A review by kleonard
Warmaidens by Kelly Coon

2.0

I really enjoyed Coon's Gravemaidens, the first book in this series, so I eagerly anticipated this sequel. It was, however, a disappointment. The plot is a a bit of a retread of the first book--remove the evil despot--and the characters are universally flat. They've all been saddled with new abilities as well as each now having a more significant flaw, but it feels like these attributes have been added as if the characters leveled up, like in D&D. The characters experience failure after failure, and while failure is great for plot, the characters need to be learning from those failures--and these never seem to do that, which is enormously frustrating. While it's good to see that the feminist ethos of the first book is still very present, it feels much more self-conscious in this volume, often expressed through interior character monologues rather than by actions and actual conversations between characters. In addition, readers will not be able to understand what's happening in this book, from plot to character development and relationships, without having read the first book.