Review: All's Fair in Vanity's War by Elizabeth Marx

My Rating: 3 Stars
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Well thought-out world building and plot line! Fascinating concept. And the emotional aspects of the story tied me into knots.

The story is told from the perspective of the Seer, a dead teenager who has been given the task of guarding Locke's (her boyfriend when she was still alive) new girlfriend. It's been about 2 years since she died, but she still loves him. For me, it was painful to watch the budding romance through the eyes of the Seer.

I liked the Seer, and although I didn't mind Locke hooking up with Keleigh, I wished that the Seer could have some romance too. The Seer is dead; Locke is still alive. He's obviously not the right guy for her, but I would have been a lot happier if one of the Guardians who could actually see the Seer and talk to the Seer had shown some interest in her.

I wished that Locke and the Seer could have had a real conversation. I wanted closure between the two of them. I wanted to hear him say he loved her but that he was now ready to move on with his life. I wanted her to say she accepted that. But although Locke said several times that he needed to communicate with the Seer, he never did.

I also felt frustrated with the fact that the Seer could mostly only observe and did very little to interact. Because of that, we couldn't sink deeply into her consciousness. Most of the time, the focus was on the people she observed, and at the end of the scene, the Seer would chime in with her reactions to what she had just seen. We got very little sensation, reactions, and internal dialog from the POV.

Despite that, I identified with what we did get from the Seer. I loved the character and I'm hoping for more focus on her in the next book.

Elizabeth Marx is an author with so much wonderful potential. I think her books will just get better and better.