jesstheaudiobookworm
I've come to really appreciate Horn's style of character development. The main character and her family were extremely well-developed in the first installment. This installment indeed furthered the development, but what impressed me most was his way of developing the antagonists in the story. It's usually easy to identify a "villain" and form negative feelings towards them because of their evil deeds or even just because they are filling the role of villain. I normally dislike a villain because they are the villain and I know that's what is expected of me as the reader. Only in certain cases, like that of Dolores Umbridge, do I harbor such venomous hatred toward a villain that I actually have to pause the story and take a deep breaths in order to cool my temper down. This story presented another one of those times when I was practically seething with hatred. Horn developed his antagonist's villainous-ness not only around evil deeds, but primarily around an innate evil nature. Although probably controversial, the thing that most effectively made this point was Horn's choice to have the antagonist be both a murderous racist and a raging homophobe. Slurs were uttered that I cannot recall ever hearing in a story set in modern-day. It was this that caused my unequivocal loathing of the character, which I'm sure is exactly what Mr. Horn intended. Well, mission accomplished.
Narration review: Yet again, I have been floored by Shannon McManus' narration abilities. The voice distinction she provided for the main character's aunts, Iris and Ellen, alone was beyond impressive. McManus put on a one woman show! Her Savannah southern accent is utterly delightful and I think it has inadvertently caused me to thicken my own southern accent. I'm hesitant to say that she is the best narrator I've ever heard, because that sounds so definitive, but I'm really tempted to say it anyway. At the rate things are going now, it wouldn't surprise me if I'm over my commitment issues and ready to declare her my all-time favorite by the end of the series. ♣︎