Precursor (The Suoja Guild #1) in Reverse Harem Readers

Oct 20, 2019 Kay rated it it was ok

Shelves: bully, just-not-good, just-barely-reverse-harem, magic, paranormal, reverse-harem, meh, no-real-plot, romance, why-would-anyone-like-her

Kuuma sotku.

That's Finnish for "a hot mess", which is what this book (and books 2 and 3 in the series) was.

And before I rant, it turns out that I'm a member of the Surmata species/race, seeing as I can speak their language. So prepare yourself for a Finnish lesson! (The mystery language used in this series is mostly Finnish.)

This is a review for the first three books in the Suoja Guild series, and it might contain some very mild spoilers.

I have no clue what this series is about, not really trul Kuuma sotku.

That's Finnish for "a hot mess", which is what this book (and books 2 and 3 in the series) was.

And before I rant, it turns out that I'm a member of the Surmata species/race, seeing as I can speak their language. So prepare yourself for a Finnish lesson! (The mystery language used in this series is mostly Finnish.)

This is a review for the first three books in the Suoja Guild series, and it might contain some very mild spoilers.

I have no clue what this series is about, not really truly. First, we get to know a girl called Evie, who is the daughter of one of the leaders in a resistance group. I'm not entirely sure what they're resisting, but let's go with: "Resistance against anything and anyone that isn't human". In the first, too short, book of the series, Evie is a bit of a badass, and she resists the resistance. She has a friend called Max, who is half Surmata and half demon, and he introduces her to all things supernatural.. as well as to his six friends, who make up a whole Kaveri-unit, aka a group of male Surmatas ("Kaveri" means "friend" in Finnish). Oh, and the Surmata (which is Finnish for "to kill/slay") are super handsome, super strong, somewhat magical, supernatural beings that help keep humans safe from demons. I think they get their name from the fact that they can kill demons, while ordinary humans cannot?

Later, in the first book, Evie meets Max's mate Caleb, and the six Kaveri-friends, and she has a case of insta-lust with a few of them. The book is too short to really build up to the relationships, and so the romance in the first book is a bit 'off'. And sadly, it doesn't get much better as the series progresses. When the first book ended, I wasn't even sure who Evie's love interests would be. Still not entirely sure at the end of book 3.

I'll leave the spoilery details out, but basically, the books are all hot messes. From what I could gather, the series deals with Evie's memory loss, her connection to the Surmata males, the resistance (but only a tiny bit?) and especially one creep of a dude called Dominick and his evil intentions towards Evie, and Evie joining the Suoja Guild academy. Buuuuut then a whole mess of side-tracked plot lines pop up that don't seem to connect too well with each other at any point. The flow of the plot is way off, and nothing seems to be well-built or carefully thought out.

Other messy problems include, but aren't limited to, the following: New characters are introduced out of the blue, and I'm not sure if they'll all turn out to be integral to the story. Details that perhaps should have been mentioned earlier are just dropped in at odd points of the story, or old details are repeated over and over again. Evie's character changes from book 1 onwards, and she turns into a somewhat annoying TSTL type of a girl who keeps secrets unnecessarily just so she can get beaten up over and over again. And she gets beaten up A LOT - her whole shtick seems to be "I'm a tiny damsel in destress, help me". The Surmata males first seem kind of cool, but by the end of book 3, they just keep swearing a lot and their favorite pastime is to come up with silly nicknames for Evie (yep, it's one of those books where affection comes in the form of personalised petnames).

Side-rant: One of the males calls Evie "Syameni", which bugs the poop out of me. I'm guessing it comes from "Sydämeni", which means "my heart" in Finnish, but the author didn't want to use the letter 'ä', and thus "Syameni" was born.

The basic idea or concept of the series is awesome. It's the execution that needs a heck of a lot of work. I think, perhaps, the author started the series, but didn't have a clear plan or plot for it, and things just keep getting added to the story on the fly. I soooo so so wish that this series would have been better. As it is now, I can't see how it'll be able to pick up the scattered pieces and knit itself into a whole, consistent story. ...more

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Jul 30, 2018 Michelle rated it really liked it

Such a great start to a new series! I have to say, the idea really roped me in, and I was pleased with the overall development of the story.
I like Evie's friendship with Max, and am curious to found out how things go for him.
I liked Evie's guys well enough, but I didn't feel like we spent enough time with them. I'm looking forward to further interactions.
Overall, this was a really good start to the series, and I cannot wait to find out how things progress. ...more

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May 10, 2017 Brittany Devlin rated it it was amazing

I loved the main character Evie and how she acts! It felt easy to connect with her which made reading this story so much fun. I don't want to give anyway any spoilers but it ends on a pretty big cliffhanger which had me crying in frustration for the next book. Max and his housemates are written well and I love the different looks and personalities of the hot men! If you like multiple men as potential love interest then this book does not dissapoint! :) ...more

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