Guest Review: Ravel (Ripples in the Status Quo, #2) by R. Phoenix

When the monsters of myth and lore claimed the world for their own a decade ago, they relegated humanity to the bottom of the food chain. Survival takes every ounce of the skill and cunning Ashton has learned as a human faced daily with supernatural predators. When a chance encounter with a werewolf reminds him surviving isn't really living, he must choose between what he knows and what could be.

Reese hasn't been able to face the world in years. He hides away in his home, rarely venturing out lest he be forced to face what reminds him of all that he's lost. When a human thief breaks into his home one night, he's confronted with the harsh truths of a society he supports through his silence. But when questioning the status quo is punishable by slavery or death, can he risk being labeled him a sympathizer?

Guest Reviewer: Chelsea

I really enjoyed this story, it kept me enthralled until the end and I found the darkness of the world and the lightness of hopeful new love was a well balanced contrast.

This is a world where supernatural beings, or ‘supes’, sought a place among society, but then overran it. Now humans can either live in the slums with no income and no resources, or live as ‘pets’ or slaves to the supe’s.

“Those who had implemented the status quo had promised peace and safety for supernaturals. They had been forced to live in the shadows for so long, afraid of what might happen if so much as a single light swept over them, and the idea of living in the open had been intoxicating. The changes had come at the cost of humanity…”

Reese is a werewolf who has lived in his home in solitude for the past 10 years, mourning the death of his lover. Ash is a human who has learnt not to trust the fragile place humans now hold in society, and steals whatever food and resources he can find. When Ash tries to steal from Reese to save a sick friend, they’re both brought to question the world they live in and the people who now occupy it.

The banter between Reese and Ash was wonderful and Ash was really very funny, which lightened up the book considerably. I could feel the connection between these two, and saw the desperate need for companionship they both craved.

“When had he last felt like the center of someone’s universe? When had someone looked at him and wanted him, seeking to share instead of simply taking?”

I certainly had a decent case of the feels throughout this book, Reese’s loss for his lover, Ash’s distrust of everyone, both of their need for something good and hopeful in their lives.

“He only wished he had something to hope for. Why not true love? Why not some fairy tale story where the beggar got the prince and they lived happily ever after?”

It really did end up being a pretty perfect blend of bleak despair and hopeful new love. It ended on a solid HFN which I really liked given the length of the story was set over the course of a single week, so anything more would have felt unrealistic.

I really hope there will be more to this series as I want to someone disrupt the status quo!

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