplay. I know the reason for not wanting to give too many details so that people will crave them enough to pick up the next book. I also understand that Whitney is the entry-point character, and she doesn’t have this information, and we’re following her journey. So it makes sense that more would unfold for the audience in line with when it does for Whitney. But this book doesn’t have enough.

I’ll give it two stars. It’s well-edited, and there are a few glimmers of promise. At no point did I consider throwing the book at the wall and not continuing, but I was only engaged because I couldn’t believe the characters’ stupidity. I won’t be continuing, but I wish the author well.