Outcasts is beautiful. It has such depth, something needed to wrap up this prequel duology before the main trilogy. I think it’s absolutely perfect for those new to the series as a whole, and those who have adored the series for forever.

For us fans of Starcrossed and the later two books(soon to be four), this was a duology that answered so many questions. We have more history, explanations, love, and even hate. But with all of this, there was still a sense of urgency, mystery, and let's all be honest, dread. After reading the main trilogy, we know the ending, we just aren’t sure how it takes place and to what degree it will impact us and our main characters. This keeps the reader on the edge of their seat for the entire book.

For fans new to the series, I think they get a really unique experience of reading these books in historical order. Learning about Daphe and her tragic love before being thrust into Helons’. There’s so much foreshadowing the reader won’t catch until they continue on with Starcrossed, but I’d imagine it’d be so much fun catching those twists as they come, in a way that we who are familiar with the series will never be able to experience.

This book has you thinking ‘dread’ from the first few chapters. It’s like playing with Fate ourselves. We mirror the characters. They know they are in a losing battle with Fate, as the reader, we are also just along for the ride, completely powerless to change what we know is coming, Fate itself.

The characters we don’t get as much information, history, back story, etc. on in the original books, are in this prequel duology and we get a whole lot of them. I fell more and more in love with some of the characters I liked in Starcrossed, and became to loath characters I didn’t even like(cough Tantulous) to begin with. Josie writes her characters with such emotion, there’s so much depth to each one. This is something that Josie excels at in all her books and writing, but it’s so much fun having the chance to explore characters she’s introduced previously, even more.

This book really does have the reader experiencing every emotion possible. Hope being one, desperation, love, happiness, and absolute heartbreak being another. The craft it took to write a book like this, a second books to a prequel duolgoy, to a very solid trilogy, that still has the reader experiencing their own feelings in such a profound way… is impressive. I can’t recommend Scions and Outcasts enough, it makes me second guess or see the original trilogy on such a new level that it ‘almost’ feels like a whole new series.

Heavenly Bodies by Imani Erriu

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4.5

Gone by Lisa McMann

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced