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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
Not a fan of this one. Many new plot points and world building elements were added here that should have been part of book 1, if that’s what was intended the entire time.
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
The Damned was a magical read that expanded upon the first book well, answering many of the questions that I had whilst giving me more. I loved diving back into the glamorous yet monstrous world of The Beautiful and learning more about the characters. However, it wasn't a five star read like the first book was for me because I felt like it tried to cram a bit too much in without adequate explanation.
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 4.5/5
Writing: 4/5
Celine was grappling with the trauma of what happened to her at the end of The Beautiful. She felt like she had lost herself in the midst of confusion, nightmares and terror gripping her when she was perfectly safe. For Celine, this book was about self discovery- in more ways than one. She showed even more fortitude and determination than in the previous book and I was rooting for her throughout.
Celine took centre stage in The Beautiful and Bastien had little character development, whereas The Damned saw him take the spotlight and have his own arc too. His POV chapters were in the first person and in the present tense, as opposed to everyone else's POV chapters being in the third person and the past tense, making it feel as if it was primarily his story. We get to see the most of his inner conflict as he dealt with his own trauma and navigated uncharted waters in a familiar world. He wanted to be a better version of himself despite the darkness inside him and he went on a journey to find out what that meant. I liked discovering more depth to his character and it helped me to better understand him.
I loved getting to learn more about the side characters especially Odette and Jae. I think they both deserve their own spin off books because they're amazing and have the most interesting back stories. We get to see the POVs of so many more characters in comparison to The Beautiful such as Bastien, Odette, Jae, Arjun and more. I was actually surprised that we don't see Celine's POV until around a quarter of the book. I liked reading from new perspectives even though at first it slowed the pace down too much.
The Damned didn't hold back with the supernatural: vampires, werewolves, fey, goblins and more. We are introduced to the magical realms of the summery Sylvan Vale and the wintry Sylvan Wyld- equally dangerous despite their appearances. The plot became more about the greater picture than any one character's goals which I liked but, as I mentioned earlier, too many components were introduced without being properly fleshed out. The conflict between the Brotherhood and the Fallen could have also felt more high stakes.
I really enjoyed The Damned but it felt like it was mainly setting the stage for the next book. I originally thought this series was a duology but it turns out there's going to be a third book and I cannot wait!
Thank you to Hodderscape for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 4.5/5
Writing: 4/5
Celine was grappling with the trauma of what happened to her at the end of The Beautiful. She felt like she had lost herself in the midst of confusion, nightmares and terror gripping her when she was perfectly safe. For Celine, this book was about self discovery- in more ways than one. She showed even more fortitude and determination than in the previous book and I was rooting for her throughout.
Celine took centre stage in The Beautiful and Bastien had little character development, whereas The Damned saw him take the spotlight and have his own arc too. His POV chapters were in the first person and in the present tense, as opposed to everyone else's POV chapters being in the third person and the past tense, making it feel as if it was primarily his story. We get to see the most of his inner conflict as he dealt with his own trauma and navigated uncharted waters in a familiar world. He wanted to be a better version of himself despite the darkness inside him and he went on a journey to find out what that meant. I liked discovering more depth to his character and it helped me to better understand him.
"Love and loyalty are not always the same thing. Loyalty is easy. Love is doing what is right, even when it is difficult."
I loved getting to learn more about the side characters especially Odette and Jae. I think they both deserve their own spin off books because they're amazing and have the most interesting back stories. We get to see the POVs of so many more characters in comparison to The Beautiful such as Bastien, Odette, Jae, Arjun and more. I was actually surprised that we don't see Celine's POV until around a quarter of the book. I liked reading from new perspectives even though at first it slowed the pace down too much.
The Damned didn't hold back with the supernatural: vampires, werewolves, fey, goblins and more. We are introduced to the magical realms of the summery Sylvan Vale and the wintry Sylvan Wyld- equally dangerous despite their appearances. The plot became more about the greater picture than any one character's goals which I liked but, as I mentioned earlier, too many components were introduced without being properly fleshed out. The conflict between the Brotherhood and the Fallen could have also felt more high stakes.
