I really struggled with this book. It has, as far as I can tell, two plotlines, and neither of them reconciled by the end of where I finally gave in. The book is ok - but it's slow, long and I didn't quite finish it. And even though I was near the end, I just couldn't motivate myself to get to the end. It's got potential, but maybe needs a cut and another pass so that the stories are more reconciled and stronger.

Considering the size of this, it has taken me one hell of a long time to plough through this and I have to admit, I was only continuing because having received a free copy for an honest review, it seemed unfair not to. I was seriously tempted to chuck in the towel at the 10% mark and that feeling hadn't abated by the time I reached the half way mark. I will admit, the novel did seem to come together a little bit better by the end, but it doesn't make up for the first 80% odd of it.

There are two completely separate plots here and they are completely unlinked until the very, very end and that is too late to make up for the disjointed feel of the novel. The first is a fantasy-esque thing, but is written in such an oblique fashion that it doesn't grip you. The second - and where you spend the majority of your time - is a contemporary look at a female platoon in war-torn Syria. Let me be honest, I found the fantasy line of 'events' uninspiring at best and boring at worst, but I found the Syria aspects almost teenage in the fascination with body parts, sex and juvenile humour. These parts at least had the potential to be really powerful, but it never managed it. The majority of the book is all tell and no show, with time gaps to speed things along which just leaves you feeling even more disconnected. Many of the scenes - particularly at the beginning - are completely unbelievable; an example being Skylar as a teenager being sent to a rehabilitation facility for doing drugs once and being a passeneger in a car that crashed. If there was any decent follow up on these initial years showing her as a teen, maybe it could have been made believable. But there was no background from before and then the moment she's in Syria all the past is forgotten and absolutely pointless. It goes without sayiong therefore that the first quarter of the book odd could have been slashed without doing any harm - and possibly actually some good, to the story as a whole.

Most of the characters seemed utterly two dimensional - again, not helped by the random jarring references to sex, genitalia and bodily functions. If you asked me for any of their names now, I couldn't remember them and I really can't be bothered to go look them up. It was bad enough the first time. And of course you have the obligatory thrown in romance that has as little purpose as Skylar's teenage years and about as much entertainment in it. When the two worlds finally coincide, with fantasy meeting reality, there are some interesting effects. Except they are barely touched on before the book finishes. There's no character development through it and no delving into the way the merging changes things. Essentially, it's a complete cop out.

So. Sorry. If it hadn't been a NetGalley title I'd have thrown the towel in on this very early on. I'm not entirely certain it was the right decision not too in honesty...

Sadly (for me that is) I was unable to complete this book, I appreciate that being given an arc is a privilege and I am grateful for the opportunity afforded me with this book but it has obviously yet to be finally set by the printers as the layout changed so dramatically from page to page it became unreadable, the story that I managed to persevere with was engaging and interesting and I will purchase this book when it becomes available