I want to start by saying this is technically the SECOND book in a series. The first book is 0.5….while this one is book 1. When I first saw the book available on Netgalley, I was excited about the premise of the book and decided to apply to read it…only to find that there was a prequel so I can’t bash the lack of explanations when most explanations are done in prequels, and will give the benefit of the doubt to the author as it was partially my fault for not reading the prequel. That being said, WHO releases a prequel first and numbers it as 0.5…making your second book, book 1. The book is called “A Mirage in the Memory”, it is labeled as “A Prequel to the Slip Saga” which was released in 2023…while “A Spectre in the Stream” was released just a couple weeks ago! That being said ladies and gentlemen, I ask you all- what is a prequel? A prequel is a story that contains events that come before ALREADY existing work. Authors of series such as FBAA, Throne of Glass, A Fire in the Flesh, and many more have released books in the present storyline and THEN release the prequel, AFTER they already have pre-existing work published. Literally goes against the definition of a prequel!! This author did not…book 0.5 then book 1. You would think an author would know what a prequel is…this one apparently does not. So incredibly confusing.

Now that that’s covered, let’s get to the book itself.

This book follows three main characters- Prisma, Thibault, and Calvin (aka Goose). Each on their own separate journey at first, but as the book progresses they find their way to each other and form a strange alliance. Prisma and Goose become friends, while Thibault joins them later on in the book. They all question the world they are living in and try to get answers. I would summarize the storyline in more detail…but the way it was written makes it difficult to repeat. There was so much going on, so many different terminologies (like the Black, the Slip, Sloids, Meat, etc) that it was hard to keep track and truly get a grasp of…anything.

Immediately you’re thrown into the action, which can be a great thing when executed properly unfortunately it wasn’t here. I was so lost for over half of the book and even after half of it, I was lost on things than I knew them. I didn’t feel like all of the elements were explained throughly enough for me to get an understanding that was desperately needed. I found the plot of the book to be repetitive. Hunters would come in search of Goose- journey to get answers, get into a fight defending Goose, recover, and repeat. This made the story boring and predictable. The fight scenes were at least unique, well written and contained more gore than I expected.

The characters were okay overall. I liked the addition of Prisma’s alter ego, Eo. It adds a creative spin and her personality carried the book for me. Smartass through and through, sarcastic, hard exterior and behaves tough but soft on the inside, strategic, and funny. Prisma was okay. I found her to have only one personality trait which was caring…that’s it. She relies solely on Eo to protect her and fight her battles for her. It was kind of irritating that she never learned to take care of things herself and each time she tried, her ass was handed to her within seconds. Eo’s back hurts from carrying this book in more ways than one. Calvin is loyal to his friends and cares for them, similar to Prisma he also questions where he comes from and who he is. Those are his only traits. Thibault is a smart, strategic bounty hunter obsessed with getting his wife back (points for romance). Those are the only traits for these characters I can name…so unfortunately, they came across as pretty one dimensional. Prisma and Goose both have extremely similar personalities, Thibault is kind of similar but more boring than the other two. Eo had the most different and bold personality from the rest of the characters…they just fell flat unfortunately.

Overall, there are more negatives than positives about this book. It was very disappointing. I would give it 1 star but will give it 2 solely because of Eo who deserves a medal for carrying this book.

I will be sharing this review on GoodReads. A special thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book!

This book follows a girl named Prisma who has an alter-ego, as she tries to unearth the secrets of the world she is living in.

I really loved the idea of this book. A futuristic, post-apocalyptic sci-fi sounded intriguing from the beginning.

Unfortunately, this book was just not for me. Very early on in the book, I was lost. The story quickly submerged into this fantasy world that I knew nothing about, which is normal for starting a fantasy book, but even further on in the book, I didn't feel that these elements were explained or expanded on. That made it very hard to understand what was going on, as well as making it difficult to connect to the characters.

I also wasn't the biggest fan of the writing style. The sentences felt very long at some points, and a lot of the words used were either words I've never heard of before, or words in Irish (..?)
Let's just say my Kindle dictionary got a lot of use while reading this.

I really wanted to like this book, and maybe if I had read the prequel I'd have a better understanding of the story.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here are honest and my own.