5 Stars
This book was provided in exchange for an honest
review.
This is the second book in this series. I hadn’t read anything else from this author
and indeed I don’t think there is anything else except for a short story in an
anthology. When this happens I know I
have either just found a great author or the first book is going to be their
best work. For A.W. Exley this second
book was just as good as the first and in fact I might have loved it more! After reading this second installment it
makes me want to go back and read the first book again to glean more
information.
The summary for the book is very vague so I am going to do
my darnedest to keep all spoilers out.
This book takes back up with Cara and Nate shortly after the end of the
first book. Cara is always the narrator,
but due to the bond of the heart forged in the first book we get rare glimpses
into Nate’s psyche/emotions which make it feel like there are two narrators. I really liked this because Nate still has a
lot of mystique surrounding him and this allows the reader to understand his
feelings for Cara without having it spelled out.
Nate gets tossed in the Tower. Cara only moments prior to his arrest finds
out about a betrayal from Nate that occurred years before they ever met. Before she gets to decide whether to keep or
discard Nate for his treachery he is arrested.
Because of their bond, if he dies, so does Cara so she must rescue
him. Queen Victoria is wearing
Hatshepsut’s collar and Cara begins to suspect something sinister is
afoot.
We get to see all our favorite characters from the first
book too (well my favorites anyway) like Loki, Miguel, and Jackson as well as
get to meet some new favorites like Natalie, Nikolai, and Sergei. We get to do a bit of traveling in an airship
and get a better understanding of what this bond means for our heroine and
hero.
I pretty much loved every second of this book and can’t wait
for the next one. While I understand
Cara’s distress over Nate’s betrayal I can’t say I got as worked up about it as
she did. Obviously, her past taints her
view of the situation, but I think I like Nate more because of it.
The end of the book has an excerpt from a new series for
this author and I must say that I don’t usually read those, but it was ~12% of
the book so I thought I would give it a try and it has me hooked. I hope it gets released soon. Wardens, gargoyles, naturals…interesting and
not done before as far as I can tell.
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