funstm
Written on May 14, 2018
Okay. That's probably harsh. The writing itself was fine. But I hated both of the main characters. Emily and Max were both fucking stupid. Both of them were TSTL. I would have rathered read a book about Kris and Wil. Because they were at least somewhat interesting.
The action starts quite quickly, Max escapes from being held hostage and manages to get passage on a bus. So far all good. Emily is in Africa as part of a dance tour, she's also on the bus. Then they get to the way station and it's all downhill from there. To start with, Emily knows it's dangerous, she has an armed guard, she is feeling uneasy - so why the fuck would you go wandering into the jungle by yourself?! Ignoring that, fine. So everyone gets shot and she panics. Normal reaction. Protesting someone trying to get you to safety? A little dumb but still relatively normal. Getting angry about the situation - also normal. That said, she is pretty naive about the world - you'd think she would've learnt a bit more about the political climate in a country she's visiting. But still, minor.
Then they run into rebels and Max shoots them. Emily goes into shock. Normal reaction. But she's just seen her two friends be shot dead with no hesitation. She's heard the stories of the rebels and what they do and what they are capable of. So she then proceeds to get angry with Max for killing to rebels who were literally about to kill her. What the fuck?!
“B-but—” She took a step back. “Y-you didn’t even think about it. Y-you just shot them.” Christ. “Yes. It’s us or them.” What was her problem? He’d seen a threat and eliminated it. “I saved your life. If you want to stay alive, get in the fucking car.” With one more frightened glance at the bodies, Emily slid into the passenger seat.
Kier, Vanessa. WAR: Disruption: (WAR Book 1) (Kindle Locations 513-516). Vanessa Kier. Kindle Edition.
I can't stand the naivety. But still, I can move past it. She's delicate. No worries. I can deal. Of course, there's more naivety to come. Cause yeah, like the rebels would be reasonable and not bloodthirsty bastards.
Emily’s terrified eyes met his. “You’re sure Dr. LaSalle and Abdullah will be okay?” “Yeah.” He said the word with more confidence than he felt. “Rene’s a survivor. Besides, he’s a doctor. Even the rebels might hesitate to kill a doctor.” Emily’s lips tightened, showing that she’d picked up on his use of the word might. What could he say? The rebels were comprised of a lot of hot-headed, angry young men who were often hyped up on drugs, making them unpredictable. A rebel leader might see the advantage to keeping a doctor alive, but a trigger-happy boy who saw a light-skinned, well-dressed man was more likely to shoot on sight.
Kier, Vanessa. WAR: Disruption: (WAR Book 1) (Kindle Locations 1115-1120). Vanessa Kier. Kindle Edition.
The whole Max is responsible for the deaths of her tour group is just dumb. They were white American women in an unstable country. The rebels would've shot them dead anyway. They were taking a risk being there, you can't blame anyone but the rebels themselves for shooting them. Even if they hadn't of shot them - they likely would've been taken and sold into slavery so still bad and still not Max's fault. This is the situation she's in but she still thinks she's in a western country with things like laws and order and it might be reasonable but I just found it fucking annoying.
If it quacks like a duck and walks like a duck - it probably is a duck. Max is obviously a soldier of some description. There are clearly things going on that Emily is not privy to. And yet, she thinks she has all the answers. Max is obviously doing the best he can to keep them both safe but Emily is whiney about it. And majorly unrealistic.
Emily followed his instructions as he opened his door. “Where are you going?” “I’ve got to disable the taillights so they won’t be a beacon to anyone following us.” She shot him a startled glance. “But… Abdullah’s cousin—” He sighed. “I’ll make sure he’s reimbursed for the damage.” Hell, the way his luck was going, Max expected he’d be financing an entirely new vehicle for the man once this was over.
Kier, Vanessa. WAR: Disruption: (WAR Book 1) (Kindle Locations 1128-1132). Vanessa Kier. Kindle Edition.
Seriously? Is she fucking serious? She's worried about the damage to the taillights. A bridge was just blown up. Get your priorities straight. Emily is clearly a moron - but that's cool, I can move past it. Mostly.
