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emuhly 's review for:
The Second Death of Locke
by V.L. Bovalino
it’s the year of the lady knight, and thank god for that.
every single book i’ve read this year featuring a lady knight has been a five star instant banger, and i’m thrilled to report that the second death of locke has joined those hallowed shelves alongside her sisters. this felt like the older sister to a lot of YA books that i’ve read over the years, with the all-powerful heir to a lost island nation – it’s so nice, now that i’m older too, to be able to see this storyline played out with actual adults instead of sixteen year olds! as much as i enjoyed books like that when i was younger, it makes so much more sense to have people in their twenties, people who have been soldiers/officers for years and years, making world-changing decisions and leading wars (instead of teenagers, said with love). grey and kier actually had tactical, practical wisdom under their belts, which gave a lot of weight to their actions that i loved reading about.
speaking of grey and kier… one thing to know about me: i’m deeply, deeply obsessed with gideon the ninth. i didn’t learn until after finishing this book that gideon was one of the author’s comp titles, and the fact that she was inspired by campal’s relationship really brought my new obsession with grey & kier full circle. their deep codependency and years-long yearning for one another made me feel crazy in the best way. their history with each other – as well as the history of their upbringings and their individual nations – was crafted with such care. i also loved reading about their growing friendships with their ragtag team, and i was pleasantly surprised by the queernormative world this takes place in! i had no idea going into it, so every new discovery was an absolute delight (off the top of my head there’s bi rep, trans rep, nonbinary rep… the author herself even said she doesn’t think there’s a single straight character around, which is exactly how i like it). man, there are so many things i can say about this book. so so so good!! i can’t wait for the rest of the series!!
thank you to netgalley & the publisher for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.