Genre: Adult Fantasy
Release Date: April 9th, 2024
Pages: 480
Publisher: Orbit Books
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Read my review on the first book in this series: The Foxglove King
Publisher’s Synopsis:
“The corrupt king August is dead. Prince Bastian has seized the throne and raised Lore—a necromancer and former smuggler—to his right hand side. Together they plan to cut out the rot from the heart of the sainted court and help the people of Dellaire. But not everyone is happy with the changes. The nobles are sowing dissent, the Kyrithean Empire is beating down their door, and Lore’s old allies are pulling away. Even Prince Bastian’s changed. No longer the hopeful, rakish, charismatic man Lore knows and loves, instead he’s reckless, domineering and cold.
And something’s been whispering in her ear. A voice, dark and haunting, that’s telling her there’s more to the story than she knows and more to her power than she can even imagine. A truth buried deep that could change everything.
With Bastian’s coronation fast approaching and enemies whispering on all sides, Lore must figure out how to protect herself, her prince, and her country before they all come crumbling down and whatever dark power has been creeping through the catacombs is unleashed.”
My Review:
This was a decent follow-up to the first book in the series, which I was obsessed with when I first read it two years ago.
I found the first half to be very, very slow. Not much really happened that furthered the plot in any significant way. To be honest, I was rather bored for most of it.
I know second books are hard, and like they tend to do, this one felt like more of a bridge to get us from book one to book three, rather than a complete story in itself.
Personally, I just like it when series have each book stand well on their own, with their own separate arcs that mesh into the arc of the series as a whole. And I didn’t get that from this.
That’s my only gripe with it, and the reason it kept it from being a five star read for me. The ending, however, more than made up for it.
I was so excited to learn more about the backstory of the world and the gods. I loved that we got that perspective shift for a bit. It adds so much more depth to everything that is happening with the main characters.
The magic system in this series is so unique and intriguing, and it gets expanded upon even more in the second book.
We also have some character development happening, although I missed the building tension between Gabe and Lore, which seemed to fizzle out.
I love being in this story world and I feel so connected to all the characters and invested in what’s going to happen next.
I can’t wait for the third and final installment of this trilogy! I think it’s going to be a wild, explosive ride to the finish. If you’re debating whether to continue with this series, I definitely recommend it!
Disclaimers:
Huge thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for gifting me an early copy of this amazing story! I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Have you read this book? Planning to add it to your TBR?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
I love a good book discussion. 🙂
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