Review: Painted Devils

Painted Devils by Margaret Owen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received an ARC of this book.
I am rounding up on this review. I am sorry to say that I was very disappointed by this book. I read Little Thieves and really really enjoyed it. I thought Vanja was a wonderful character, and that while the book involved so many YA fantasy tropes, it did them in fresh and original ways that made the book fun to read. I cannot say this about the second book in the series, however.
In this book, Vanja abandons Emeric, starts a cult essentially because she gets drunk and drops all her rubies and is too lazy to retrieve them from a river, somehow gets Emeric to forgive her for leaving him when he comes to investigate her for the crime of creating a faux-cult, finds out the Low God she accidentally awakened wants a virgin sacrifice--namely Emeric--and then has to find a way to appease this strange deity without hurting Emeric in the process. All the while making out with Emeric any chance she gets.
While Vanja continues her questionable behavior that made her a bit unlikable in the first book, it just began to get repetitive and annoying in this book--especially the way everyone seemed to just shrug their shoulders, shake their heads indulgently and say, "Oh Vanja...it's okay that you lied straight to our faces, broke your promises, did things knowingly that would cause others pain or trouble...we forgive you!"
Which brings me to the next issue I had: the relationship between Vanja and Emeric. While at the end of the first book we see Vanja kind of "leave" him, I don't think it was portrayed in a way that led the reader to think it was a hurtful betrayal, and that she planned to just abandon him. But that's exactly how it ended up at the beginning of book 2. She just up and left him; broke her word, treated him like he didn't matter, and didn't at all make him a priority. And when he finally encountered her again months later--in the middle of committing obvious crimes--he just was glad he found her again. Huh?! And THEN began the enormous plot point of "will-they-or-won't-they?" Ugh. It became such a huge focus of the plot--despite the fact that they were literally in a life-and-death situation with a very quickly ticking clock--that I just became completely fed up. I suppose the author was trying to make Vanja and Emeric seem adorably awkward, but the awkwardness of their "make out scenes" did not endear them to me--they felt almost matter-of-fact and almost clinical, not cute. And the fact that these situations were described over...and over..and over again became tiresome, to say the least. They made me roll my eyes instead of feel like Vanja and Emeric's relationship was growing and maturing. This is probably also due to the fact that the author relied on the things that happened in book 1 to provide the sparks between the two of them. If the reader only had book 2 to learn about Emeric and Vanja and why they liked each other, all there would be is the fact that Emeric will forgive Vanja for anything she does...and I'm not sure why Emeric likes Vanja...but no matter..."let's make out as often as we can, and as cringe-inducingly as we can!" For there to be such a deliberate focus on sex in this book, there really should be also be an accompanying focus on the organic development of their relationship, and romantic moments as well. But I found that sadly lacking. We were being told--about things that happened in the past--and not shown, and because of that it just fell flat, which was too bad, because their physical relationship seemed to be the whole focus of the story.
The pacing of the plot was off, as well. As mentioned before, there was such a focus on "how far will they go?" that the action suffered a great deal. There was very little sense of urgency or suspense, despite the fact that if Vanja and Emeric did not succeed--quickly--in their strange quest, Emeric would DIE (when they were able to gather the necessary requirements, it felt anticlimactic. And can I just say that I figured out who Vanja's family was before the first drop of blood was even collected)! Side quests kept emerging that instead of adding to, just distracted from the through-line of the plot.
And then the ending...what was the point of this whole journey the book led us on?!!? (Or tried to lead us on...)
As I said, I was disappointed with this book, as it was not at all what I was hoping for. I am in the minority, I know, but I loved Little Thieves. so much. By the time I was 20% into this one, I was seriously considering not finishing it, and by 50% in I began skimming. I just cannot recommend it.

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