Author: Susan Dennard
Publisher: Tor Teen
Length: 384 pages
Source: Purchased Book/Audio Book
Sometimes our enemies are also our only allies…
After an explosion destroys his ship, the world believes Prince Merik, Windwitch, is dead. Scarred yet alive, Merik is determined to prove his sister’s treachery. Upon reaching the royal capital, crowded with refugees, he haunts the streets, fighting for the weak—which leads to whispers of a disfigured demigod, the Fury, who brings justice to the oppressed.
When the Bloodwitch Aeduan discovers a bounty on Iseult, he makes sure to be the first to find her—yet in a surprise twist, Iseult offers him a deal. She will return money stolen from him, if he locates Safi. Now they must work together to cross the Witchlands, while constantly wondering, who will betray whom first?
After a surprise attack and shipwreck, Safi and the Empress of Marstok barely escape with their lives. Alone in a land of pirates, every moment balances on a knife’s edge—especially when the pirates’ next move could unleash war upon the Witchlands.
Review:
Protagonists: One of the first things I noticed in this story is how quickly the action starts. When it comes to Merik specifically, almost nothing in the previous installment built up to the start of his journey in this story. Safi's shift in the story felt less jarring and transitioned from where we left her, at the end of Truthwitch, a lot easier. Then there's Iseult, who's team up with the Bloodwitch Aeduan, also feels very natural. The thing I loved best about this story, though, wasn't the main characters that we knew from the first book; Merik, Safi, and Iseult, though they were fantastic as well, I loved getting to know some lesser seen characters better, Vivia and Aeduan, who are very complex characters and learning more bits and pieces about who they are and where their loyalties lie was such a fantastic experience.
Romance: Something I heard about this series recently was someone commenting on its "steamy romance," now don't get me wrong, I love the romance in this series, but I'd hardly call it "steamy." "Steamy" would be a word I'd use to describe books with a lot of physical and emotional romance, whereas this series seems to favor the emotional aspect of romance. There's a lot of romantic tension between characters, but nothing is super concrete. The only romance that has even a little bit of confirmation is the relationship between Safi and Merik, but the thing is, there's very little interaction between our three main protagonists, so there isn't really any more development between their romance in this book. Instead, this book seems to focus on the slowly growing connection between Iseult and Aeduan, while nothing is made concrete, I loved seeing the tension and relationship between these characters grow as the story went on. There are also a couple other small romances in this story, but again, there's only one relationship where I feel the feelings, at least on the part of one of the characters, feel confirmed.
World-Building: While the first installment in this series introduced us to the Witchlands, this installment does a fantastic job of building on what we know and showing us more of this world and the newly restarted war due to the broken Twenty-Year truce. With Merik and Vivia's aspect of the storyline, we get to see more of Nubrevna, specifically its capital and learn more about its history and the plights and hunger its people are going through. With Safi and Vaness, their trip back to Marstok gets interrupted and they have to finish their travels on foot, leading them through the Contested Lands, which are full of pirates and we get to see even more of the world and learn about Marstok and its empress before we actually arrive, plus their journey back to Marstok is far from easy. Aeduan and Iseult are hot on Safi's trail, also venturing through the Contested Lands, though their adventure seems more character driven as opposed to showing us new places, though there's definitely some great world-building in their part of the story as well.
Predictability: Honestly, there's not a whole lot in this story that's predictable. I mean, there's a fair bit of foreshadowing here and there, but I feel like most of the hints will start to feel more obvious a second time through. There are some great twists to this story and some of them really develop over time, as opposed to happening at once which really excited me. One twist, in particular, sent me spinning and I can't wait to see how that will affect future books.
Ending: There are some phenomenal climactic moments at the end of this story. I can't really say there's one final climax like Truthwitch has since we have characters sort of all over the map, their stories sort of have their own endings and their own climactic moments which were all extremely exciting and heart pounding. After the climactic moments were over though, there's quite a bit that sets up the next installment and gives a hint as to where the story will be going from here.
Rating:
I LOVE this story, while it's light on the overall story, the magical aspect to this adventure that seems tied in the past, we do learn a lot more about the world and these characters and while I've seen some people not like the fact that our main characters don't interact with each other in this installment, the new bonds they make, or the bonds they reform, were just as exciting to see!
No comments:
Post a Comment