Reviews

This Cursed Light by Emily Thiede

kevinscorner's review against another edition

3.5

This Cursed Light is the sequel to This Vicious Grace and concludes the Italian-inspired YA fantasy duology The Last Finestra. Alessa and Dante have saved their island and its people, but not without consequences. Instead of getting their happy ever after, Dante has lost his power and is plagued by nightmares of another final apocalypse sent by their gods while Alessa senses a growing darkness within herself. Believing he must locate the exiled ghiotte to form a complete army, Dante enlists Alessa and the other Fonti and Finestra on a mission to recruit his long lost people before it’s too late.

While I thought this sequel was better than the first book, it suffers from the same problem—I found it really difficult to buy into the actual plot. The gods are testing them in what is ultimately a nonsensical plot to finally settle a bet. The book doesn’t set up the new threat nor convey the gravity of the situation well. They discover a one-month deadline, but the characters seem to just be taking their sweet time having fun and flirting. I just didn’t really feel any stakes or urgency. I also had problems with the army they were building/training because it didn’t really make any logical sense on how it was being prepared and built.

Once again, the book is simply saved by the character interactions. All the characters were just a whole lot of fun to follow around. I enjoyed the banter, the flirting, and the teasing. I still enjoyed the romance between Alessa and Dante even though it does stall quite a bit. I liked the growing sibling bond between Alessa and her twin brother (who gets a very cutesy Achillean romance). While most of these character moments were fairly juvenile, I liked that about it but may be off-putting for others. It’s an easy and breezy read.

While I liked it better than the first book, This Cursed Light remains mostly at the same level and doesn’t offer much new.

aprilpamyl's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

silkcaramel's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

miaelizabeth's review against another edition

adventurous challenging medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

lzf1234's review against another edition

3.5

The first 200ish pages were such a waste of time. It was just Alessa and Dante flirting and touching and being generally annoying and whiney for no reason that benefitted the plot. The ending was cute, but I think it’s okay for main characters to stay dead. The YA need to have a perfect happy ending is booooring.

tatumslibrary's review against another edition

just acted like a bunch of horny teenagers and it was annoying

brendalovesbooks's review against another edition

3.0

I didn't like this as well as the first book, although it was entertaining enough. I guess it just didn't feel like a lot happened and most of the book was just waiting around. I liked the characters well enough, and the epilogue was really sweet.

blurringpages's review against another edition

3.0

I wanted to like this because I loved the first book.
This book felt very 'whingy' from our 2 MC's. I didn't need 2 POV's of characters feeling sorry for themselves and not really doing anything about it.
The relationship which was adorable in book 1, just felt like everything they'd grown and achieved was out the window. The whole miscommunication and not telling each other things was infuriating. Did they not grow out of this already?

The battle...or whatever it was at the end to resolve everything. Very anti-climatic.

evamadera1's review against another edition

Will not rate.
Participating in review boycott of St. Martin's Press titles.

amandabuckley's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0