Review: The Truth For The Lies by O. H. Phukdischidt
Blurb:
Is the handsome winged criminal a madman? Or has he uncovered a government conspiracy that threatens his entire race?
In the country of Tar, humans and winged people called hollow-boned live side by side. Red Raven, a criminal so named by the media because of his red wings and black hair, wreaks havoc on the cities. He revels in torturing government employees and blowing up charity organizations. His true motives with these attacks, however, remain a mystery.
Indigo is an agent of the Sentinels of Light, a private organization sworn to uphold justice. The skilled fighter is the Sentinel’s Master Swordsman and makes apprehending Red Raven his top priority. However, he finds the criminal beautiful and charming. The man may not be as evil as everyone seems to think. The more often they battle each other, the harder it becomes for the two men to deny their fiery attraction. And the more he learns about the alluring man’s motivations, the more Indigo questions everything he was taught about the sheltered world he was raised in.
Review:
The Truth for the Lies by Oh Phukdischidt was a fast-paced and engaging book that introduced me to a wonderfully unique world. From the beginning, I was drawn into the story’s setting, which was both imaginative and well-developed.
The story itself is about two characters from opposing sides, though it does feel at times that one of the sides consists only of the one character. We have Raj, a hollow-boned person who has wings and is, in all definitions of the word, a terrorist. He is going around blowing up buildings, killing people, and looking for information about what the government is doing to his people. On the other side we have Quill, a trained warrior and sword master, who is not charged with catching Raj specifically, but to keep the peace.
Except, the way hollow-boned are treated is making Raj’s actions escalate and Quill starts questioning his own purpose - to keep the peace or to stop the hollow-boned.
While so much about this story drew me in, there was also a lot that made me uncomfortable - not that it was bad! Just… had me cringing. Mainly speaking, the discrimination depicted and the consequences of it from multiple points of view and history. This was extremely uncomfortable to read at times, and though I didn’t enjoy it - it did add significant depth to Raj's character and made some government decisions… not make sense, but be relatable to society now.
Add to that Quill’s own perspective of being on the privileged side and his views and… it’s a dark way to add a lot of depth to the characters. Having said that, without that it wouldn’t have been as powerful. This entire portrayal made Raj’s struggles feel more real and important, enhancing the overall impact of the story and I know will have a big say in the rest of the series.
Now, onto the really good things! The book’s brisk pace kept me hooked, and I found myself reading it so fast and even found my eyes skimming ahead because I wanted to know what happened next, but then had to go back and reread stuff because I didn’t want to miss anything.
The story also combines several tropes to the extreme that I enjoyed. For one, it features a series of meet-cutes, though these aren’t exactly traditional, with one of the characters being a terrorist and the other the one meant to catch him. Instead of sweet, romantic meetings, they involve intense confrontations, fighting, sliding about on the ice, and just - so many different ways to meet that just work really well to reveal more about the characters.
Now, since we have all these meet-cutes, it’s pretty obvious the characters don’t actually get together after the first one. Or second. Or third. Or whatever-count. But in between the meetings, and time passing, there is enough long-distance lusting to keep the romance going, even when the characters are otherwise engaged.
There are also government conspiracies woven into the plot, adding layers of intrigue and mystery that keep the reader guessing. This is where, despite the engaging narrative, the plot fell a little flat to me. The book is split into three sections, where the first part is from Raj’s POV, the second from Quill’s, and the third is alternating as the two are finally hanging out together for longer than a few meetings. Having said that, even though the entire first third was focused on Raj, I didn’t actually get much about the government conspiracies - in fact, I had a hard time understanding his specific motivations outside of the discrimination and romantic plotline.
In fact, the plot felt somewhat incomplete to me, especially with the ending feeling rushed. It seemed like some parts of the story were hurriedly wrapped up, and left a few too many questions unanswered for me. Mainly, Raj’s motivations had me scratching my head and confused as to what was happening - regardless of whose POV we were in.
Quick note on the spice - it is there, it is detailed, it is not to my taste. Something about it felt off, maybe due to the long set up or… I don’t know. I’ll have to think about this one a bit more, but I’m really curious how the spice would be treated in the next book and if I can use that to figure out why it didn’t work for me here.
Overall, while I felt the ending was a bit rushed and left some parts of the plot unresolved, the book ended on a cliffhanger that made me eager to find out what happens next. The combination of fast-paced action, unique character interactions, and the need to figure out more about this government conspiracy definitely has me looking forward to continuing the adventure in the next book.
Summary
Romance: main
Spice: 2/5 (it’s there, but not to my taste)
Tropes: enemies to lovers, government conspiracies, winged men
POVs: third, dual
Tense: past
