The Drafter

Kim Harrison's newest Peri Reed series starts with The Drafter and this world here is a far cry more different than her Hollows series. There's not any paranormal in it, but there's still tons of action, a great heroine, danger, deception and all sorts of other good things to make up a great story!Like with any brand new series, there's a lot of world-building to get through, that this one is set in the future, makes it a tad harder. At least for me. Especially when it concerns technology! I've never been the best with technology and knowing it all in details! I can work my basic devices, but getting into the details of them all, not so much! LOL! So trying to figure out what gadgets Peri was using and for what purposes was a little discombobulating, but luckily those moments were few and far between. What was harder to grasp was Peri's talents as a drafter. She can basically change time, she stops it and then rewrites it. It was a bit confusing at first, because I couldn't grasp what was happening. What changes were really being made and what effect they would have on the present or new present. And then there's the whole changing the outcome of not dying or having someone else not die or actually die!Confused yet? Yeah, I kind of was too!Anyway, Peri works for Opti, which is basically the top company in this future world. What they did, I never fully grasped either. But when a job goes wrong and Peri drafts and loses three years of her life, she struggles to put all the pieces back together. Yes, time gets lost when Peri drafts, which was another concept I couldn't quite figure out. I mean, it just seemed like after a draft, life went on as normal, but no, time has passed! I couldn't figure out what happened during that time! Did Peri do this or that...how is it no one else seems to be affected by the time jump? It just happens to be three weeks later! It was minor nuisances really, they didn't detract from the story too much, but it did make things a tad complicated to comprehend!Anyway, Peri is trying to put the pieces of her life back together after learning of a huge betrayal and that leads to further revelations that continue to put a damper on the life she thought she knew. There's lie after lie, deception after deception. Who is good and who is evil? Peri finds herself amongst the alliance, which is a rebel group of sorts looking to bring Opti down. And we get the sense of familiarity amongst one man in particular, Silas. We get that sense mostly, because he occasionally has a few chapters from his third person point of view.Despite having moments of confusion, I did enjoy this one. There's a lot of mystery being built up and we've only touched the surface of it all. The ending led to more revelations that were totally shocking!As far as romance goes, this one was pretty much without. There was one moment of passion in the beginning but that nearly gets forgotten once the plot steers us on the course we're meant to be on. Though there is potential for more romance further down the line. We'll just have to wait and see where things take us!The Drafter is an intriguing read filled with mystery throughout! Not the clear-cut, whodunit kind of mystery but just that overall feeling of people hiding things constantly and you never know why. Peri has only scratched the surface in the learning area. We have a long way to go I expect to see where her journey takes us and I for one, will be looking forward to it!For fans of Kim Harrison, I urge you to give this one a try! There's no paranormal elements, but plenty more mystery, intrigue, and the lovable kind of characters that are pretty much a staple for Kim Harrison! Be sure to order your copy asap!Overall Rating 3.5/5 stars--a minor take down from the confusion I had when it came to futuristic elements and the rewriting of time. I figure by the next book, I'll be more able to understand it all! That is if my memory of this one returns in a timely manner! ;)

I am a big Kim Harrison fan... so much so that I have been saving the last Hollows book because I don't want the series to be over! I have been curious about this new series and am glad that I have finally been able to work it into my reading schedule. It's definitely different from the magic of the Hollows, but I think the series has good potential.Peri Reed is a drafter, which means she can draft time to fix mistakes that occurred within the previous 60 seconds or so... however when she drafts, she loses part of her memory and must rely on a partner (anchor) to help her fix the memory of the timeline. This makes the relationship between the drafter and the anchor crucial - they must be able to trust one another implicitly. The drafter can (kinda) rewind time to save an anchors life, and the drafter must rely on the anchor to rebuild her memory when she loses part of her timeline. Peri was a likable heroine for the most part. She was capable and kickass, but with a large dose of vulnerability when she lost her timeline. She definitely trusted the wrong people time and again, and was manipulated ridiculously easy, but her memory loss hampered her ability to learn a lesson from past mistakes. I do wish that her instinct would have been a little stronger at times, but overall I liked her quite a bit and think she will continue to grow as the series progresses.Even though the blurb touts this as a romantic suspense series, there was not much romance in this first installment. Peri first has to deal with the betrayal of her anchor and love interest, and then we are introduced to Silas Denier, a hunky and intelligent doctor who invented the technology in this futuristic world. While there may be an intention for Peri and Silas to come together in the future, they were more at odds with one another in this book than anything, even when they were working together. Then there was this other guy hanging around, Allen, who really just creeped me out and I hate him and all of the interactions that he had with Peri. You will see why as you read, but I can't go into my dislike for him in detail without giving spoilers.So I loved the suspense in this story, the action was fast-paced and kept me turning the page for the first two-thirds of the book. I was very interested in the futuristic world and technology, and loved seeing Peri kick ass and get herself out of scrapes and close calls. The world-building was not quite as developed as I would have liked. I felt confused as I was reading sometimes, and I still don't fully understand how the sci-fi aspects work. I get the drafting time... but I really want to know how they go in and fragment memories. I don't think that was explained much (if at all). I also want to know why drafting causes memory loss, and why a 30 second draft could remove weeks or years of memory. Some of the confusion may be my own fault as I didn't realize there was a prequel to this series. The prequel focuses on Silas so I have a feeling some of his technological work and research was described in that book, so I really shot myself in the foot for not reading it first.The plot did get repetitive for me around 70% and it seemed like Peri was getting into the same situation over and over, and that made the story start to drag. However, I powered through and did like the set up for all the various crises, even if the draft-forget-betrayal-repeat was so similar in each scenario. I got miffed around 90% as well when it seemed that a somewhat major event happened off page. But there were also some twists and turns thrown in that made me happy, and I am looking forward to where Peri goes next in The Operator, which I have scheduled for review next week.3.5 stars / 1 flame.

