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ws_bookclub's review
5.0
There are spoilers for For a Muse of Fire (first in the series) below. You can find my review for that book here.
** Here Be Spoilers**
Oh man, I loved this book! From the plot-line to the characters, everything was done well. It was a worthy sequel to For a Muse of Fire, which was a huge relief after some of the sequels I’ve read lately.
Jetta is a great character. She’s tough without being cold and emotionless. In fact, her emotions are a big part of what makes her so tough. She has an illness that is most definitely bipolar (as confirmed by the author). I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but books that feature mental illness with consideration and respect automatically get extra points from me. This one in particular means a lot, since I also have bipolar. It is a mental illness that is rarely represented in YA, and even more rarely mentioned in the fantasy genre. Heidi Heilig’s choice to not only feature it in a fantasy, but to show both the positive and negative aspects of it is pretty stinking cool. But I digress.
In this book, Jetta has been offered a medication that will help with her illness, in exchange for the use of her blood by the crown. Whoever uses the blood can bind souls to inanimate objects, essentially animating-and controlling-them. The crown wants to use her power as a weapon against the rebels, who Jetta sympathizes with.
The rebels also want to use Jetta. Meanwhile, she’s afraid to use her power at all, worrying that it will make her like her biological father. He’s a monstrous necromancer, and everyone is afraid of what would happen if he- or another like him- came to power.
Of course, there’s also ye random romantic entanglement with Leo, another rebel. I’m not a huge fan of their relationship because it often came across as an unnecessary distraction from the rest of the plot, but I admittedly don’t like most dramatic bookish relationships.
I liked that Heilig didn’t pull punches. I was justifiably concerned about what would happen to some of the characters in the book. I like when an author gives things a sense of urgency, and she does that very well. I raced through this book, enjoying every moment of it.
I feel like this series is very underrated and deserves way more hype. It’s well-written and fast-paced, with memorable characters and an interesting plot. The mental illness representation just pushes it even higher in my esteem. I highly recommend this book.
Have you read this book? What did you think?
** Here Be Spoilers**
Oh man, I loved this book! From the plot-line to the characters, everything was done well. It was a worthy sequel to For a Muse of Fire, which was a huge relief after some of the sequels I’ve read lately.
Jetta is a great character. She’s tough without being cold and emotionless. In fact, her emotions are a big part of what makes her so tough. She has an illness that is most definitely bipolar (as confirmed by the author). I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but books that feature mental illness with consideration and respect automatically get extra points from me. This one in particular means a lot, since I also have bipolar. It is a mental illness that is rarely represented in YA, and even more rarely mentioned in the fantasy genre. Heidi Heilig’s choice to not only feature it in a fantasy, but to show both the positive and negative aspects of it is pretty stinking cool. But I digress.
In this book, Jetta has been offered a medication that will help with her illness, in exchange for the use of her blood by the crown. Whoever uses the blood can bind souls to inanimate objects, essentially animating-and controlling-them. The crown wants to use her power as a weapon against the rebels, who Jetta sympathizes with.
The rebels also want to use Jetta. Meanwhile, she’s afraid to use her power at all, worrying that it will make her like her biological father. He’s a monstrous necromancer, and everyone is afraid of what would happen if he- or another like him- came to power.
Of course, there’s also ye random romantic entanglement with Leo, another rebel. I’m not a huge fan of their relationship because it often came across as an unnecessary distraction from the rest of the plot, but I admittedly don’t like most dramatic bookish relationships.
I liked that Heilig didn’t pull punches. I was justifiably concerned about what would happen to some of the characters in the book. I like when an author gives things a sense of urgency, and she does that very well. I raced through this book, enjoying every moment of it.
I feel like this series is very underrated and deserves way more hype. It’s well-written and fast-paced, with memorable characters and an interesting plot. The mental illness representation just pushes it even higher in my esteem. I highly recommend this book.
