Review: Through the Villain’s Eyes (Primordial Realms Book 2) by Stacy Benedict

Immersing oneself in a strange new world is what fantasy is all about, but imbuing magic and mystery into the world most humans recognize also makes for great storytelling. Through the Villain’s Eyes by Stacy Benedict is a veritable masterpiece of the macabre, with real-world contexts and settings that juxtapose brilliantly with the slight edge of magic flowing through the pages of this book.

In this dark, supernatural novel, there are Primordials and those that hunt them, including the mysterious and violently fascinating Blaire, one of these terrifyingly tough hunters. However, she isn’t sure about being a tool of pure destruction forever. Her ability to see the world beyond the real world – True Sight – is what makes her a hunter, but joining that family of death isn’t necessarily what she wants. She also has a past, and a wife, and a heart that appears to be breaking in two. That being said, Blaire is also an absolute force to be reckoned with – a harsh-talking, butt-kicking anti-heroine that fills this book with unpredictability.

When she realizes that her wife, Yarah, may be in mortal danger from the very forces that she has been fighting, Blaire must make the decision to betray her chosen path or allow her wife to be destroyed, body and soul. The constant tension in this book makes it difficult to put down, while the short chapters and rapid pace keep readers perpetually engaged. If you missed the first book in this series, the intricacies of this complex world may be a bit hard to parse, but Benedict does a good job of slowly leaking exposition and gradually introducing some of the stranger concepts. Eventually, the story becomes an immersive pleasure to read.

There are a few aspects that could be improved, such as the somewhat awkward sex scenes and some of the blunt, unrealistic language. It also feels as though certain moments or scenes are designed with shock value in mind, but they don’t feel as authentic as other parts of the prose. Additionally, some of the plot threads don’t appear very significant, even as the book ends, illustrating the need for a bit more editing to keep the story tight.

Overall, Through the Villain’s Eyes is an impressively constructed book, which starts as something seemingly small and then expands into a massive story with dozens of different characters, and Benedict does an excellent job of weaving together the different storylines, as well as giving more than a superficial picture of these varied players. Successfully having a reader emotionally invest in a wide range of characters is impressive in any genre, and Benedict does it very well.

Despite some issues with language and plotting, the writing itself is polished and relatively error-free, and the action scenes are some of the best passages in the novel. Fortunately, there are a lot of them, because this book doesn’t slow down. It rarely gives readers a chance to breathe, let alone predict how everything will end, resulting in an excellent climax and room for more intense exploration of this impressively designed world.