I really enjoyed The Damned but it felt like it was mainly setting the stage for the next book. I originally thought this series was a duology but it turns out there's going to be a third book and I cannot wait!
Thank you to Hodderscape for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A great second novel to continue on the romance and world built out in the first novel. This one sees us delving into the world of the Fae and Celines family past to uncover more about who she truly is.
While this one starts going off the rails a touch the author does a great job of tying the two novels together and keeping the romance fresh and enjoyable.
While this one starts going off the rails a touch the author does a great job of tying the two novels together and keeping the romance fresh and enjoyable.
Find this review and more on my blog at Worlds Unlike Our Own.
3.5 stars
Following the horrific events at the end of The Beautiful, both Sébastien and Celine’s lives have changed forever. Bastien is now a vampire, the last thing he ever wished to be. His changing is against the treaty between the Fallen and the Brotherhood and war is on the horizon. Meanwhile, Celine is attempting to recover from the trauma of events she cannot remember, and desperately seeks out more information, leading her straight back into the supernatural world. Nicodemus’ memory wipe seems to be failing by the day and Celine’s quest to find the truth will reveal far more secrets than those she sought.
Despite having significantly lower expectations for The Damned, I still ended up somewhat disappointed. While this book significantly expanded on the world-building in terms of different supernatural beings and the rather complicated politics between them – but it all felt very surface level and I honestly ended up skimming through a lot. 1870s New Orleans is a setting that could have been used to so much more effect than it was, something I noticed in the first book as well, but the story is so far removed that the historical setting is basically pointless. I thought this was a duology but turns out there’s atleast one more book and I recently read somewhere that this is actually a quartet so now I don’t know what to think.
As always, I did enjoy Renee Ahdieh’s writing and narrative style, which was what really convinced me to even give this book a shot. It was quite easy to read, but rather lacking in character development outside the central ones, and even the plot was hard to follow as there were just so many threads. The Damned is definitely more of Bastien’s book. One thing I thought that was very well portrayed was Bastien’s struggle with his new reality and the loss of not only his love but also his humanity. Celine on the other hand was a very different character from the one I remembered. It was good to see that despite the horrific experience she has been through – and can’t recall – she is still as strong as ever, determined to adapt and figure things out, but overall, she was largely absent from this book and that really affected her characterization. As for the others, getting a glimpse of how things work amongst the vampire family, and learning a little more about their backstories was great, and Odette having a POV was a pleasant surprise. She’s definitely my favourite of the members of the Cours des Lions.
Did they really have to bring Fae into this as well? Vampires and werewolves really were more than sufficient, especially considering they’re about to declare war on each other, and I don’t know about you, readers, but I’m just a little tired of Faerie stories for now. Then there was Celine’s unexpected heritage, of which we had absolutely no hint until she starts getting her memories back despite whatever Nicodemus did.
Also, pacing. I always take it as a bad sign if I’m not sufficiently engaged in a book by atleast the 40% mark, and this didn’t pick up until the last third of the book. I think the main problem was that I was expecting the story to wrap up in this book, but it ended up going somewhere quite unexpected. Basically there’s a lot of conversations, hints at nefarious plans by various people, and then a flood of action scenes. As for this love triangle that’s going on – did anyone think that Michael ever really had a shot? Paranormal YA is just so predictable after a point, whenever Celine figures out her memories, she’ll obviously go straight back to Bastien, so this whole thing was thoroughly unnecessary.
So will I read the next book? It’s a huge maybe at this point since despite that ending, I don’t know if I’m sufficiently curious enough about what’s going to happen next to read the book rather than just find a summary later. All in all, I’m still feeling pretty detached when it comes to this series, but I’ll reserve judgement for now. If you enjoyed The Beautiful, I would definitely suggest giving this book a try.
3.5 stars
Following the horrific events at the end of The Beautiful, both Sébastien and Celine’s lives have changed forever. Bastien is now a vampire, the last thing he ever wished to be. His changing is against the treaty between the Fallen and the Brotherhood and war is on the horizon. Meanwhile, Celine is attempting to recover from the trauma of events she cannot remember, and desperately seeks out more information, leading her straight back into the supernatural world. Nicodemus’ memory wipe seems to be failing by the day and Celine’s quest to find the truth will reveal far more secrets than those she sought.
