The Story Continues: The Empress, A Reaper at the Gates, and Two Dark Reigns

All three of these penultimate series additions are just divine. I can't wait to read the final book.

Beware of unavoidable spoilers ahead!

The Empress by S.J. Kincaid

Series: The Diabolic (featured here)

Publisher/ Year: Simon & Schuster - October 2017

Genres: Young Adult Science Fiction

Source: My Local Library

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I was surprised by how much I loved The Diabolic by S.J. Kincaid. I'm all in for this new subgenre of sentient AI, so I probably shouldn't have been that surprised. The Diabolic has a really interesting world, great political intrigue, and Nemesis is a pretty excellent narrator.

Nemesis is a Diabolic. She was fabricated to protect Sidonia, and in the first book she impersonates Sidonia in the emperor's court. While there she gets involved with the heir and his plot to ascend to the throne and bring back the outlawed sciences.

In The Empress, Tyrus is now emperor. He and Nemesis are idealistic and optimistic and overly confident that they will be able to turn the empire around. Boy were they wrong.

I was very impressed by The Empress. I really loved The Diabolic and didn't necessarily think that it needed a sequel, so I was a little wary going in because what else was there to do? Well, I was wrong. There was a lot left to do. Tyrus's seat on the throne is shaky. Neither the nobles nor the vicars are inclined to support him because he has defied their religious mandates.

I like how The Empress expands upon the Helleonic religion. I really love a good fantasy religion, and I find this one to be very well done. I can completely buy that an empire in space that rejects science would worship a Living Cosmos. At the same time, that faith is controlling enough to really play into politics. I thought the sacred city was so clever, as was how badly the rejection of science has backfired.

This book has so many reversals. You think that things can't get any worse, and then they do. And then you think that things are getting better just to learn that they aren't! This book has plenty of suspense and action. I also really loved the reference to Hamlet (a book I thought about a lot while reading The Diabolic). Also, I am a big fan of Tyrus and Nemesis as a couple. But, you guys, the end of this book is such a stab to the heart. I wish I could read the final book in the series right now. It's going to be hard to wait a whole year.

A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir

Series: An Ember in the Ashes (featured here and here)

Publisher/ Year: Razorbill - June 2018

Genres: Young Adult Fantasy

Source: My Local Library

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Sabaa Tahir's An Ember in the Ashes series is currently one of my favorite YA fantasies. A Reaper at the Gates is the third in this four-book series set in a violent Roman/ Middle-Eastern-inspired world.

Laia is from the Scholar class. Her people have been systematically oppressed by the ruling Martials for generations. Laia first became involved with the other two main characters in this series when she volunteered to spy on the Commandant of Blackcliff Military Academy. Since her days as a spy, she has escaped with Elias, freed her brother from prison, and become a reluctant leader of the rebellion.

Elias is the son of the Commandant whom we first met when he was competing to become the next emperor. Elias was never ruthless enough to be emperor, and during the competition he fell in love with Laia, and they escaped together. Elias is now the new Soul Catcher, and he once again finds his duty and his humanity in conflict.

Helene was Elias's best friend at Blackcliff. She finished the competition in second place becoming the next Blood Shrike. Helene is now the only one who stands between the Commandant and her desire to usurp the throne.

Let's just say that it was worth the wait for A Reaper at the Gates. This book was so intense, so emotional, and quite a nail-biter. Sabaa Tahir is not afraid to be brutal to her characters. I really enjoyed the creepy atmosphere of this book. Elias, who is now charged with ushering the dead to their resting place, has such a ghoulish job, and it kind of gives me chills to think about all the things that go wrong with the ghosts.

I can't wait to see how Sabaa Tahir wraps up the series in the next book. I'm sure that it will be epic.

Two Dark Reigns by Kendare Blake

Series: Three Dark Crowns (featured here and here)

Publisher/ Year: HarperTeen - September 2018

Genres: Young Adult Fantasy

Source: My Local Library

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Kendare Blake's Three Dark Crowns series may win the award for "Most Killer Cliffhangers." I've finished every one of the books in the series so desperate to read the next.

On the island of Fennbirn a set of triplet girls is born to every queen. These children will each possess a powerful magic. When the series begins, Arisinoe is a naturalist who can speak to plants and animals, Katharine is a poisoner who can ingest powerful poisons, and Mirabella is a elementalist who can control wind and flame. Last sister alive becomes queen. Except two of the sisters refuse to play the game, and at the end of the second book Mirabella and Arisinoe escaped to the mainland leaving Katharine queen by default. 

