Challenge Corner discussion

Sybil Delling has spent nine years dreaming of having no dreams at all. Like the other foundling girls who traded a decade of service for a home in the great cathedral, Sybil is a Diviner. In her dreams she receives visions from six unearthly figures known as Omens. From them, she can predict terrible things before they occur, and lords and common folk alike travel across the kingdom of Traum's windswept moors to learn their futures by her dreams.

Just as she and her sister Diviners near the end of their service, a mysterious knight arrives at the cathedral. Rude, heretical, and devilishly handsome, the knight Rodrick has no respect for Sybil's visions. But when Sybil's fellow Diviners begin to vanish one by one, she has no choice but to seek his help in finding them. For the world outside the cathedral's cloister is wrought with peril. Only the gods have the answers she is seeking, and as much as she'd rather avoid Rodrick's dark eyes and sharp tongue, only a heretic can defeat a god.

**This BOTM thread will be open until August 5th @ Midnight (in your time zone)**

I think I'm going to dive into this one today.

I just started reading this today! So far, I’m hooked

End of Chapter 7

(view spoiler)[Ok, I'm now intrigued. Have to admit that at the beginning, I was thinking, what in the hell is happening? There was an info dump that I had to re-listen to.

I'm enjoying Sybil's character. Curious to see how everything with Rory plays out. Really like his character as well. (hide spoiler)]

Brittni wrote: "End of Chapter 7

Have to admit that at the beginning, I was thinking, what in the hell is happening? There was an info dump that I had to re-listen to.
..."

I had the exact same experience, I still don't totally know what's going on and think this is one I may do better with actually reading because I'm struggling a bit with the audio even though I'm intrigued.

Chapter 18

(view spoiler)[I'm enjoying Rory and the gargoyle as characters. The gargoyle is hilarious. I love the sass.

That said, I'm not loving the story. Not sure if this is an author, book and me problem, but I'm not all that engaged. I want to be more interested in the story, but it's just not happening. It feels like the book is dragging on at this point and I'm bored.

I'm also not particularly sold on the romance between Rory and Sybil. I want more tension and energy from them. I can tell that they're into each other but the chemistry just isn't jumping off the page for me.

I'm going to finish but I'm wondering if Rachel Gillig just isn't the author for me. I read One Dark Window and it didn't grab me either. I heard the second was MUCH better but couldn't bring myself to read it for fear of disappointment. I thought I would give another one of hers a try but it's falling flat again.

I really hope everyone else has a better experience! (hide spoiler)]

Finished

(view spoiler)[I genuinely don't know what to say.

Right after I wrote that update, it picked up and we got a little more tension between Rory and Sybil but I'm not sure I'm keen to jump into the next one. Her battling the omens certainly got me more interested.

The ending was INTENSE.

I have to admit, I think Rachel writes beautiful books. There's something about her writing that I do love but it just doesn't grab me. This is the second book from her that I've had a hard time getting into to. (hide spoiler)]

Hope everyone else likes it more than I did.

Chapters 1-8
(view spoiler)[ What is happening to all the diviners? And what did she see in the mirror? I think the Abbess is behind it but I don't know why or how. I know I said earlier maybe I need to read this but I really like the narrator and I actually feel like I wouldn’t like this if I were reading lol.
(hide spoiler)]

Chapters 9-12
(view spoiler)[ Okay so I'm fairly confident her eyes are stone and that's what was so horrifying. I'm wondering if that's where gargoyles come from. I really wish we had more answers but I know we're learning as she does. It's a very interesting world, I just want to know more about it. I'm now thinking it was one of the omens who took the diviners and is probably bloodletting them which yikes. I really hope she'll be able to save them. I know I’m supposed to be feeling the connection between six and Rory, but I'm not at all. I really don’t care about their romance, I just want to know what is happening. Also the gargoyle is amazing, best character by far, if anything happens to him I will riot.
(hide spoiler)]

Chapters 13-21
(view spoiler)[ That's what happened to the diviners, shit. I was holding out hope they'd be okay even though given what we had found out it didn't seem likely. So she was meant for the Abyss. They are definitely going to have to have a showdown by the end of this. So were the gargoyles taking them there or the Abbess? And what is on her face? I guess they don't turn into gargoyles then but that leaves me with so many questions about that. I'm hoping all will be answered by the end but am also worried this is a just vibes no real world building kind of book. Also still don’t care about the romance.
(hide spoiler)]

Chapters 22-28
(view spoiler)[ Ahh my library loan of the audiobook expired. I have the ebook but I was counting on finishing the audio and now I don't know where I was (turns out searching one wasn’t the smartest but yay I know where I am lol). I think Benji is going to turn out to be a bad guy. There's just something sinister about him. That fake out with one was so sad I thought for sure Sybil was going to save her but nope. (hide spoiler)]