Raine Down

Raine Down is a 2022 urban fantasy novel by C.B. Samet. It was published in November 2022. The novel is the first entry in the The Shadow Guardians series.

Ragnarok happened. Survivors converged on earth many millennia ago, breeding and blending with humans. Now, a secret battle of bloodlines is being waged in the shadows of the real world. Raine Thoren became a Shadow Guardian to protect non-magical humans from threats they aren’t even aware of. But the latest killer on the loose has stealth and power unlike any adversary she’s faced. She won’t be able to bring this one down alone. FBI Special Agent Will Decker prefers to work by himself. When a mysterious woman saves his life, she’s suddenly assigned to work with him in his quest to track an elusive killer. The more he learns about his new partner, Raine, and what demons lurk in shadows, the more fantasy becomes reality. If they’re going to stop the demon and unravel prophecies of the future, they’ll need to work as a team and unlock each others’ hearts and untapped powers.

The plot of this novel was intriguing. It follows Raine and Will as they try to get to the bottom of a series of murders. The story in this novel mostly serves to set up the world for the reader, and set the stage for future conflicts. It introduced a number of very interesting ideas and aspects to the setting. It poses a lot of intriguing questions for the series as a whole. Unfortunately, the story isn’t the most exciting. The blurb hints at elements of mystery, alongside fantastical ones, but the plot doesn’t really focus on solving the mystery. A number of coincidences and contrivances move the story along as needed. The characters don’t really struggle or face significant obstacles when trying to move forward, which means any conflict feels less impactful. The story didn’t surprise or shock me at any point, and builds towards an entertaining conclusion, but not one with much weight. There were also a few chapters that felt out of place, as the events didn’t impact the plot and didn’t seem to set up anything for future books.

Raine and Will were both fine as characters. Raine struggles with the impact of the life she leads and some of the things she’s done in order to survive and help people. Will wants to do what’s right and wrestles not only with being exposed to the strange new world he finds himself in but also his role in it. On the surface, they are both compelling, but they lack a degree of depth. Neither feel particularly complex as character. Aside from the romantic subplot, which I wasn’t the biggest fan of, neither has much of an arc in the story. I wasn’t a fan of the romance that developed between the two characters, mainly because there wasn’t enough exploration of Raine or Will individually for me to become invested in anything brewing between them.

The writing in this book was fine. The prose didn’t stand out to me as being particularly good or bad. I was never fully immersed in the story, but quirks of the writing didn’t draw me out of it either. The world-building of the story is a bit weak. The author explains enough for the reader to keep track of what’s going on in the story, but nothing beyond that. It doesn’t feel like a fully fleshed-out world. There’s minimal world-building, but the elements that are shared with the reader felt unique.

Raine Down was ultimately a book that I liked, but didn’t love. The plot had some interesting aspects, and it set the scene for the series well, but had its share of weaknesses. The characters were compelling, but lacked some complexity. The world was interesting as well. I’m torn on whether to continue the series or not, as this novel was interesting and entertaining enough, but I don’t feel the invested enough to definitely continue on.

Rating: 3 Stars

Purchase Links for the book: Amazon

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