In Two Dark Reigns the past and present collide. On the mainland, Mirabella and Arisinoe are haunted by The Blue Queen, who famously created the mist that protects the island. Back on Fennbirn, the mist has turned toxic, leaving many dead. Katharine attempts to keep her terrified citizens calm while she struggles to keep the dead queens who possess her under control. 

Two Dark Reigns might be my favorite in the series so far. I love how Kendare Blake weaves the mythical Fennbirn of the past with the Fennbirn of the present. I found the story of the Blue Queen to be absolutely fascinating. I love all the dark and creepy elements of this series, and they really shine in this book: the haunting, the mist, Katharine. It's all so deliciously eerie. 

Series Salute: Trouble by Stephanie Tromly

Princeton and Digby are one of my favorite detective duos. If you are a Sherlock Holmes fan, a White Collar fan, or a Veronica Mars fan this is a series worth checking out. Trust me. (Series featured here and here.)

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About the Books

Zoe Webster is new to town and pretty sure she doesn't want to be there. In fact, she's already got one foot out the door thanks to her father's plans to get her into a prestigious school in New York City. When Philip Digby shows up at her front door because he needs a place to set up surveillance on the house across the street, she can't stand him, especially when he starts calling her Princeton. Yet somehow he reels her in and soon she's helping him uncover the whereabouts of a missing local girl. One mystery leads to another and another and another. Digby and Princeton are on the case.

Digby is the perfect teenage Sherlock Holmes. He's whip-smart, acerbic, and a bit of a misfit. Zoe plays the Watson half of the equation. She keeps Digby grounded, can almost out-snark him, and, as much as he might not admit it, there's no way he could survive without her.

 Why I Love Them

1. The Snark:
I knew I was going to like this series from the very beginning. How could I resist this opening line: "Of course I didn't like Digby when I first met him. No one does."?   

2. Princeton and Digby:
Zoe and Digby's interactions are the best. I am a sucker for smart, snappy dialog, and Ms. Tromly really delivers. Every scene with Zoe and Digby in it is such a treat. I'd read about them doing laundry together. They are that entertaining.

3. The Humor:
I don't often laugh out loud when reading. But these books? They get me every time. 

4. The Usual Shenanigans:
Digby shows up, convinces Zoe to go sleuthing with him, they get in some scrape, narrowly escape, and then repeat the process all over again.

5. The Crew
I love the side characters in Zoe and Digby's little gang of misfits. These books wouldn't be the same without the crew and Olympio's. Felix Fong is particularly entertaining. 

6. Sloane
Sloane's interactions with Zoe are almost as great as Zoe's interactions with Digby. They are hilarious together. Sloane's backhanded compliments get me every time. 

7.  The Schemes:
Digby has a nose for trouble, and his own moral code. He's motivations are usually above board, but he is not at all opposed to breaking the law to get to the truth or help out a friend. This means a lot of scheming. 

8. The Sexual Tension:
Zoe and Digby. They belong together, but there is this whole "will they? won't they?" aspect of this series that keeps the reader hanging. 

9. The Mysteries: 
The mysteries in these books build on one another. Digby's overarching goal is to find his missing sister, but those pieces come together slowly with a bunch of other fun and dangerous mysteries layered on top.  

The Story Continues: Legendary, The Heart Forger, & The Delphi Resistance

Do you go through phases in your reading where you just want to read a bunch of sequels? I am definitely in a sequels mood right now. I just finished the books in this post. I'm the middle of two more sequels, and I've got four more on hold at the library. I hope this sequels mood lasts! Whether you are in a sequels mood or not, I can tell you that these sequels are perfection.

Beware of unavoidable spoilers ahead!

Legendary by Stephanie Garber

Series: Caraval (featured here)

Publisher / Year: Flatiron Books - May 2018

Genres: Young Adult Fantasy

Source: My local library

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Remember last year when Caraval was one of the most buzzed about YA debuts? Well the sequel is out. (How fast these book series grow.) And I loved it even more than the first. 
  
Caraval is a little difficult to describe. The closest I can come to a explanation is that it is a carnival or circus-type setting that features a high-stakes game. Caraval only takes place at night; it involves magic and mystery, and players must solve a series of clues. I love the magic of Caraval. The dreamlike setting makes the players and the readers alike question what is real and what is not.

Legendary begins where the events of Caraval left off. Scarlett and Donatella are now free of their father's clutches, and they travel with Caraval to the capital city where Legend, whose identity is still a mystery, is putting on a special edition of Caraval in honor of Empress Elantine's birthday. 

Tella is forced to play the game so that she can uncover the information she owes a mysterious benefactor. Tella, of course, has her own secret goals, as does Legend. This puts Legend, the benefactor, and Tella at odds with one another. And Tella is further hampered because she doesn't know who Legend is.

