Review Detail

Told in alternating POVs and a timeline that jumps around, The Cost of All Things is the story of teenagers who have to deal with the consequences of spells place upon them and the truth behind the death of one of their friends.

At first, this book was a little confusing with the time jumping around a bit but once I got used to it, I found myself enjoying the book. The hemakist mythology was interesting and I liked that there were consequences behind the spells, with the more powerful the spell, the worse the consequences.

There was no real main character, though Ari seemed to get the most focus so if one had to be chosen, it would be her as the main character. I liked how the beginning set up certain perceptions of the characters, Ari was uncaring about getting a spell, Markos was a stereotypical player, but the perceptions were wrong the more you read. Each characters was important to the overall plot. Ari desperately trying to keep secret that she got a spell to forget her dead boyfriend, Markos always in the shadow of his brothers, invisible Diana starting to be seen, insecure Kay needing to be sure her friends will never leave her, Win trying to be the perfect boyfriend, lonely Echo wanting to save her mother. Without even one of them, the whole plot would have changed. The spells they chose were the easy way to do things and questions of morality arise more than once, but it was also understandable as to why each character chose to do what they did.

The timeline bounced back and forth a lot, between the present after the death and the past leading up to the death. There were times when it took a few sentences to figure out which part of the story was being told, unless it was the dead person’s POV. The hemakist and the story behind them was my favourite part. I don’t want to go into too many details in case of spoiling but it was a really interesting mythology.

For the most part, I really enjoyed the book. I did take some issues with the ending. It felt a bit rushed and also a little predictable. Overall I liked the way things wrapped up but a little more surprise or shock would have been appreciated. Still, a book that said a lot about the easy way out, the consequences, and how decisions affect more than just the person making them.