The Longing and the Lack (Unliving, #1)

by C M Spivey

[Eve1972]

Very cool cover on this one. Excellent representation if the story. Good use of graphics. Great composition and interesting title work.

I enjoyed the hell out of this one. I thought it was well written and well paced. At first, I thought I might be bothered by the way these characters speak and act as it is very formal and a bit old fashion in its nature but very soon I was sucked into the story and came to love this author's writing style. The plot was unique and had plenty of twists and turns. There is a bit of romance weaved throughout the book and one implied sex scene but don't go into this thinking it's a romance book because it is not. There was also a great cast of interesting characters both secondary and primary, and I hope we get a more in-depth look at a few of them in the next book.



That said, there was an issue that kept this book from being a 5-Star read for me. I felt the author needed to provide us with much more background and world building. There were things that are mentioned (vampires for instance) that are just dropped into the story without any explanation and to be honest felt a little out of place in this book. I almost felt like this was the second book in a series. I needed more background on Lucinda's life before moving to Ireland. I needed more background on Morgan. On his sister's disappearance. The fates. Lucinda's brother. I think a prequel novella would have been an excellent addition to the series.

So apparently there are previous books that give us background history. I See the Web (The Web #1) and A Single Thread (The Web #2) by C.M. Spivey. Kind of wish I was aware of that before I started this one and even though this can be read as a standalone it would be this reviewers recommendation to read those prior books first for a fuller experience.

But like I said above even with that issue I still enjoyed this one a lot and can't wait to get my hands on the next book in the series. So two thumbs up from yours truly.