Ooh. I loved this sequel so much. Tella is such a fun character, and I loved reading her story. Scarlett is great as well, but I think of the two sisters it's Tella who has won me over. I love how lively and determined she is. Also, the mystery in this book was tops. Caraval felt high stakes, but Stephanie Garber has upped those stakes even more in this addition to the series. The capital city setting is full of creepy shops, beautiful palaces, and mystical temples. Stephanie Garber also adds to the mythology of her world. The Fates are intriguing and pretty frightening. 

I'm so glad the series isn't over yet. I'm putting Finale on my highly anticipated list for certain. 

The Heart Forger by Rin Chupeco

Series: The Bone Witch (featured here)

Publisher / Year: Sourcebooks Fire - March 2018

Genres: Young Adult Fantasy

Source: My local library

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Last year I read and reviewed the first book, The Bone Witch, in Rin Chupeco's new fantasy series. Tea, can raise beings from the dead. The first book is about Tea's emerging powers, her training with a more experienced necromancer, and her friendships and rivalries. The book is set up as a story within a story, so the reader gets glimpses of a more powerful Tea recounting her tale, which definitely piqued my interest. 

I really liked The Bone Witch. The Heart Forger, however, just about killed me with its brilliance. The second book in the series picks up where the first one left off. We are still following two timelines, but now things really start to move along in the later timeline as characters from the earlier timeline reemerge. I loved seeing this puzzle start to come together. I also really enjoyed the secondary characters in this second book. I am a big fan of Kalen. I also really like Khalad and Likh

The imagery in this series is absolutely stunning. It has a bit of an Asian-inspiration, but it's also so clearly it's own world. The writing is gorgeous, and I think what really sells me is the atmosphere. I just love a book that's thick with atmosphere. A lot of the creepiness (you know it has to be in there; Tea raises the dead and can control monsters) is created through atmosphere alone.

The Bone Witch is a very intricate fantasy series, and I really wished that the first book was fresher in my mind when I started to read the second in the series. It's so carefully crafted, and I wanted so badly to have all the details of the earlier book at my fingertips so that I could really appreciate that. I also definitely do not fully understand how this world works. I'm not sure that I'm supposed to know, and, even if I am, I don't care because I'm so sold on the writing and the plot and the characters.

This is a series that will made you work. It takes a bit of an effort to remember all the place names and character names. And I felt like I had to work a little harder because I listened to the audiobook. It took me a while to get a handle on the jumps back and forth in time and to get all the names of the secondary characters straight again. (There are quite a few names that sound similar Kalen and Khalad and Kance, for instance.) But the series is so good and the narration so beautiful that I don't mind the extra effort. 

About halfway through the book things start to get really exciting and interesting in both timelines, and the ending is intense. I wish I could read the final book in the series, Shadowglass, right now. 

The Delphi Resistance by Rysa Walker

Series: The Delphi Trilogy (featured here)

Publisher / Year: Skyscape - October 2017

Genres: Young Adult Science Fiction

Source: Review copy from NetGalley

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I'm a huge fan of Rysa Walker's Chronos Files Trilogy. Last year I read the first book in her new series, The Delphi Trilogy. Every October I like to read some spooky tales, and this story about a girl who picks up and shares her mind-space with ghosts would definitely fit the bill. This series strikes me as a bit darker than Ms. Walker's Chronos Files, and that is saying something because Saul was pretty awful.

In the first book in the series Anna teams up with two brothers and a sister with similar paranormal powers and the three of them get us knee-deep into a government conspiracy. In the second book Anna, Aaron, Deo, and Taylor are on the road looking for other gifted children. No one knows that Anna is carrying Aaron and Taylor's brother, Daniel, who is in a coma, in her head because Daniel doesn't want his siblings to know that he might be dead. Sharing her headspace with Daniel and Jayden makes for some interesting side effects. Anna can also use their gifts, and Jayden's clairvoyance plays a major role in the story.

Ms. Walker's stories are so action-packed. I can't believe how much ground we covered in this story. And I don't just mean that the characters drove a lot. The clairvoyance was a really cool plot device. The characters in this trilogy are definitely growing on me. I especially came to like Anna's hitchhikers.

When I saw that Kate Rudd narrated the audio version of this series, I made up my mind to audiobook this sequel. She's one of my favorite narrators. (You might know her voice from a little audiobook called The Fault in Our Stars, and she did such a fantastic job with The Chronos Files.)

Ms. Walker leaves us with another painful cliffhanger. I'll definitely be back for the next book, The Delphi Revolution.