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A review by marci_travels
The Cruelest Mercy by Natalie Mae
4.0
This is the sequel to The Kinder Poison (see my earlier review).
The stakes continue to rachet ever higher as the siblings and Zahru fight for the throne of Orkena and coming war with their neighbors.
But as powerful magic corrupts, absolute magic corrupts absolutely.
Kasta and Jet continue to overcome their childhood as the pawns of their father and King. Kasta, a brilliant scientist, has come back from the Crossing challenge a changed man. Jet, a soldier and a man of compassion is still always reaching for the high road. Zahru, now wearing the mark of the Gods, is elevated to a co-heir apparent, and the youngest sibling, Shakira, remains on the desert, her parents and the people of Orkena mourning her.
Zahru's newfound magic and power corrupts her thinking, and we watch as she continues to grab for more power, more ways to hurt Kasta, the co-heir apparent. She hides her villainy from Jet, the one person who seems to have any control over her. Throughout her adventures and her actions, she descends into the monster she has accused others of becoming.
I won't give away anymore because I don't want to slip into spoilers, but this is a great book to watch how power corrupts, to see how people can lie to themselves until they believe their own lies, how we as humans make allowances for our poor choices without granting grace to others.
The stakes continue to rachet ever higher as the siblings and Zahru fight for the throne of Orkena and coming war with their neighbors.
But as powerful magic corrupts, absolute magic corrupts absolutely.
Kasta and Jet continue to overcome their childhood as the pawns of their father and King. Kasta, a brilliant scientist, has come back from the Crossing challenge a changed man. Jet, a soldier and a man of compassion is still always reaching for the high road. Zahru, now wearing the mark of the Gods, is elevated to a co-heir apparent, and the youngest sibling, Shakira, remains on the desert, her parents and the people of Orkena mourning her.
Zahru's newfound magic and power corrupts her thinking, and we watch as she continues to grab for more power, more ways to hurt Kasta, the co-heir apparent. She hides her villainy from Jet, the one person who seems to have any control over her. Throughout her adventures and her actions, she descends into the monster she has accused others of becoming.
I won't give away anymore because I don't want to slip into spoilers, but this is a great book to watch how power corrupts, to see how people can lie to themselves until they believe their own lies, how we as humans make allowances for our poor choices without granting grace to others.