Disclaimer: I received this book from Razorbill and Rockstar Book Tours. Thanks! All opinions are my own.
Rating:
Publication Date: January 22, 2019
Genre: YA Fantasy
Recommended Age: 15+ (violence, death, disease, slight gore, addiction)
Publisher: Razorbill
Pages: 416
Synopsis:
The Dead must stay buried.
Karthia is nothing like it used to be. The kingdom’s borders are open for the first time in nearly three hundred years, and raising the dead has been outlawed. Odessa is determined to explore the world beyond Karthia’s waters, hoping to heal a heart broken in more ways than she can count. But with Meredy joining the ocean voyage, vanquishing her sorrow will be a difficult task.
Despite the daily reminder of the history they share, Odessa and Meredy are fascinated when their journey takes them to a land where the Dead rule the night and dragons roam the streets. Odessa can’t help being mesmerized by the new magic–and by the girl at her side. But just as she and Meredy are beginning to explore the new world, a terrifying development in Karthia summons them home at once.
Growing political unrest on top of threats from foreign invaders means Odessa and Meredy are thrust back into the lives they tried to leave behind while specters from their past haunt their tenuous relationship. Gathering a force big enough to ward off enemies seems impossible, until one of Queen Valoria’s mages creates a weapon that could make them invincible. As danger continues to mount inside the palace, Odessa fears that without the Dead, even the greatest invention won’t be enough to save their fates.
In this enthralling, heartrending sequel to Reign of the Fallen, Odessa faces the fight of her life as the boundaries between the Dead and the living are challenged in a way more gruesome than ever before.
For the most part, I really liked this book. It was an excellent end to the series and I liked how Odessa and Meredy didn’t have that fairytale romance ending. I liked the writing and I felt that it was easy to follow along. Finally, I like how the author kept some consistences from the first book. Odessa was still dealing with her addiction and they both continually dealt with their partner's deaths. While a lot of readers would say that this was prolonged, I disagree on the principle that it is realistic and needs to be written that way. It’s not realistic to think that you’ll be over a breakup or death in a matter of days. Weeks, months, and sometimes years later the sadness still lingers. I loved that the author didn’t write this any other way.
However, I do think that the pacing was off and I didn’t like how slow it got in spots. I feel that the book had a lot of weird character developments and it didn’t feel natural like it did in the first book. I also feel that the characters weren’t as connected as they were in the first book. I don’t know, something just felt off about the whole thing. I also feel that Azelie and Karston weren’t given the attention they deserved as characters, and in the end, I felt that Karston was given the middle finger as he wasn’t even mentioned in the end when Odessa was remembering everything that happened and such.
Verdict: An good ending to a great duology.
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