I picked up Anathema because I was in the mood for dark fantasy romance, and Zevander sounded exactly like the sort of hero I usually like — cold, dangerous and not particularly friendly.
The story follows Maevyth Bronwick, who lives in Foxglove Parish, where everyone knows not to go near Witch Knell, otherwise known as the Eating Woods. People who are banished there don’t come back. Then Maevyth’s sister, Aleysia, is banished into the woods, and Maevyth goes after her. That takes her somewhere she definitely wasn’t expecting to end up: beyond the mortal world and into Aethyria, where she meets Zevander Rydainn, known as the Scorpion. He is a centuries-old assassin carrying a curse, and Maevyth’s blood may be the key to breaking it.
So naturally, he can’t simply get rid of her. Not to mention that he was totally into her. 😂 Apparently mortals smell rather deliciously like oranges to the immortals of Aethyria. The problem is that mortals are also associated with disease, which is one of the reasons crossing between their worlds is rather complicated.
This was actually a very interesting setup for me because their relationship doesn’t begin with romance. Zevander has a practical reason to keep Maevyth alive, while Maevyth has her own reason for wanting to get back to the mortal world. And this is where Maevyth and I eventually began to have problems.
Initially, I really liked her. She seemed level-headed, sensible, observant and surprisingly capable considering the horrible environment she had grown up in. Then Aleysia was involved and suddenly, to me, all reason went out the window. I understand loving your sister. I understand wanting to know what happened to her. But Maevyth had just entered a forest where she had literally watched a monster tear the flesh off Uncle Riftyn. She barely escaped with her own life, somehow managed to cross into an entirely magical world, and Aleysia was trapped on the other side with that creature approaching her.
At that point, what would a sane and reasonable person realistically think had happened to Aleysia? Because my assumption would not be, “She’s probably fine. I just need to get back there.” To me, there was practically nothing that would make me believe Aleysia should still be alive. Maevyth’s single-minded certainty about it started bothering me because it didn’t fit the level-headed girl I thought I had met at the beginning of the book.
The romance, though, worked much better for me. The attraction was pretty much there from the beginning, especially on Zevander’s side. For someone who wouldn’t even blink when killing someone, the fact that he couldn’t bring himself to kill Maevyth while she was lying in her bed did it for me. 😂 His attraction to her was hardcore from day one, even if he couldn’t bring himself to admit it. For Maevyth, it was much slower. There were practical reasons for them to remain together before there were romantic ones, and their relationship developed gradually rather than having her immediately fall all over him. That part worked for me.
The world itself is much darker than a lot of romantasy I’ve read. This isn’t just a pretty magical forest with a few dangerous creatures wandering around for decoration. The Eating Woods are genuinely horrible, some of the creatures are grotesque, and there is an underlying horror element throughout the story. There is also a LOT of worldbuilding: curses, blood magic, mages, different realms, creatures, old gods, prophecy, Zevander’s history… A LOT.
But surprisingly, I was completely immersed in it. I didn’t actually just listen to Anathema. I read the book while listening to the audiobook at the same time, and that combination was chef’s kiss. 🤌 Having the text in front of me while Melissa Barr and James Cassidy brought the characters to life made it much easier for me to sink into such a complicated world. Instead of struggling to keep up with unfamiliar names, places and all the lore through audio alone, I could actually see everything on the page while hearing it performed. I tore through this enormous book in about a day, so whatever complaints I have about it, boredom certainly wasn’t one of them.
And then there was James Cassidy. I think we need to acknowledge that his voice may have had some influence on my continued interest in Zevander. 😂 His performance suited Zevander extremely well: deep, controlled, slightly threatening — basically exactly what I wanted this character to sound like. That deep baritone voice certainly helped the imagination.
Unfortunately, the ending did the book some harm for me because then we get the trapdoor. After everything Maevyth has gone through trying to find Aleysia, she discovers her sister beneath the floorboards of the Crone Witch’s cottage. Alive.
And my brain immediately went: No. No, no, no.
How long had she been down there? How did she survive everything that happened after Maevyth crossed into Aethyria? How did she get from the Eating Woods into that crawl space? What exactly had been happening to her all this time?
I know it is a cliffhanger and obviously the next book can provide explanations. But as the ending of Anathema, it asked me to accept one thing too many without giving me enough information to make it believable. And this is one of my problems when I read: once something doesn’t make logical sense to me, my brain starts pulling at the thread.
I can overlook a lot in fantasy. Magic? Fine. Immortals? Fine. Giant murderous creatures roaming around a cursed forest? Absolutely. But the internal logic still has to convince me. Between Maevyth repeatedly throwing reason aside whenever Aleysia was involved and then discovering Aleysia alive under that trapdoor, I reached the point where I couldn’t keep making excuses for the story.
Then there is another cliché I keep noticing in these kinds of books: why do they all have masquerade parties? 😂 At some point, the mysterious masked ball has to stop being mysterious.
Anyway, other than those jarring things, there was so much about Anathema that I genuinely enjoyed. I liked Zevander. I loved the dark gothic atmosphere. The Eating Woods were wonderfully horrible. The world was interesting enough that I became completely immersed in it, and reading the book together with the audiobook was probably one of my favourite reading experiences in a while. And apparently I liked James Cassidy’s voice enough that I subsequently went looking through the other audiobooks he had narrated. So there is that. 😂
Would I continue with The Eating Woods? No. I was curious about what happens next, but not curious enough to read another enormous book hoping that the things which bothered me would eventually be explained.
Sometimes a book can keep me completely absorbed while I’m reading it and still lose me once I start thinking about what actually happened. Anathema was one of those books.