Reviews

Definitely darker than the first one, which makes the action more intense! Yet another strong assassin heroine, this time with a non-brooding male love interest, and the introduction of more gods and interesting allies. Bring on the third book…

raemcdill's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

bookph1le's review against another edition

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5.0

Wow. Even better than [b:Grave Mercy|9565548|Grave Mercy (His Fair Assassin, #1)|R.L. LaFevers|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1337042881s/9565548.jpg|14452295], which is a book I salivate over. I can hardly wait to read the next in the series--but it's not coming until 2014?? More complete review to come.

Full review:

I'm currently suffering from a case of the sophomore anxiety. After crushing disappointment over books like [b:Insurgent|11735983|Insurgent (Divergent, #2)|Veronica Roth|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1325667729s/11735983.jpg|15524542] and [b:Prodigy|13414446|Prodigy (Legend, #2)|Marie Lu|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1336254717s/13414446.jpg|18712554], I was a little nervous about what might happen with this book. After all, I loved Grave Mercy to the point of raving about it, and I thought Sybella was one of the best secondary characters I'd read about in a long time. I was thrilled when I heard she'd be the focus of this book, so I picked it up with a mixture of anticipation and worry. To my unending happiness, not only is there no sophomore slump here, I think this book is even better than Grave Mercy. Some spoilers to follow.

Dark Triumph picks up from where Grave Mercy left off, with the political machinations of D'Albret, who is trying to seize the throne from the young duchess, along with the intrigue of the invasion by the French, and the attempts to find a good husband for the duchess, one who can help secure her claims to Brittany. I like this setting very much because there seems to be a mistaken perception that things were easier, better, kinder in the past, and I like that these books explore the tangled webs of medieval politics. The setting lends itself to a lot of drama, and the duchess is an interesting character in and of herself, as is her plight.

My one nitpick with this book is that I thought the romance lacked a little of the build up I felt with Grave Mercy. While I liked Sybella and Beast together, I couldn't help but feel this was a case of two characters being conveniently thrown together for the purpose of making them fall in love. I didn't feel much tension, and it seemed like their being in love sprang out of nowhere. However, I did find the romance satisfying in the end, because there is one scene in particular that is such a lovely depiction of the healing and redemptive power of love that I became fully invested in the two of them as a couple. Before that, I mostly wanted them to get together just because I like Sybella so much and I knew she wanted to be with him, not because I felt invested in the romance, but after that scene I was sold.

The thing I liked the most about this book was that it did something that it seems few YA novels do: it doesn't just tell the reader that the character is good at something, it actually shows the reader just how good that character is. I'm looking at you, [b:Throne of Glass|7896527|Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1)|Sarah J. Maas|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1335819760s/7896527.jpg|11138426]. The contrast between those two books could not be more stark. Like Celaena, Sybella is an elite assassin but, unlike Celaena, Sybella actually does stuff that proves this point, rather than just boasting about it. I like that this book delves into moral gray areas, that it doesn't make Sybella an assassin just because it sounds cool. It avoids the trap of using Sybella's occupation as a means of giving her a certain mystique, but then backing off from the stickiness of her actually, you know, killing people. However, even though her occupation is to kill people, Sybella has her own strict moral code. I didn't feel that the book tried to justify what she did. There are clear distinctions between how Sybella acts and how D'Albret acts, but I don't think the book really takes a stance on what Sybella does. Instead, Sybella is who she is, and it's left to the reader to parse the morality of Sybella's actions.

Sybella comes from horrific circumstances, and the gradual unraveling of her back story is sometimes difficult to read about and process. It's understandable that Sybella was half-crazed in Grave Mercy, and it was very believable that she sometimes suffered from waves of self-doubt and depression in this book. But what's fantastic about Sybella is that she doesn't give up. She clings to her life, fighting tooth and nail for her chance at regaining control. It's so satisfying to read a YA book in which a female character takes control of her own life and works to change her circumstances. It seems like I read book after book in which female characters are acted upon instead of acting, and it was so refreshing not to run into that with this book. Sybella's difficult past is treated delicately, and I found it very believable--and horrifying.

The development of Mortain and the relationship of Ismae and Sybella to Mortain continues to hook me. Though this book mainly reads as historical fiction, it weaves the supernatural elements into the narrative in a seamless fashion. I enjoyed seeing Ismae receive Mortain's grace in Grave Mercy, but Sybella's relationship with Mortain is even more fascinating. LaFevers writes compellingly about the mystical aspects of her world, and I found the scene in which Sybella finally meets Mortain to be very moving. There's solid world building here, with more than one facet to Mortain and what the worship of him means.

Another thing I like about these books is that they are very sex positive. This isn't to say that they're hyper sexual, because they aren't--especially compared to some of the books that are currently popular. But what these books do is present sex in a positive light. It's clear from reading about Sybella that sex can have serious, devastating consequences, but the book also does a nice job of presenting the ways in which sex between two people who care about one another can not only be an enjoyable act, but a healing one.

Thanks to this book, my dislike and distrust of the abbess continues to grow. I find this plot thread intriguing, and I'm eager to see where LaFevers will take it. I like that her characters are multi-faceted that, while Grave Mercy presents the abbess in a certain light, she looks very different when seen from Sybella's perspective. The book touches on some interesting ideas about what power is and how it can influence others, and I'm eager to find out exactly what is behind the abbess motivations.

The good news? There will be a third book, and it will be about Annith, a character about whom I'm looking forward to learning more. The bad news? It won't be out until 2014. I'm not sure I can wait until then for more of LaFevers's excellent, deft writing.