Reviews

The Second Rebel by Linden A. Lewis

shayla_b_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

nonesensed's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

Revolutions are rarely clean, no matter how well-meaning or necessary. At least, that's an excuse a lot of people will march out once things get bloody. Our main cast may have good intentions, but do their allies? Who are their allies? Treason is always a possibility. So is seeing different solutions to the same problem.

Since this is book 2 in a trilogy, I don't want to spoil anything. All I can say is that things get dark, but that darkness feels earned. Can't wait to read the finale! 
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read247_instyle_inca's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark 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

4.5

hannahhbic's review against another edition

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5.0

It's hard to write a review that does justice to this novel. The audio is definitely the way to go, as everyone gets their own narrator and they're all stellar. There's a point in this book where I bawled my eyes out so thank you to Linden A. Lewis for the dehydration lmao. These characters live in my soul, now. They're all extremely distinct and frankly kickass. It was wonderful to have POVs from characters who were just in the background in book one. Please get into this series!!

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance review copy in exchange for an honest review.

brukneem's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

The layers of character development, world building an expertly hidden plot twists blew me away. I'm pissing shitting crying throwing up and screaming into the void. This series is absolutely amazing 😭🥰
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ghosty773's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

4.25

riley_rose's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.0

tsunni's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

More of the same from book 1. Dark and tense, the story stays focused on the corruption of the religious order and the oppression and resistance of the subhuman Asters. It had some of the same downsides I felt from the first book; most of the viewpoint characters from book 1 have the advantage of an entire book behind them for me to get invested, but the pacing and characterization didn't work for me at some parts, like for Luce's chapters.
They really put Luce through the wringer in this one, but
I didn't feel like I got to know her well enough for her big moments to be earned, especially for how fast her story changed over the course of the book. Some of that weakness in the writing still applies to Hiro, Lito, and Astrid; big moments happen, but the emotional weight isn't necessarily there even if I'm still enjoying the story. It might just be the nature of how heavy the plot is, so much is happening at a grander scope that not enough of their personal stories get a chance to breathe to really make their moments impactful.

Speaking of the world the author has built up, I am endlessly fascinated by the creativity and the big ideas the story keeps revealing. She has such a knack for really interesting world building between the Synthetics, the Asters, all the identify focused gene modding, all the different ways people are communicating -- Sister sign language, Aster nonvocal communication, neural implant connections between the bonded duelist pairs,
synthetics directly interfacing with neural implants
-- there's constantly more to dig into and think about. I adore how queer the story is and how much identity is core to some of the characterizations. When the story hits right, it hits really hard for me, in spite of the flaws.

miasweeney00's review

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adventurous slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

foofers1622's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0