Anointed by Maggie Mae Gallagher

MMGallagher--Anointed

MMGallagher--AnointedI was very intrigued with Anointed by Maggie Mae Gallagher after reading the blurb, but unfortunately, I simply could not finish this one and am left feeling a bit let down. I was truly hoping for a good UF with lots of magic and action but Anointed left me feeling bored and disappointed.

My name is Alana Devereaux. I enjoy the simple things in life, walks in the park, sky gazing, and ripping a demon’s heart out though its chest. I am a demon slayer, the last of my kind, and I have been sent back through time to save your world. How am I doing so far? My time travel went haywire, all the signs I needed to stop the prophecy have passed, and the only way I can save my world is by keeping yours from ending. Then there’s Gaelen, most days I want to deck him. He hides his true motives and if it was not for the intel he had, I would be rid of him. Any day in my life without a demon attack is a good day; I haven’t had a whole lot of those lately. The only problem is, if I don’t stop the Mutari, this world will burn.

I got about 20% into Anointed and just couldn’t get any further.  For me, the writing was dull and the pace felt like a snail trying to race a slug. I know that is harsh but that is what it felt like to me.  Anointed started off not so bad, with some in your face high action then just lost all its steam and fell flat. Yes, this is the first in a new UF/Fantasy/post-apocalpytic novel, so there is a LOT of world building to be done. This always slows the pace down and is something I expect. But, I felt there was too much description of places/actions (ex: when the protag makes her circle for a spell–I don’t need so much detail–shorten it please!!) that caused things to just drag on and on without (seemingly) any reason for it.

The other reason I DNF’d Anointed is because I found myself simply not caring one bit (or had any connection) to our protag, Alana. She seemed a bit whiny and her whole attitude about the predicament she found herself in just really irked me.  Had I connected with her at all, or at least felt that she had some bad-assness to her, or at a minimum could tolerate her, I probably would have finished Anointed. But, the combination of slow pace and big dislike of Alana, I just could not continue. I am hugely disappointed in Anointed because the blurb (and the premise/story arc) sound fantastic. I really like the idea of what Ms. Gallagher is likely going to do with this series. For me, it’s something new and it has magic and demons, things I like. I’m pretty frustrated that the protag seemed a bit whiny, despite self-declarations of being bad-ass and one of the best soldiers–and the fact that she had this thing called SPD (which is something similar to glamouring, etc that vampires or fae do).  For true fantasy readers, and for those who can tolerate slower paced books, I do think you will enjoy Anointed. However it just wasn’t for me, and that makes me sad.

About Nicole 146 Articles
Attorney by day, Publicist for Barclay Publicity and reviewer/LE (assistant) editor by night. I'm a huge book nerd and love to read. I have 2 dogs, both Labrador retriever mixed breeds, who are very rotten and think they run the house. Let's not lie, they totally do, I just can't them know it ha ha! My usual genre is romance or urban fantasy. I love all things having to do with paranormal, with the occasional good contemp/BDSM/erotica thrown in to spice it all up.