A review by bookish_blanche
Across the Darkest Realm by Ashley L. Castillo

5.0

An excellent sequel filled with tension and danger

-I would like to thank the author for the eARC-

BOOK 2 in THE BRIGHT ONE series

I had really enjoyed the first book of this series but this one truly blew me away. It was darker, more tense and dangerous, and I was here for it. We get to discover a new side of the world that is really intense and complex and I loved it. There was a lot of political intrigue too and it was very interesting to see how everything worked and Tase's place in all this. We discover more about his past and where he comes from too and I liked getting to know more about him. Diana had a very interesting character development too in this sequel. She grew stronger, more powerful, and changed in ways I wouldn't have expected. Her relationship with Tase is also very interesting to follow and quite surprising. There are some really dark subjects in this story with torture and violence and it was very well written in my opinion. I was panting, scared to read the next page, but I really, really loved it. I cannot wait to read the next one!

I would recommend if you like fantasy with dark themes and magic.

"You know that loving someone is like holding the steel part of a sword. Sometimes the tighter you try to hold on, the more pain you cause yourself."

TW: sexual assault, rape, violence, death, murder, torture (physical and psychological), blood, sexually explicit scenes