this novel is exciting! I could not stop listening to it.
The Drafter by Kim Harrison is the first novel in the series The Peri Reed Chronicles. Peri Reed is a Drafter agent at a government-sanctioned organization, Opti, which completes secret special operations. The unique ability of the highly trained Drafter- Anchor pairs revolves around a Drafter’s ability to manipulate small sequences of time to adjust for any mistakes that are made during an op. Peri Reed has been working with her Anchor for three years completing their tasks successfully and basking in the glory of their successes. During one op, secrets about Opti and her Anchor are revealed, leaving Peri with the nagging pull of her intuition telling her that something is amiss even while she has no direct memory of the night and must rely on her Anchor. Drafters forget any changes in time that they make and must rely on their Anchor to supply them with the sequence of events. As events quickly spiral out of Peri’s control, she must try to figure out who she can trust as Opti and the Alliance, trying to bring Opti down, attempt to manipulate her. I loved this novel. I had read the novella prequel to this first novel, which definitely changed how I approached the story. First, I didn’t need to spend additional energy trying to decipher how the time drafts work. This might take some time if this novel is the first time the reader is introduced to the mechanisms in place in this world. Another impact was that the novella included some of the same characters. I had met some of the characters in the novella, which is years before The Drafter and so it was fun to figure out what might have happened in that intervening time for the situation to be the way that it is in this novel. Regardless, this novel is exciting! I could not stop listening to it. The characters are fun and believable for the most part, the plot is fast paced and winding. It’s got that maddening effect when the reader knows more than the characters and this just makes the reader groan and want to shout at the book. Throughout the novel, my heart ached for Peri. And I did not expect the end and even as it was happening I was thinking of what other explanation their might be. Finally, everything is neatly tied up at the end with no loopholes, but leaves the reader thirsting for what happens next with Peri Reed. The narration by January LaVoy was much improved from the novella. However, one character had a nasally irritating voice that was unchanged, but in this novel it fit his character more. She did a great job with all of the characters in general. The production quality was good. I would recommend this novel to anyone who likes strong female characters, time travel stories, and stories involving government agencies. I cannot wait for the next book in this series.