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jennieartemis 's review for:

We Unleash the Merciless Storm by Tehlor Kay Mejia
4.25
dark emotional inspiring tense

TL;DR: A much darker and deeper sequel that finds love and hope in nasty political circumstances

After finding book 1 underwhelming, this followup completely transformed my view of the duology, making the most of the setting and characters. The switch to Carmen, a slightly messier protagonist, and also to the revolutionaries worked so much better for me than the society stuff from book 1. The romance is compelling and convincing, but balanced well with the very serious (at at points brutal) rebellion themes. It can still be a bit simple (particularly with the villain), but this book has made me far more interested in revisiting the first - dark yet hopeful YA done right.

8/10 in personal rating system