Devin Mace, an ex convict trying to reform, finds himself face to face, kidnapped and imprisoned upon a decaying houseboat, by serial murderer and escaped convict Mina Harker. Meanwhile Mayli Harker, an absolute spitfire to rival her sister, is on her way to a school for troubled youngsters. Struggling to find where she fits in this new environment she 'accidentally' finds herself in a new rivalry with the most feared and vengeful student of the new school, Seth, Devin Mace's younger brother. However, when Mayli and Seth are forced to room together, they soon form a tentative and fragile bond under the guise of helping each other out.

This is a wild ride, a genre bending, intricately crafted story with some gorgeous sci-fi, otherworldly elements interwoven with some astounding, breath-taking and complex world-building.

Devin was kind of a hard character to empathise with, it felt like he was whiny and useless for the majority of the book, he was just constantly complaining and not really adding anything substantial to the story. I did enjoy seeing his relationship with Mina develop, but honestly he felt a little pathetic, and tended to bring Mina and her bad-ass crew down with his lack of skills and inability to push through his fears.

Mina on the other hand is a bad-ass, spitfire, villain of an FMC, who revels in her homicidal tendencies and was honestly so refreshing, and her recklessness and impulsivity just make her more likeable. Seeing her mindset from Devin's perspective was really enlightening, there's so much more to her character than what's on the surface, which was compelling to uncover. The fact she doesn't let love change her outlook, still revelling in her job of murdering evil people, was utterly thrilling and empowering. Mina is gory, gritty, and exudes such confidence and power, it's hard not to adore her. I do wish we got her POV more because there's still so much depth to her character yet to explore, she is truly an enigma that I can't wait to see crack.

Mayli definitely got aspects of Mina drilled into her personality, just as fierce, head-strong, and perpetually stubborn. Mayli struggles to maintain relationships with others. but when she finds herself forced into the school her father runs that resides underneath a cave, she surprisingly makes some long-lasting friendships that shock even her. Her storyline was interesting especially as the plot began to develop with Seth. At time's she did come across a little whiny and obtuse and quickly becomes frustrated with never being told the whole truth by those she holds dearest, but she is a seventeen year old rebellious teenager, so her reactions did feel somewhat realistic in response. Some of her interactions were definitely more on the childish side, and I felt that her personality and motives changed rapidly from one interaction to the next, i.e. going from being head-strong and stand-offish, to caring and motivated to help people, which became confusing at times.

Seth Mace, suffers from his own affliction, a limit child with a painful gift, Seth finds it even harder to make friends with people around him, feared by all, he generally keeps to himself, terrified of what he might do to those around him, especially if he gives in to what plagues him, he desperately tries to cope with his mental health isolated and alone. Seth was an intriguing character, whose determined to find out what happened to his brother Devin, desperate in his search, he finds himself unwillingly forming a tentative friendship with Mayli Harker. The two find kindred spirits in each other, both trying to figure out their own powers, and coming to terms with how to deal with and control them. Again, I think the story would've benefitted more from Seth's perspective as well, he has so much to him that could be explored further, but it just feels like we only get small snippets and info dumps at random times, which makes his character feel less relatable.

'The Cave and The Houseboat' is an ambitious story with a beautiful and vast array of refreshing characters who are fully realised, found family, a traversing of realms, and packed full of nail-biting, at the edge of your seat action. At times it did feel like the world and characters began to blur together, especially with such a variety of side characters, and the world is so large and intricate, it can at times become confusing. Brimming with whirlwind plot twists, a gory and gritty premise, and intriguing and sinister plots, this story will take you on a wild ride.

~3.75 stars

The beautiful cover art had me intrigued with this story. Unfortunately it fell a bit short for me, but was still an enjoyable read.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC

Lets be honest - the BOOK COVER is such an attraction! I clicked on the book so fast! lol!
I liked reading about the mystery, the danger, mixed species and magic :) what a lovely cocktail!
I find sci-fi is a hit and miss for me mostly, however, this one was an interesting read. what i call fun fiction.

I really wanted to love this book as the description sounded so intriguing and the cover is absolutely stunning, however I really struggled to get through it.

The story itself was interesting, but it felt disjointed at times which made it hard to follow. I also felt like the pace was too slow for this type of book and it didn't manage to keep me engrossed.

The series definitely has potential as I really enjoyed reading about the characters and their interactions with each other. I will be keeping an eye out for the next book in the series.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sans Antlers Press for providing me with this arc.

I DNF’d it shortly after starting, I tried 3 different times to get into but just couldn’t. It started off very confusing. I mainly re started because I thought I was missing something, after the 3rd try I stopped all together.

I loved the concept of the story and I love urban fantasy but this just wasn’t the story for me.

I don't read much urban fantasy, but this was a fun, exciting read!

There's a lot to understand about this world and the species. But I really like Devin and Mayli. Their adventures were intriguing and kept me on the edge of my seat. I liked the writing- it was easy to follow and the dialogue felt realistic. This book is also dual POV which was interesting and kept the story moving. The pacing lacked in the middle, but overall a fun story and my favourite character was Seth!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the e-arc!

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

DNF at 15%

I had to force myself this far along. It was confusing, then confounding, then just boring.

The world building was not easy to follow which made it hard to understand about where and what our main characters were up to. I had to re-read sections over and over to just get a basic idea of what was happening, and then only just resolve myself to what I could guess to be the message I was supposed to be getting before moving on and then being caught in the same quandary again. I am not dense or unable to comprehend what I am reading, it’s just not well written.

Until NeXT Time,
MC

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NEtGalley for access to this eARC for my review.

"'Don't you realize you can't romance the murderer out of me? Love won't change me, Devin. This isn't a f***ing fairytale.'"

I wasn't exactly sure what to expect from The Cave and the Houseboat at first. Typically, urban fantasy isn't my favorite subgenre but honestly, I didn't mind it here. I also usually love dual POVs, but I found myself wishing it was a single POV at parts of the story.
The beginning of the book really interested me and I was on the edge of my seat until about 20%...and then everything started to slow down. That's my main issue with the book: I thought it dragged. I find it hard to enjoy books when I don't know the direction the plot is heading or what the characters' specific goals are, but the plot didn't have a clear direction and I felt like I was just along for the ride. The last 10% was pretty good too, but I struggled to get through the middle.
My opinions on the characters changed a lot throughout the book. At first, Devin was my favorite and while I liked his sort-of corruption arc, I didn't like his romance with Mina for a lot of reasons. Therefore, he quickly fell to the bottom. On the other hand, I disliked Mayli and her POVs at first but once she started spending more time with Seth, I liked her POVs more. By the end, I think Seth was my favorite character.
As much as I liked the premises behind The Cave and the Houseboat, there were times when the pacing felt a bit too slow for me. Readers who typically enjoy urban fantasy stories would probably like this book more than I did.
3.25/5

Overall I think this book was okay. I liked the blend of fantasy, sci-fi and horror and the world building that came with it. But the story read a bit slow to me and fell a bit flat. It didn't keep me in the edge like others.

Unfortunately, I really struggled to finish this and it didn't end up being for me. It's an urban sci-fi/fantasy that throws you into the deep end in terms of world-building. I was a bit confused for a portion of the book and, when I did start to piece things together, I didn't ultimately feel any connection to anything--the story, the characters. Before delving a bit deeper, I will give credit to the author for: some nice prose in places, the way the story eventually interwove between the two POVs was decently interesting, and the casual acceptance of queerness and gender identity was honestly wonderful to read.

The first POV follows Devin. He's an ex-convict and a recovering drug addict trying to put his life back together. He's a little bit of a pathetic character, but this really comes to play when he gets captured by Manic Pixie Nightmare Girl, Mina. She's a serial killer with a problem with drugs and with her anger. When the two first start to interact, things are very tense and a bit claustrophobic. She's cruel to him and violent with him, but she won't let him leave and not just because he knows her identity. I liked when the two of them reluctantly started to form a team, especially when things start to come to light about why she's killing. My problem stems from when things start to get romantic between the two of them. It didn't work for me in the slightest (and not just because of how violent she started with him and continued with him, just in a slightly less murderous way). It didn't feel like it matched the character Mina was set up to be or the kind of character it seemed like Devin was going to be.

The second POV was Mayli, Mina Harker's sister. This is where I had the bulk of my issues, to be honest. Both plotting and pacing felt a little all over the place at times and Mayli was a difficult character to follow. There were times where she did read as an awkward, slightly bratty teenager and other times where she didn't really feel like a character at all. At first her POV felt very out of place and one I didn't particularly enjoy reading, however once her plot arc threaded more with Devin's, things started to make a bit more sense, but I still didn't feel invested or fully interested. There were too many things going on and I wanted it to be a bit more tightly plotted and paced. Also, and this might just be a personal issue I had with it, Mayli is an overweight/fat character and the way she and other people talk about her weight made me uncomfortable. Especially because those thoughts never really get challenged or resolved in any way.

Unfortunately, this was just not something I enjoyed nor something I feel the desire to continue on with.

The Endless World has many shadows. In the dull rhythm of a regretful life, ex-convict Devin Mace suddenly finds himself held captive aboard the Houseboat. His captor—an escaped murderer—pulls him into a chilling conspiracy that blurs the lines between reality and fantasy.

This was really good! It's a great blend of fantasy, sci-fi, and horror that kept me reading far past my bedtime. Great characters, really interesting world-building, and excellent prose.

The writing style was actually frustratingly confusing and hard to follow. Please note as well, the kindle version of the book is very poorly formatted.

The Cave and the Houseboat (The Endless World #1) by Moose Shoemaker is a cool genre blending novel that I'm glad I went into nearly blind. I really enjoyed getting to know the world of the story - the combination of urban fantasy and sci-fi worked for me more than I thought it was going to from the outset. The characters are also interesting to get to know. The only downside to this is that everything is thrown at you and it's tricky to keep track of the characters and elements of the world. Otherwise, this is well worth reading and deserves the attention. The upcoming sequel could be very good!

This started of really strong. The intrigue and initial character interest upon meeting was there. It unfortunately just feel a bit flat as the story progressed. I lost interest in what was going in and didn't feel a big connection to the characters or any of their relationships.

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy for an honest review

‘The Cave and the Houseboat’ it was ok but found the middle a little weak and it was ok but I probably wouldn’t pick it up.

Rating 3 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Although this book started off strongly, it lost its way around the halfway point and I didn't feel connected emotionally to the characters.

An ex-convict finds himself being held captive by a killer and a teenager finds herself fighting for her life in a school inside a cave. Devin Mace is an ex-convict who is captured and held captive abroad the Houseboat by a recently freed killer. Worlds away is teenager Mayli Harker whois going to school in a cave... and she just happens to be the younger sister of the killer while her rival is none other than Devin's younger brother, Seth. Two different families, worlds apart, find themselves intertwined in the start of a new series. This book is an urban fantasy action packed story and its definitely a unique one. While it was an okay read for me, I definitely think it would appeal to a lot of other people.

*Thanks Netgalley and Sans Antlers Press for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

In a world full of mixed species, magic, and different realms Devin, Mina, Mayli, and Seth are connected by a series of life choices and events. Devin, an ex-convict, is kidnapped by Mina. Mina, an escaped murderer, is left without a choice when Devin tries to get her caught so she kidnaps him. Mayli, Mina’s younger sister, is on her way to school when she unwittingly starts a rivalry with Seth. Seth, Devin’s younger brother, is always the feared, troublemaker, and he’s not about to let Mayli get what she wants. All the characters are fighting for their lives.

“The Cave and the Houseboat” by Moose Shoemaker was action packed and filled with so many good characters. I loved the idea of the book, and the story was really good. My problem with the book is that the characters were thrown at me so fast that I kept mixing them up. The other problem was that the world building was confusing. I don’t think I was given enough information to figure out the types of species of people, and stuff like that. Even with that though I would like to read the next book because I liked the characters. 4 out of 5 stars.

Loved the suspense in this story because it kept me turning pages. I loved the characters and the love story between them too. Will continue to follow this intriguing Sci-fi stroy, it has lot more to offer.