The Met in a Tavern

Rating 3 out of 5

"Life was something to fight for, every day, any way you could."

The Starbreakers were your classic teenage heroes and the most successful group of glintchasers in Corsar. But that all changed the day the city of Relgen died. The group went their separate ways, placing the blame on each other. Brass carried on a solo act. Snow became a notorious assassin. Church became a spiritual leader. Angel was the owner of a bar and inn. And after overcoming his own guilt, Phoenix settled down. Years after their falling out, a new threat looms. Phoenix tries to reunite the Starbreakers before everything they have left is taken from them. But a lot can change in seven years.

The book is very much about a strained relationship between old friends who are now trying to save themselves by finding out who has taken out a hit on them. My problem with this book is that it just jumps into that story without really giving us anything about the past or our characters. And I can't believe I'm saying this but, it needed more world building. There is a chapter towards the end of the book that I think should have been the start since it is showing how the team broke up and why. To me it just felt like a lot of the time we were reading about something we should have known, but didn't.

That being said I also kept getting The Boys vibes from this group (think a less dramatic version of The Seven). It was this group of complete misfits who met when they were kids and bonded but now have completely separate lives and don't even like one another. The group doesn't even "get together" until the very last four chapters. In my opinion they had this big quest, but 90 percent of the book was them going on side quests. The fight scenes in the book were great and engaging, but I just felt like something was missing for me with this book. It is well written and the characters do seem to have some development and growth throughout the story.