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Review: Shadow Falling by Rebecca Zanetti (Scorpius Syndrome #2)

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Shadow Falling by Rebecca Zanetti // VBC ReviewShadow Falling (Scorpius Syndrome #2)
Rebecca Zanetti
Published: Aug. 30, 2016 (Zebra)
Purchase: Book Depository or Amazon
Review source: copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review

Reviewed by: Amy

Rating (out of 5): 4 stars

Note: While this review will be spoiler free, it will reference previous books. If you haven’t started this series yet, check out VBC’s review of book 1, Mercury Striking.

Vivienne Wellington used to be one of the FBI’s top profilers until the Scorpius Syndrome hit. In a fit of Ripper psychosis, The President of the United States (or what’s left of the United States) took Vinnie hostage believing her to have developed telepathic sensibilities. He planned to use her to help him find the mythical Bunker—a secreted lab said to house a myriad of supplies and medicines. Fortunately, Vinnie was rescued by one of Jax Mercury’s Vanguard soldiers Raze Shadow. Now, a week after being rescued, Vinnie’s thinking maybe the President wasn’t so far off with his assumptions, what with her starting to see dead people and just generally being able to sense people’s thoughts. One thing’s for sure, she doesn’t have to be crazy to acknowledge how attracted she is to her mysterious rescuer.

Raze Shadow has been a mystery with a hidden agenda from the moment he showed up in Vanguard territory. He has one job he needs to accomplish and he won’t let his growing allegiance to Jax and the home he’s built get in his way. That is, until he’s the one to pull Vinnie out of the hell she’d been trapped in. Now, his loyalties are split between his real mission and a possibly crazy PhD.

I was really impressed with Mercury Striking when it was released earlier this year, and Shadow Falling doesn’t disappoint in that Rebecca Zanetti does a really good job of fleshing out and continuing this world. It’s not just Raze and Vinnie’s book. Other characters get their own perspectives, plus there are some new and promising characters introduced as well. This just heightens everything for this post-apocalyptic world and makes it feel very well rounded. We see where the series came from and a clear path of where things are going next, which I really loved.

Unfortunately, it’s kind of a double-edged sword because what this also does is take away some of the growth in mainly Vinnie’s character and the budding feelings between her and Raze. I didn’t take to their romance like I did to Lynn and Jax’s.

I really liked Vinnie’s quirky crazy self. All the drugs the President pumped through her system, in hopes of heightening her ESP, are kind of combatant with the Scorpius virus she already has in her system. Since the full effects of Scorpius are unknown at this point (it seems like it affects everyone’s brain differently), it was interesting to see the changes that occur in Vinnie as she’s experiencing them too. We just didn’t get enough of this.

There were also some internal Vanguard issues that pop up seemingly out of nowhere in this book and are dealt with in almost the same fashion. I think if this storyline would have been developed over the course of this book and maybe the next, the impact would have been felt more.

Raze’s own story was done pretty well, and this may stem from the fact that he was featured more in the first book so we already had the idea that he has secrets that may not coincide with Vanguard objectives.

Considering how the series has gone so far, I’m hoping Vinnie will get some more page time/growth in the next book Justice Ascending. Overall this has been an entertaining series and I cannot stress how much I think reading prequel novella Scorpius Rising (featured in On the Hunt anthology) is important to entirely understanding this world.

Sexual content: sex

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