tomesandtash 's review for:

The Monarchs by Kass Morgan, Danielle Paige

5.0

dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

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Thank you NetGalley for providing digital advanced copy in exchange for honest review.

When I finished reading The Ravens, I found myself wondering how this story could continue and where it would go from there so I put off finishing the duology mostly because I really enjoyed book one and didn’t want to be disappointed. As it turns out, that would a stupid decision because I liked The Monarchs even more. It’s a worthy conclusion to a fantastic duology. 

As with the first book, the writing was great. I always worry when I see two author’s names on a book because, often, the writing can feel disjointed which then leads to a strange pacing and an overall messy finished product. These two authors, on the other hand, blend together seamlessly and manage to give both protagonists a unique voice while maintaining a cohesive style and flow. If I had read these books not knowing who wrote them, I would never have guessed there were two of them. 

The characters became even more vibrant and rich in this book, with both Vivi and Scarlet desperate to prove themselves in different ways. Their stories almost mirror each other which I thought was nice considering they’ve always had a special connection. I also liked how they were so desperate to show everyone that the coven was fine and stronger than ever after the events of book one that it took them far too long to acknowledge that there was more danger afoot. Their own single-mindedness led to their downfall. The steps that Vivi takes in this book were particularly interesting for me and I feel like she went on the biggest journey throughout the two stories. From not even believing that magic was real to doing almost anything to feel the strength of that very power could have felt like a big leap but it didn’t. It was expertly planned and executed and my only critique is that she comes back down from that latter position a touch too quickly for me. But the heart of this book is the relationship between Vivi and Scarlet and, quite honestly, I would love to read a novella about them going on a road trip or something because I love them both so much. 

I won’t go too much into detail about the plot as it's a sequel but I will say that the stakes definitely felt higher here and the tension was impeccable. There were so many times when I genuinely believed that The Ravens might lose because they were in such dire straits. 

The heart of these books are the characters and the themes of sisterhood and female-friendships which I don’t feel like we get enough of. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire duology but The Monarchs particularly stood out to me so if you’ve read The Ravens and aren’t sure if you should continue, I would definitely recommend it. And if you haven’t read The Ravens yet? Why not?! You won't be disappointed.