Summary from Goodreads:
Held captive in the barbarian kingdom of Venda, Lia and Rafe
have little chance of escape. Desperate to save Lia's life, her erstwhile
assassin, Kaden, has told the Vendan Komizar that she has the gift, and the
Komizar's interest in Lia is greater than anyone could have foreseen.
Meanwhile, nothing is straightforward: There's Rafe, who lied to Lia but has sacrificed his freedom to protect her; Kaden, who meant to assassinate her but has now saved her life; and the Vendans, whom Lia always believed to be savages. Now that she lives among them, however, she realizes that may be far from the truth. Wrestling with her upbringing, her gift, and her sense of self, Lia must make powerful choices that will affect her country... and her own destiny.
Meanwhile, nothing is straightforward: There's Rafe, who lied to Lia but has sacrificed his freedom to protect her; Kaden, who meant to assassinate her but has now saved her life; and the Vendans, whom Lia always believed to be savages. Now that she lives among them, however, she realizes that may be far from the truth. Wrestling with her upbringing, her gift, and her sense of self, Lia must make powerful choices that will affect her country... and her own destiny.
Review:
As I said on Goodreads, I
think I actually liked book 2 better than book 1! I could not put this book
down.....And I'm so glad I did not start this series until all 3 books were
out...because that cliffhanger at the end of this one was rough…
I loved the love triangle of
book 1. And I think I loved the action/suspense of book 2 even more than that
love triangle There was never an okay moment to put this book down. The whole
thing was nerve wrecking and terrifying. I never knew what would befall Lia
next. And I never really knew who to trust. I liked still getting the multiple
points of view, so I could figure out for myself (at least a little bit) who I
could trust from the main characters.
The Komizar was a villain for
the ages. Yikes, he scared me. I was constantly worried he’d catch on to more
of everything. I loved the new characters in Venda. The whole society there was
fascinating (a whole new world to build from). And still, there’s the whole underlying
mythology/mystery/history of it all. And I got so sucked into that history. Is
it prophetic? I’m not certain. But threads of prophecy and “seeing” were common
plot elements….so I’m thinking it is. I guess I won’t know for sure until book
3.
I loved all the scenes where
the people of Venda grew to love Lia. She kind of had fans. She’s so fierce and
strong in this installment. She’s really grown into an amazing warrior
princess. She’s so good at acting, at deceiving, and at planning, it’s almost hard
to believe that not that long ago, she was upset for being locked out of
meetings with the adults. She’s come a long way.
Spoiler paragraph ahead (skip
this one if you haven’t read the book yet): There wasn’t as much romance in
this one….And I hate to say it, but I kind of ship Lia with the wrong guy…I
kind of fell in love with the assassin in this book. The prince is there too,
but I didn’t see as much of him and his imprisoned life. And I don’t know why,
but I kept expecting him to die…like there were serious foreshadow moments that
I thought were in place to prepare me for it, but it never happened. Who knows
what book 3 will bring…
All in all, the suspense was
epic. I loved the new characters. I loved the new world. I loved the emphasis
on the stolen texts. I can’t wait to get to the next book. I give this one a
10/10.
No comments:
Post a Comment