Have you read this book? What did you think?
katnovelswaffles's review
2.0
In Japanese, there's this word まあまあ (maa maa), which when roughly translated, means something along the lines of "so-so," "passable," or "meh." That basically sums up my feelings for this book; there was nothing I particularly disliked about it, but there was nothing I particularly liked about it, either. It was まあまあ.
readingtheend's review
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Holy crap I TORE through this book. I've had it checked out since shortly before the quarantine began and just haven't felt moved to read it. But last night I was like "good heavens Jenny, fish or cut bait" so I sat down to read it, and the next thing you know it's hours later and I finished in one sitting. I love these characters and Heilig's worldbuilding, and I was particularly wild about the way Jetta's malheur (basically, bipolar disorder) forms a central concern at every moment. Even when it's not specifically giving her problems, it's hovering in her consciousness as something that could very suddenly become a ruinous problem. This is SUCH a great sequel to the first book, with ever thornier moral dilemmas and beautiful character development. I loved it. I can't wait for book three.
karis_rogerson's review
5.0
4.75/5 stars
Phew. Where to start with this. I can't get over the brilliance of how the cover and title tie into the story, for starters, and I just have to get that out of the way. Amazing teamwork by everyone involved, truly!
Second books in a series, especially in a trilogy, can sometimes read like you're just muddling through to get to the end to move on to the third book. This book had an arc of its own. It contained some stunning surprises, many heart-pounding action scenes, as well as some slower, tense ones.
I don't really have words for it right now. This is an incredibly complex book, with so many different threads all woven together, and Heilig does an absolutely expert job of keeping everything afloat. Even though I read it over the course of almost two months, piecemeal a little bit every week, I was mostly able to keep up with what was going on. Every time I dove back in, I was caught up anew in the incredible world and story she built.
I dunno, guys. It's just a great book, part of a great series, and I can't wait for the finale.
Phew. Where to start with this. I can't get over the brilliance of how the cover and title tie into the story, for starters, and I just have to get that out of the way. Amazing teamwork by everyone involved, truly!
Second books in a series, especially in a trilogy, can sometimes read like you're just muddling through to get to the end to move on to the third book. This book had an arc of its own. It contained some stunning surprises, many heart-pounding action scenes, as well as some slower, tense ones.
I don't really have words for it right now. This is an incredibly complex book, with so many different threads all woven together, and Heilig does an absolutely expert job of keeping everything afloat. Even though I read it over the course of almost two months, piecemeal a little bit every week, I was mostly able to keep up with what was going on. Every time I dove back in, I was caught up anew in the incredible world and story she built.
I dunno, guys. It's just a great book, part of a great series, and I can't wait for the finale.
maddybooksbeyondtime's review
5.0
As I read this book for the second time, I realised a few things:
1) How much I love Heidi Heilig's books.
2) How Through this entire story I seemed to have been relating this to her other books, which I love beyond words, and the characters in this story seemed to, in my head transfer from one series to the next. I cannot understand why yet.
And 3) As I was reading, not missing a word, I noticed things that the first time I had read it I did not notice. Sometimes they were little things, other times they were things I had interpreted wrong (the ending, I completely missed the meaning of that, which is not normal for me.)
This book explored things that we see in our world but may not completely understand, in a way that at first we do not notice it is happening. It explores bipolar disorder with Jetta, race and experience being mix raced, power (leadership and other), and lastly, maybe not most importantly, love in a time of war and needing that someone to lean on that may not always be there.
Overall, I enjoyed this book even more the second time, and I cannot wait for the next one.
1) How much I love Heidi Heilig's books.
2) How Through this entire story I seemed to have been relating this to her other books, which I love beyond words, and the characters in this story seemed to, in my head transfer from one series to the next. I cannot understand why yet.
And 3) As I was reading, not missing a word, I noticed things that the first time I had read it I did not notice. Sometimes they were little things, other times they were things I had interpreted wrong (the ending, I completely missed the meaning of that, which is not normal for me.)
This book explored things that we see in our world but may not completely understand, in a way that at first we do not notice it is happening. It explores bipolar disorder with Jetta, race and experience being mix raced, power (leadership and other), and lastly, maybe not most importantly, love in a time of war and needing that someone to lean on that may not always be there.
Overall, I enjoyed this book even more the second time, and I cannot wait for the next one.
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