It's been a year and a half since I read City of Ghosts. I've been eagerly anticipating the return of Chess and Terrible. Like Ellie, I was nervous about reading Sacrificial Magic because I felt that even though we all got what we wanted at the end of CoG (Chess and Terrible together at last), that Chess was going to do something in SM to mess it all up. Chess isn't known for being level-headed and making the best decisions. And that has not changed. If anything, I feel like Chess has regressed instead of progressed. For me, it's been a year and half but in Downside world, only a few months have passed since the end of City of Ghosts. So my expectations for Chess to be more mature and have her shit together were high. Unfortunately she couldn't even meet the lowest of expectations for me.I went into reading Sacrificial Magic with such high expectations and maybe that's my own fault and why it didn't wow me like I expected it to. The first thing that bugged me was Chess. I know she's a hot mess of a person and has issues out the wazoo but she really pissed me off in this book. The one thing that many people didn't like about Unholy Ghosts was Chess's drug habit. I felt that it was part of who she was as a character so it never bothered me...until now. Every single time she popped some Cepts and chased it back with bottled water (this description was used a lot) I rolled my eyes. I couldn't help myself! My thought was "really Chess? You're going to chose NOW to get your high on?" There's a scene where Chess is high off her ass and acting crazy and Terrible is involved and some things are said. I am not going into details but it was at that point where I decided that I wasn't going to like Chess at all in this book. Chess and Terrible, but mainly Chess, said some things that pretty much could ruin Chess and Terrible's tenuous relationship. The fall-out from it was all of Chess's fault because she's an insecure dumbass!Chess's insecurity in her relationship with Terrible drove me crazy. She constantly whined about how Terrible didn't trust her when it was her who didn't trust him. And honestly, she hasn't really given Terrible a good reason to trust her based on their past. And thanks to her drug habit, she's helping both sides! Bump, the drug dealer pimp that Terrible works for, and Lex, her former lover and current drug-dealer. So if anyone should have trust issues, it should be Terrible, not her.I know that Chess isn't perfect. That's what made me like her! But she did so much foolish crap in Sacrificial Magic that she had me yelling at my Kindle and uttering the 4 words that I never thought I would associate with Chess - Too Stupid To Live. She had many TSTL moments in SM and I couldn't help but shake my head and strangle my Kindle while pretending it's Chess's neck.I had major issues with Chess in this book that I've never had in the previous 3. But also, I felt that the overall story was slow and boring. I didn't feel the immediate pull that I was expecting and it was hard for me to stay engrossed. Sacrificial Magic got off to a slow start. I don't know if it's because it's been awhile since I've been in that world but it took me awhile to get into it. I felt that the ending was drawn out longer than it needed to and I found myself not interested in the resolution of catching the ghost and finding out who summoned it. At one point, Chess does a mental checklist of who has died under her watch as churchwitch. And when I read it, I thought "Chess is the worst churchwitch ever!" She is always two steps behind and she's figuring things out after the fact. So maybe this girl ain't as great as I made her up to be.Despite all my issues with Chess, I still love the series. I do wish there was more Terrible in this book. The lack of Terrible and Bump was a little disappointing. I love Bump and he's great for comic relief. I have a feeling that Lex will never go away and now I'm not sure I want to. After reading Sacrificial Magic, I've come to the conclusion that Chess doesn't deserve Terrible. I think I need her to hit rock bottom again so that she can truly get it together if that's even possible. She needs to lose everything including her job as churchwitch. Maybe that's mean but she really pissed me off in this one.Again, I still love the series and I can't wait to read Chasing Magic to see if Chess redeems herself in my eyes. Cause my opinion is the only one that matters, right? LOL!C