Then we meet Kris and Wil. And you know what, they're the best part. I like them. I'm interested to see more of them. But at this point which is around the 26% mark, I don't love Max or Emily, but I don't hate them. Although the following does make me reconsider.
We never stop to think about the mothers forced to wake their children and pile them into the car.” She nodded at a battered Toyota 4Runner with three young faces pressed to the rear window. “Or everyone else forced to drop whatever they were doing in order to run for their lives.” She smacked her hand against the dashboard. “I hate being helpless to stop the rebels from killing people.” She threw a glare over her shoulder toward the rebel Jeep. “I swear, I’m normally a pretty even-tempered lady, but if you gave me one of those weapons, I’d be tempted to shoot the rebels myself!”
Kier, Vanessa. WAR: Disruption: (WAR Book 1) (Kindle Locations 1269-1273). Vanessa Kier. Kindle Edition.
She went on and on about killing people, but now she's ready to shoot them? Seriously? Talk about a 180. Anyway she goes on to forgive Max because it's clearly not his fault her tour mates were shot - even if they were looking for him. Except - in the next part we learn about how she had to have emergency survival training for all sorts of scenarios because her dad was sent to an internment camp. Reasonable. I can get on board with that logic. Except - wouldn't he have taught her that sometimes to survive you have no choice? Or the no never kill, would have to be at odds with that logic - surely?
She's with someone who is clearly more experienced than she is at this stuff, but she still thinks hey I hear trucks - let's go investigate without waiting or using proper caution - or maybe talking it over. So they get past that. End up in a crater. Get out of a crater. Then Max passes out. Emily looks after him.
Then he wakes up and becomes the biggest bloody crybaby. He's unconscious. She's scared. She's been caring for him for however long and been the only one holding up the team - and he's first efforts are to whinge at her for not going the way he wanted? Couldn't he have at least waited to ask why? Maybe to think she's not a complete moron and wouldn't put herself in more danger if she had any other choice? So they have a big argument and guess what? They get discovered by rebels! I was finally on her side. Right up until this.
The man snatched a fistful of Emily’s hair and yanked her to her knees. “What are you doing?” she cried. “You’re Ebo, aren’t you? Don’t you remember me? I’m Emily. I stayed with Madame Prudence.” “I know who you are, obruni. The rebels will give us much reward money for you. Plus, we will take your vehicle.” He raised his rifle toward Emily’s head.
Kier, Vanessa. WAR: Disruption: (WAR Book 1) (Kindle Locations 2532-2535). Vanessa Kier. Kindle Edition.
That's when I just start flipping back and forth between her and Max because they're both fucking dumb. Oh my homestay host would never have anything to do with helping the village to kill me - yeah of course not. There's a helicopter flying overhead, why didn't you tell me - yeah because I had time while you were unconscious. And at 58% this was the point where I was ready to give up on this book.
Dammit, he was getting really tired of feeling like the unreasonable one here. But he bit his tongue and focused on his driving so he wouldn’t say something to make it worse.
Kier, Vanessa. WAR: Disruption: (WAR Book 1) (Kindle Locations 2636-2637). Vanessa Kier. Kindle Edition.
Because they're both fucking stupid unreasonable morons and it makes me angry. I finished this book. But the rest of it was a hard sell. The I'll send you off alone but I'll bitch about everything you do attitude Max had going on was annoying as fuck. But Emily lost my respect - because she kept umming and aahing over killing. Kill them or don't but for fuck's sake make up your mind. Killing only if they're hurting Max isn't a good enough reason - especially when she then decides fighting for their life means no killing - like contradictory much?
And I just ignored the whole love thing. It's just easier that way.
If there was a book about Kris and Wil I might pick it up - but I don't think I'll bother with the rest of the series. I'm rating one star. It's probably more a 1.5 stars, but I can't justify two stars this time. I hated them way too much by the end. Although up until the 58% point I could've justified two stars. So yeah. 1.5 it is.