Publishing Date: December 31, 2018
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 368
Young Adult Fantasy
The Premise from the Publisher: "Jules Ember confronts the girl who is both her oldest friend and greatest enemy in the highly anticipated sequel to Everless, praised by New York Times bestelling author Stephanie Garber as “an intoxicating blend of blood, secrets, and haunting mythology.” Jules Ember was raised hearing legends of the ancient magic of the wicked Alchemist and the good Sorceress. But she has just learned the truth: She is the Alchemist, and Caro—a woman who single-handedly murdered the Queen and Jules’s first love, Roan, in cold blood—is the Sorceress. The whole kingdom believes that Jules is responsible for the murders, and a hefty bounty has been placed on her head. And Caro is intent on destroying Jules, who stole her heart twelve lifetimes ago. Now Jules must piece together the stories of her past lives to save the person who has captured her heart in this one" (HC).
My overall thoughts and review: **This is the sequel to Everless by Sara Holland and the second part of the duology(?) - to avoid spoilers here, be sure to check out my review for the first novel here!** Moving onto the review, the story picks up quite immediately after Everless ends. Jules has learned the truth about her and Caro, and just how far their friendship goes, and she doesn't really have time to mourn the death of Roan or the Queen. She's immediately branded as the murderer even though she's innocent, and she attempts to flee back to her old home to see her friend. However, that takes a dark turn. Jules quickly learns that Caro will stop at nothing to hurt her, and that means that everyone she cares about is in danger. She is at first captured by Caro, but then she is rescued by Liam, Roan's brother. They attempt to learn more about Jules' past with Caro, and the true nature of their relationship as Alchemist and Sorceress, and Fox and Snake. There's a lot of mystery and old memories as it's clear that Caro and Jules had a friendship that turned quite dark, and it's lived on throughout the years. I do feel that what drew me into the book series previously didn't really fully deliver this time around. Some secondary characters introduced in the second book weren't mentioned again, and we were given new secondary characters that I now want more of, such as Liam's friend, Elias, or the hedge witch, Stef. I did like though that the love story wasn't the main focal point of the text, even though I wish there was more development between Jules and Liam. I also feel strange about Liam, and maybe that's my romance reader coming out, but I wanted a bit more in terms of actually talking about feelings. Overall, it was a decent conclusion to the previous book, but again, I wish it was more of what the first one was in terms of pacing, mystery, and action.
My rating of the book: ✮✮✮½ (3.5/5 stars)
Available for purchase at:
Chapters/Indigo, Kobo Books, Amazon, and Book Depository
Author Guest Post from Sara Holland
There are so many reasons we love books, but one virtue that goes underappreciated, in my opinion, are their capacity to carry memories--totally separate from the words on the page, and yet woven through, the reader's story woven in with that of the author. I don't know if this is true for other people—I suspect it is—but for me, just like smells immediately evoke memories, so do books. Especially if a book left a strong impression on me, I'll usually retain a strong memory of where i was when I read it. And sometimes even more than "where". Sometimes just holding a book evokes a whole other feeling, state of mind.And holding them again, no matter how many years later, puts me right back in that place. With HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, it's sitting at the kitchen table of the house I grew up in, the rest of the house dark and silent as I read through the night. With CITY OF BONES, it's pre-calc class, the book hidden behind my propped-up math textbook (in retrospect, my teacher definitely saw through that!). With OUTLANDER, I'm in a hammock in a screened-in porch, the summer after graduating college, waiting for my job and my life to begin. And so on and so forth. Everything about books—the cover, the feel and weight of it in my hands, the swish of the pages, and especially the story and characters—make them great vessels for memories. Even eBooks and audiobooks work the same way, for books I really love.
And really, I think that's one of the coolest things about books. They're more than stories and more than objects; the presence and involvement of the reader makes them more than the sum of their parts. I imagine copies upon copies rolling off the assembly lines, waiting on the shelves of stores and libraries, but as soon as a reader opens the pages, it instantly turns into something unique—their book. No two people will experience a book the same way, and yet there are enough commonalities for a whole awesome community to exist around a book or series. I will never get over how cool that is!
Disclaimer: I had an e-ARC of this copy ahead of time and I collaborated with Glasstown Entertainment and Sara Holland to participate in this blog tour. All opinions are my own.
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