ARC Review--The Drafter by Kim Harrison

Detroit 2030. Double-crossed by the person she loved and betrayed by the covert government organization that trained her to use her body as a weapon, Peri Reed is a renegade on the run.

Don’t forgive and never forget has always been Peri’s creed. But her day job makes it difficult: she is a drafter, possessed of a rare, invaluable skill for altering time, yet destined to forget both the history she changed and the history she rewrote.

When Peri discovers her name on a list of corrupt operatives, she realizes that her own life has been manipulated by the agency. She joins forces with a mysterious rogue soldier in a deadly race to piece together the truth about her final task, unable to trust even herself.

I received this eARC from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review, I was in no way compensated for this review.


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! ;)


The Drafter releases September 1, 2015