Reviews

I was initially apprehensive upon starting Dark Skies when I realized that it was not from the perspectives of Teriana and Marcus and described events that occurred in parallel, not advancing from Dark Shores.

Lo and behold, this is a far superior book in many ways! The writing style is more refined, the characterization is better, the political intrigue is thicker, the perspectives more sympathetic and comprehensive in their decision-making. I zoomed through it at a breakneck pace, as the tension is unrelenting. One of my main concerns at the beginning, which was that the voices of Lydia and Killian would not be sufficiently distinct from the predecessor's counterparts, was definitely alleviated. While Killian's duty-bound internal conflict occasionally echoed Marcus's, his single-minded devotion to Mudamora made his choices much easier to follow. I loved getting to explore more of the magic system and what it means to be god-marked

Spoiler

and the reveal that healers (or at least Lydia) possess the same life-stealing powers as the corrupted? DELICIOUS

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Eagerly looking forward to reading the third installment and praying it can successfully juggle our four main characters!

freadomlibrary's review against another edition

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4.0

I received an e-ARC of this book from Tor Teen through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

Trigger warnings: death, attempted murder, violence, war, hunger and starvation, rioting, animal death

There is something I really enjoy and also really struggle with when it comes to this series. It happened with the first book and it happened with this one. It starts off really slow and it takes me a super long time to get into, almost halfway through in this case, but then all of a sudden there's a turning point and I am racing to the end! Something shifts in the plot or the pacing, I don't know, and now I just cannot wait to finish and stay up until 3 am because I cannot stop reading! (true story). Because this one is almost companion-like, I think that contributed a lot to the struggles in the beginning. Lydia as a character was introduced before but very briefly so it was interesting to see more of her and see her growth. I thought it was kind of wild how she ended up involved in something so complex and political but it made the story super interesting. I lovedddd Killian! From his name to his personality and his choices. I just think he's my favorite male character in this series so far. This book also ended very bittersweet. Victory but tragedy all wrapped in one. I am really pumped to read the third book and see how the two separate stories collide now!