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Synopsis
STAY ANCHORED IN THE LIGHT, THEY TOLD HER. BUT WHAT HAD THE LIGHT EVER DONE FOR HER?
After discovering she's prophesied to save the realm, Aya's duty should be clear: return home with once-sworn enemy Will to serve their queen in the coming war against a rival kingdom…one whose pursuit of dark magic could bring the realm to its knees.
But with part of the prophecy still undiscovered, and their queen's intentions increasingly suspect, Aya's very purpose is quickly brought into question. With betrayal lurking around every corner, she and Will are forced to lie, manipulate, and hide what they've become to one another as they struggle to learn the truth before dark magic destroys them all.
And with secrets and lies trailing Aya wherever she goes, she has to wonder…do the gods truly want her to save the realm…or simply watch it burn??
Synopsis source: Goodreads
Review
Genre(s): Fantasy, Romance
HB&W Rating: 2 stars, 2 flames
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Well, I'm not sure how many books are planned for this series, but I doubt I'll be finishing it. After giving 3 stars to the first in the series, The Curse of Saints, I had hoped that this would be a situation where the first book was setting the stage and the second book was where the series took off. Sadly, this one never got off the ground for me. All the same problems I had with the previous book were present here and nothing I had hoped to see in this one came to fruition. I fear I must go against the majority with this series to say that I just don't get the hype.
This book was long. Don't get me wrong, I'm no stranger to fantasy fiction, so long books don't scare me, but this one bored me. It was easily put-downable and completely forgettable during any breaks from reading (listening to) it. For such a long book (640 pages, 20 hours), not much happened. We see more posturing of the characters, lots of talking about the same things over and over, and not much action or forward plot progression. For what it accomplished, it should easily have been cut down about 150-200 pages.
Honestly, this whole series has been kind of the same. I struggled to remember anything from the first book before starting this one. While I should have done a re-read of the first book for a refresh, I did not have any desire to devote that much time to re-read then to read this one after. So, I recapped my own review from book 1 and grabbed a detailed synopsis from online to jog my memory enough to continue. I'm going to review this in a similar breakdown as the first for a comparison.
- Magic System: I was less confused about the magic system created this time around, but I still definitely got confused on who was who. The whole Diaforaté, Decachiré, and Dyminara still got mixed up in my head frequently. I still don't understand how the wolves fit into everything. It's kind of like when she was plotting out what aspects to include in the story, she said "wolves, I must have wolves! I don't know what for, but I must have them!" Still, I like them, so I guess the appeal is there.
- Political and Religious Intrigue (Plot): This definitely picked up more this book, which I was glad to see. Where in the first book this aspect felt too transparent, there were more layers in this one that made things a bit more opaque.
- World-Building: As in the last book, if you separate out the magic system and the political/religious intrigue from the world-building, you'll find that there is very little left. There was only one other new setting added here and it was as vaguely described as the other two settings in the first book.
- Female Spymaster: While most of the story was Aya training, researching, and interacting with Will and Tova, I was happy to see a bit more of the badass spymaster in this book that wasn't present in the previous book. I just wish it wouldn't have taken more than half the book to see it.
- Enemies to Lovers: Okay, I'm still not really sure I understand Will any better than I did in the first book, but I'll buy the romance in this book. Their fledgling relationship is barely off the ground but being tested in ways that would break even a steadfast love once they return home. At least there was no love triangle possibility in this book. They finally consummate their relationship, but it was pretty tame by most romantasy standards, 2 flames.
- POVs: We are given multiple POVs this time. While I felt Aidon's POV was superfluous in the last book, I am glad it was included here along with his sister, Josie's. Honestly, Josie was the most interesting character to me in this story.
- Audio Narration: While I didn't listen to the first book on audio, I was able to listen to this one. I found the narration to be good, no complaints. The narrator spoke clearly and transitions were smooth between takes so that I couldn't differentiate much between them.
There was a pretty decent twist at the end, but I just don't know if I have it in me to continue with this series. Again, this series is targeted toward SJM fans, but it is just not for me. I still think the author has potential, but in my opinion, she's not there yet.
Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this audio ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Until next time,
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