This book has a very interesting premise: dark twists on superpowers, morally grey characters (very dark grey), and a revenge plot. The whole exploration of what it means to be alive and how much people are willing to lose to gain power is nicely done. Victor and Eli? They're both so complex in their own ways. Victor with his cold, calculated revenge, and Eli with his self-righteous, God-complex driven mission to kill EOs. You can’t call either a hero, but you can’t stop watching them spiral into whatever that was. Themes about losing “something” when becoming an EO are interesting, and I liked to see how that plays out differently for each character. It makes me think about the cost of power and how much of ourselves we’re willing to give up for it. Like losing a part of our humanity? I hope it gets explored more. That said, the timeline jumps threw me off. The constant back and forth made it hard to fully immerse in the story at times. It worked for building suspense but felt a bit disorienting especially when you’re trying to keep track of both the past and present storylines. Also pacing was a bit off - mostly connected to time and POV jumping imo.
You think one person will die and then they don't, but then you also think there's Sydney as a trump card to bring them, but the tension is still high! I didn't realize how much I liked Mitch, until Serena told him to pull the trigger. I was soooo glad they had foreseen and planned for many outcomes! Dol dying again was just so sad! But Sydney is just too powerful! I was also almost surprised that Victor didn't anticipate Eli being at the bar with Dominic, though to be fair, I couldn't understand either why he HAD to kill the last 2 after knowing he'd have a showdown with Victor later. There were no other suspects after them, so I don't know. I guess Serena also wanted to keep him calm and focused until midnight, but yeah...
The showdown was good! Short, but good! I was wondering if Victor really had an idea how to kill him, but his intention was never that. And Sydney made the entire difference, because he had a backup plan for his resurrection! I can't help thinking though that EOs coming back to life are even worse than before, based on Barry, so he might even have to live with constant pain all day or something.
What's tanking its rating for me is its length + structure. At the end of the day, I feel like the back and forth between timelines was unnecessary -- it'd have been just as impactful to read about Victor and Eli's past, have a hard cut when Victor gets sent to prison, and then have Part II start in the modern era.
I was also starting to mentally check out by the end, I wasn't as focused. I feel reluctant saying it's the book's fault because it happens to me often with long books.
Overall engaging read with some deeper and darker themes, compelling characters, and a fun take on superpowers. Just with some issues.