Hardcover, 404 pagesRelease Date: December 3, 2019Published by: Henry Holt & Co. (BYR)
Read from: December 27, 2019-January 2, 2020Source: Bought (Barnes and Noble Special Edition)TW: DeathFor fans of: Fantasy, Magic, POC MC, High Fantasy, Action, Sparkly Covers, Own Voices, Cliff-Hanger Ending, YA
After battling the impossible, Zélie and Amari have finally succeeded in bringing magic back to the land of Orïsha. But the ritual was more powerful than they could’ve imagined, reigniting the powers of not only the maji, but of nobles with magic ancestry, too.
Now, Zélie struggles to unite the maji in an Orïsha where the enemy is just as powerful as they are. But when the monarchy and military unite to keep control of Orïsha, Zélie must fight to secure Amari's right to the throne and protect the new maji from the monarchy's wrath.
With civil war looming on the horizon, Zélie finds herself at a breaking point: she must discover a way to bring the kingdom together or watch as Orïsha tears itself apart.
*MY THOUGHTS*
After reading the first book in 2018, I didn't really remember what happened. Thankfully I had my review and Recaptains to help with my memory. Once I read through those, I was completely ready to read this story..... Or so I thought. Here's to another year of waiting with another cliffhanger -__-
"From the gods comes the gift of life," I whisper the Yoruba. "To the gods that gift must be returned."pg. 3
Magic is back, but at what cost? Magic has now reached the maji, but also the monarchy and more. And in their hands, it's nowhere near safe. As Amari and Zélie work to try uniting the monarchy and the maji, secrets are revealed left and right. It's not long before a civil war begins. Can they stop it or is Orïsha destined to fall apart?
"We only survuve if both sides put down their arms."pg. 104
Starting with the writing style, I had some issues with this... It wasn't like the first one where everything had me on the edge of my seat and it furthered the plot towards the next book. This one wasn't like that. It still had me on edge, but I don't feel like it furthered anything. It felt like the dreaded sophomore novel. Being honest, it was repetitive. There were only so many times you can think something will go one way, they trick you, and then you start all over again before the reader is able to predict it. And that's exactly what happened. By the last two times I knew what was coming and I didn't need to read it to find out.
"You were leading wiht your heart, but you must realize that not every person in Orïsha deserves it."pg. 114
Nothing changed about the way she writes though. I was still completely enamored in the world of Orïsha. And her way of describing their fights had me biting my nails. I wish I could see their magic in action with all the colorful ashe and how they glow! The world Adeyemi made is way past cool! But this time she made the characters insufferable. There were wayyyy too many cooks in the kitchen and everyone had thier own idea of how things were supposed to be going and no one worked together. That's why the same thing kept happening, nothing ever got accomplished.
"If you do not cut off the hand now, eventually you will be forced to sever the entire limb."pg. 138
I also didn't care for the ending. After the build up for this war throughout the entire story, the ending was like 10 pages over different POVs. But none of them really had a fight scene. There was one and it lasted a few paragraphs. It's safe to say I wanted MORE. The first book was like 600+ pages, so why did this one have to seem so rushed? And that HELLO, CAN WE TALK ABOUT THAT EPILOGUE?! Man WTF was that?! I have to wait another year to find out what happens? How do you expect me to survive that Tomi? After the first book I remember saying I have so many questions, and the same is true for this one too!
"...you should know that there are weapons so great they shouldn't be used."pg. 210
To me, book two doesn't hold a candle to the first one, but I did still really enjoy this one. I can't wait to get my hands on the third one. With an epilogue like this one, there's no way that one can be anything other than epic!
Overall, I give this