Despite having significantly lower expectations for The Damned, I still ended up somewhat disappointed. While this book significantly expanded on the world-building in terms of different supernatural beings and the rather complicated politics between them – but it all felt very surface level and I honestly ended up skimming through a lot. 1870s New Orleans is a setting that could have been used to so much more effect than it was, something I noticed in the first book as well, but the story is so far removed that the historical setting is basically pointless. I thought this was a duology but turns out there’s atleast one more book and I recently read somewhere that this is actually a quartet so now I don’t know what to think.
As always, I did enjoy Renee Ahdieh’s writing and narrative style, which was what really convinced me to even give this book a shot. It was quite easy to read, but rather lacking in character development outside the central ones, and even the plot was hard to follow as there were just so many threads. The Damned is definitely more of Bastien’s book. One thing I thought that was very well portrayed was Bastien’s struggle with his new reality and the loss of not only his love but also his humanity. Celine on the other hand was a very different character from the one I remembered. It was good to see that despite the horrific experience she has been through – and can’t recall – she is still as strong as ever, determined to adapt and figure things out, but overall, she was largely absent from this book and that really affected her characterization. As for the others, getting a glimpse of how things work amongst the vampire family, and learning a little more about their backstories was great, and Odette having a POV was a pleasant surprise. She’s definitely my favourite of the members of the Cours des Lions.
Did they really have to bring Fae into this as well? Vampires and werewolves really were more than sufficient, especially considering they’re about to declare war on each other, and I don’t know about you, readers, but I’m just a little tired of Faerie stories for now. Then there was Celine’s unexpected heritage, of which we had absolutely no hint until she starts getting her memories back despite whatever Nicodemus did.
Also, pacing. I always take it as a bad sign if I’m not sufficiently engaged in a book by atleast the 40% mark, and this didn’t pick up until the last third of the book. I think the main problem was that I was expecting the story to wrap up in this book, but it ended up going somewhere quite unexpected. Basically there’s a lot of conversations, hints at nefarious plans by various people, and then a flood of action scenes. As for this love triangle that’s going on – did anyone think that Michael ever really had a shot? Paranormal YA is just so predictable after a point, whenever Celine figures out her memories, she’ll obviously go straight back to Bastien, so this whole thing was thoroughly unnecessary.
So will I read the next book? It’s a huge maybe at this point since despite that ending, I don’t know if I’m sufficiently curious enough about what’s going to happen next to read the book rather than just find a summary later. All in all, I’m still feeling pretty detached when it comes to this series, but I’ll reserve judgement for now. If you enjoyed The Beautiful, I would definitely suggest giving this book a try.
Wow. What a ride this one was.
Celine gave up her memories to save Bastien and now spends her time trying to remember everything no one is telling her. The pull towards Bastien has not stopped. Michael is trying to win her heart.
Bastien is trying to forget.
Celine is pulled further into the underbelly after finding out who she really is.
Celine gave up her memories to save Bastien and now spends her time trying to remember everything no one is telling her. The pull towards Bastien has not stopped. Michael is trying to win her heart.
Bastien is trying to forget.
Celine is pulled further into the underbelly after finding out who she really is.
The Beautiful was great but The Damned brought so many elements of conflict and drama that you just didn't know what was going to happen next. I loved that the story was told from so many perspectives and we got a bit more insight into the characters we loved from the first story! I can't wait to read more!
Sadly, this sequel is like [b:The Beautiful|42265183|The Beautiful (The Beautiful, #1)|Renée Ahdieh|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1547578763l/42265183._SY75_.jpg|65881999] but with nowhere near enough sexy vampness to keep it thrilling.
