Blog Tour Review: The Raging Ones by Krista & Becca Ritchie

In a freezing world, where everyone knows the day they will die, three teens break all odds.

Franny Bluecastle, a tough city teen, dreams of dying in opulence, to see wealth she’s never known. Like the entire world, she believes it’s impossible to dodge a deathday.

Until the day she does.

Court Icecastle knows wealth. He also knows pain. Spending five years in Vorkter Prison, a fortress of ice and suffering, he dreams of life beyond the people that haunt him and the world that imprisoned him.

Mykal Kickfall fights for those he loves. The rugged Hinterlander shares a frustrating yet unbreakable connection with Court—which only grows more lawless and chaotic as their senses and emotions connect with Franny.

With the threat of people learning they’ve dodged their deathdays, they must flee their planet to survive. But to do so, all three will have to hide their shared bond as they vie for a highly sought after spot in the newest mission to space. Against thousands of people far smarter, who’ll live longer, and never fear death the way that they do.

**** Thank you to Wednesday Books for providing me with a copy via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review and for letting me participate in this blog tour! ****

**** Trigger Warnings: Death, Violence, Mentions of Self Harm (Not By The Main Characters), Prostitution (Done By A Main Character), & Drug Use ****

I was very excited when I was approached to join the blog tour and review a copy of “The Raging Ones” and while it wasn’t a perfect read for me I still found it to be an enjoyable read full of plenty of twists and turns!

I really liked the idea behind the story here but overall I felt it didn’t have much for direction and could use some work. It felt like the story was a little all over the place at times and I didn’t quite get why the characters were doing things or why certain things were happening. However, despite that I thought it was reasonably paced and there was certainly no shortage of action or twists to keep me interested. I didn’t think the story was necessarily predictable but I did feel a lot of things that furthered the plot were a bit too convenient at times. For example the characters are in desperate need of A LOT of money and one character goes off and in the span of a page and has all the money they need and then some. Too convenient, in my opinion, not to mention there are a few other instances similar to this one.

I really enjoyed the world building that was provided as well, while it was a little light during the first half of the book we learn a lot more towards the end that has me desperate for the second book! This is a sci-fi, dystopian sort of mash up and one of the driving forces behind the plot is the fact that everyone knows the day they will die and the three main characters manage to dodge theirs. I thought this was such a neat concept and I feel we will learn more about it in the sequel but it was definitely fun to read about. There’s also a bit about how their current planet is frozen over, they don’t have much technology anymore, and there are other planets in their system also inhabited by other people. I don’t want to spoil anything but the bit we learn about the other planets at the end is so freaking good though! Overall it was interesting, but it could use a lot more development.

As for the writing I didn’t really think much about it, it definitely could use a bit of work but it wasn’t bad by any means. It was just that it took me a while to push through this book which was odd since the characters and story did interest me, but something about the writing put me off. I think it was a lot of talk and not a lot of show, like not a ton of description if that makes sense.

It was also a bit hard to differentiate between the three POVs at times even though they’re listed at the start of each chapter. It would take me a page or two to adjust each time. Another thing that made it hard to tell was the fact that all three characters have an emotional link of some kind and therefore feel each other’s emotions etc, so it got hard to tell who was doing/feeling what at times.

The beginning prologue chapter was so freaking good, I do wish the story had followed that a little bit more closely but maybe in the sequels? And that ENDING! I freaking loved it! It is a cliffhanger but honestly it has be so intrigued that I want to check out the sequel just to understand what happened!

One of the things I loved the most about “The Raging Ones” was the characters, I thought they were complex and had plenty of personality. Each main character had their own unique personality and I loved that, while I found it hard at the beginning of each POV switch to tell the difference once they started speaking for themselves I could instantly tell. I also really liked how they had their flaws, came to recognize them, and proactively work to change them throughout the course of the story.

What I truly enjoyed about our three main characters though was how they all worked together, their friendship was so well done and I loved how willing they all were to sacrifice things for each other.

I honestly just enjoyed them all equally and didn’t favor one over the others. There were also a few side characters I really liked as well but they don’t show up until after the half way point. We don’t learn too much about them but I have a feeling we will learn a lot more in the second book and I can’t wait!

We also have some diversity including two LGTBQ+ characters.

I was pleasantly surprised by the romance incorporated into this story because initially I saw all kinds of trope red flags! However, there really wasn’t a trope in sight! There isn’t a love triangle between the three MCs and there isn’t any insta love, which were two things I was expecting to happen and was happy when they did not. I also liked that the romance never overshadowed the plot and it never felt like the sole focus of the story.

While the romance might seem a little obvious I’m still not going to name the characters since it can be a spoiler but it is M/M and I honestly thought they were so sweet and adorable! It took them forever to take the plunge though and I was so happy when they finally did, I couldn’t handle the suspense anymore! There’s also another potential romance that could develop in the second book too, and it’s also a romance I would happily ship!

What I Loved:

• General concept
• Reasonably fast pacing
• Plenty of action and twists
• Interesting world building
• Great prologue and ending
• Fantastic characters with lots of personality
• Diverse characters and romance
• Adorable, ship-worthy romance
• Romance never overshadows the plot

What I Didn’t Love:

• Plot didn’t have a lot of direction
• Things were too convenient at times
• World building was good but could have used a lot more development
• Writing needs some work, it felt a little too repetitive

I definitely recommend checking this one out and seeing for yourselves! It’s an interesting YA novel and definitely worth looking at for any sci-fi fans out there, although I will say bare with it when you start!

Links: Goodreads / Barnes & Noble / Book Depository / Amazon

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