V sorry to leave a negative review, but I don’t have an alternative.The Rachael Morgan series has a lot going for it. Joie de vie, interesting, likeable characters, multi-dimensional relationships, people and plots, info and back story, an interesting environment. This new series is missing all those from the first page.Because I have to access to the Prequel of this series (am in the UK) I had no idea what was going on from the very first scene of this new book. The endless re-writing of history then caused more confusion. Nothing was explained, unless it was explained and then re-drafted out of existence. And (my biggest gripe) there wasn’t a single likeable character in the book. I mean, who cares what happens, if you dislike the brattish main character and the supporting cast are untrustworthy or she just kills them?I’m almost rooting for someone to kill the lot of them off, and I couldn’t care less what happens to the organisation.Having read 3/4 of the book I am giving up now.

I loved this, from start to finish. It kept me up late to read "just a few more pages", and how much better than that does it get?Peri Reed is an elite government agent with the ability to alter time - just a few seconds, but a few seconds in the right place can make all the difference. The only trouble is, every time she alters history, she forgets part of her life - sometimes hours, sometimes weeks or months. It's an occupational hazard, and Peri has to cope with it: she writes herself notes; she has her routines, ways she can function even when she can't remember what's she's doing or why.Kim Harrison has said that "The Drafter" is a commentary on Alzheimer's Disease, and the way sufferers lose their past, a bite at a time, and initially try to cover up the gaps until the gaps get too big. Reading with that in mind made the story better yet, as you concentrate on Peri - the way she tries to cope, and the way the people around her react.Suffice to say, it's very easy to deceive a person when they trust you to do the remembering for them.I'm very much looking forward to the next book in the series.

Honestly I expected more from this author. I really liked her previous work The Hollows series and felt that all the love, character building and excitement about that world was gone from this new series.I'm not hung up on it, but felt this new series has no real fun. I'm disappointed in Peri our lead character who seems to be very 2 dimensional. Ok she loses time but beyond that acts like a princess and has no sense of her life. Yet she is the most interesting character here, the rest of them feel like supporting acts and are even less well drawn. Finally the plot and the world is so convulted I feel the author is twisting in knots to explain it in commentary from Peri's point of view. Everything feels not quite fleshed out - like this is a draft and needs a major reworking to get it into book stage....Sad.

I loved Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan series. I have read it more than once. So when I was looking for more books from her, I came across this. I thought I will give it a go. I am disappointed. It is well written with a lot of thought but so far away from the creativity that is evident in Rachel Morgan series that I just completed it because I paid for it. Also I wanted to get some background so I could read the book where Rachel Morgan appears in the future. I dont think its worth the money.

After the Hollows series I didn't think Kim Harrison could match or surpass it.The Drafter is the first in a new trilogy centred around Peri Reed. She's an agent who can alter time but this doesn't come without risks. She must rely on her anchor to keep her memory correct and also sane.There is a lot packed into this booked with a lot of character development and a fast moving plot which can be a bit tricky to follow if you're not careful. There's no need to be paranoid for Peri for it seems everyone is against her but who to trust? What is real and what is fake memory?This book is very well written and closes so well it's hard to imagine it is intended as anything other than a standalone story. It's highly enjoyable and is an excellent follow on to previous work. Highly recommend to new and old readers of Kim Harrison. Well worth the money.