To be fair, I thought [b:The Beautiful|42265183|The Beautiful (The Beautiful, #1)|Renée Ahdieh|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1547578763l/42265183._SY75_.jpg|65881999] was only okay. I gave it three stars. It was a bit of mindless entertainment and I'm a sucker (ha, pun!) for sexy vampires, let's be honest. But the world itself was quite weak, the setting felt nothing like 1872, and the whole supernatural politics aspect was not interesting to me. With this book, I really just wanted some Bastien/Celine smut, lol. Or, like, more makeouts, at least.
Unfortunately, that part was lacking. I mean, when the makeouts did happen, it was deliciously steamy, but the problem is that [b:The Damned|53131137|The Damned (The Beautiful, #2)|Renée Ahdieh|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1570224902l/53131137._SY75_.jpg|65882266] tries to get bigger and wilder with the plot and the result is an odd mishmash of mythologies and supernatural creatures. There is so much wishy washy paranormal info about vampires, werewolves, enchantresses, ethereals... but none of it had much depth.
Also, the first 150 pages of this book were a struggle because they consist of moving through different POVs and talking about what they want but can’t have and what they don’t remember and mysterious dark plans that they can’t tell you about *evil laugh* Nothing actually happens, though. And when it does happen, it all hits at once in a seemingly random stream of supernatural occurrences. That part where one minute they are in New Orleans and literally the next minute they are in Maharashtra visiting the Lady of the Vale gave me whiplash.
I predicted, correctly, that Celine, Michael, and Bastien would end up in some faux love triangle. One where Michael is clearly the third wheel and never a realistic candidate for Celine's heart, making any romantic scene between the two of them boring because there's absolutely no tension or excitement. This is paranormal YA-- is she really going to pick the safe boring detective over the sexy naughty vampire? What do YOU think?
The secondary characters overall were kinda bland, even this book's villain. Everything is built up around Celine and Bastien, so I was indifferent to the other characters' subplots and betrayals.
For some reason, I had assumed this was a duology (perhaps because Ahdieh's previous books were) but it is clearly left open for a sequel. Given the way this resolved, I am thinking the next book will be more of the same, so I will probably give it a miss.
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To be fair, I thought [b:The Beautiful|42265183|The Beautiful (The Beautiful, #1)|Renée Ahdieh|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1547578763l/42265183._SY75_.jpg|65881999] was only okay. I gave it three stars. It was a bit of mindless entertainment and I'm a sucker (ha, pun!) for sexy vampires, let's be honest. But the world itself was quite weak, the setting felt nothing like 1872, and the whole supernatural politics aspect was not interesting to me. With this book, I really just wanted some Bastien/Celine smut, lol. Or, like, more makeouts, at least.
Unfortunately, that part was lacking. I mean, when the makeouts did happen, it was deliciously steamy, but the problem is that [b:The Damned|53131137|The Damned (The Beautiful, #2)|Renée Ahdieh|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1570224902l/53131137._SY75_.jpg|65882266] tries to get bigger and wilder with the plot and the result is an odd mishmash of mythologies and supernatural creatures. There is so much wishy washy paranormal info about vampires, werewolves, enchantresses, ethereals... but none of it had much depth.
Also, the first 150 pages of this book were a struggle because they consist of moving through different POVs and talking about what they want but can’t have and what they don’t remember and mysterious dark plans that they can’t tell you about *evil laugh* Nothing actually happens, though. And when it does happen, it all hits at once in a seemingly random stream of supernatural occurrences. That part where one minute they are in New Orleans and literally the next minute they are in Maharashtra visiting the Lady of the Vale gave me whiplash.
I predicted, correctly, that Celine, Michael, and Bastien would end up in some faux love triangle. One where Michael is clearly the third wheel and never a realistic candidate for Celine's heart, making any romantic scene between the two of them boring because there's absolutely no tension or excitement. This is paranormal YA-- is she really going to pick the safe boring detective over the sexy naughty vampire? What do YOU think?
The secondary characters overall were kinda bland, even this book's villain. Everything is built up around Celine and Bastien, so I was indifferent to the other characters' subplots and betrayals.
For some reason, I had assumed this was a duology (perhaps because Ahdieh's previous books were) but it is clearly left open for a sequel. Given the way this resolved, I am thinking the next book will be more of the same, so I will probably give it a miss.
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dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes