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minna1999 's review for:
Lady Smoke
by Laura Sebastian
Nothing happens in this book. Until something does. That’s only at about the 80% mark, though, which doesn’t justify the existence of this sequel. This should’ve just been a duology.
The things that intrigued me most in the first book were the friendship dynamics between Theo and Cress, and the power dynamics between Theo and the Kaiser. Both were virtually absent in the second book, which made me completely lost interest.
The characters are also intentionally dumbed down for the sake of the plot. People keep getting poisoned. It’s very obvious who the culprit is, yet no one even thinks about it. There’s also a classic villain “let me explain my evil plan to you in detail” speech that could’ve been done in a better way, or even omitted.
Towards the end, Cress (Theo’s ex best friend) marries the Kaiser and then proceeds to kill him by burning him inside out with a fire kiss. The scene itself is shocking and gripping, but I don’t like the direction it takes the plot. I don’t like the abrupt shift from one main antagonist to another. After all the torture Theo went though in the first book, having the Kaiser just casually die and making Cress the new villain robs the reader of the payoff of Theo’s efforts towards revenge on the man who had tortured her most of her life. I see no point in reading the third book because I was reading specifically because I was waiting for that catharsis, which didn’t come and never will.
The things that intrigued me most in the first book were the friendship dynamics between Theo and Cress, and the power dynamics between Theo and the Kaiser. Both were virtually absent in the second book, which made me completely lost interest.
The characters are also intentionally dumbed down for the sake of the plot. People keep getting poisoned. It’s very obvious who the culprit is, yet no one even thinks about it. There’s also a classic villain “let me explain my evil plan to you in detail” speech that could’ve been done in a better way, or even omitted.
Towards the end, Cress (Theo’s ex best friend) marries the Kaiser and then proceeds to kill him by burning him inside out with a fire kiss. The scene itself is shocking and gripping, but I don’t like the direction it takes the plot. I don’t like the abrupt shift from one main antagonist to another. After all the torture Theo went though in the first book, having the Kaiser just casually die and making Cress the new villain robs the reader of the payoff of Theo’s efforts towards revenge on the man who had tortured her most of her life. I see no point in reading the third book because I was reading specifically because I was waiting for that catharsis, which didn’t come and never will.