Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

This is third in an ongoing series. Read in order.

This is more along the line of the first two, but enemies are piling up. Benning's choice to go full bad-guy makes sense from her perspective. It's rational, I mean. Two things lead to this being a dnf.

First, the embedded power structure turning it's full focus on her is as contrived as it ever was. The problem I have in this story is that they are making some unearned wins and I hate that a lot. It isn't helping that the author gives us some opponent PoV that tells us there's a mole in her close counsel and I hate how stupid that makes everything. The most likely suspects are people I like and I found it hard to continue in anticipation of the eventual betrayal.

Second, we learn in this one that (view spoiler)[the system itself is putting a thumb on the scale against her progress, deliberately limiting her choices until she catches it and forces a reveal. That and making Tiddly choose to sever ties with the Overnet further gimping one of Benning's most powerful tools just pissed me off on the way to that reveal (hide spoiler)]. And that meant I couldn't trust one of the bedrock principles of the setup. Meaning that literally anything could happen to cripple Benning and her plans and you wouldn't see it coming.

That put enough pressure on continuing that I found myself struggling to pick the story back up after putting it down. Eventually I chose to call it a wrap and just abandon the story where I was. It's not helping that the blurb from the next book guarantees more unearned story shenanigans along those same lines.

So no. Dnf. And one star for my disappointment in a story that stacked the odds against our protagonist with such weak rationale and no redress.