Genre: YA Fantasy
Release Date: September 5th, 2023
Pages: 320
Publisher: Harper Collins Children’s
My Rating: ⭐⭐
Publisher’s Synopsis:
“A dark and thrilling vampire romance set in the world of the New York Times bestselling Serpent & Dove series.
Six months have passed since Célie took her sacred vows and joined the ranks of the Chasseurs as their first huntswoman. With her fiancé, Jean Luc, as captain, she is determined to find her foothold in her new role and help protect Belterra. But whispers from her past still haunt her, and a new evil is rising—one that Célie herself must vanquish, unless she falls prey to the darkness.”
My Review:
I have to confess, I didn’t really care much for Celie in the S&D series, but I was really hoping that maybe once she took center stage that her character would be developed more thoroughly in a way that made me like her. I still don’t.
But y’all, vampires though, they’re making a comeback and I’m so here for it! I really loved Michal. And a couple of the side characters were also really fun and endearing. But Celie is just… ugh. She is so weak and whiny and annoying. I know not every fantasy main character can be the badass trope but I guess that’s just my personal preference.
I still really don’t understand why Michal would even be drawn to someone like Celie. They just didn’t work for me. Honestly, his character seemed more the type to respect someone who has some fight in them and be turned off by someone simpering – but that’s just me.
This was really a struggle to get through because of how much Celie got on my nerves. I enjoyed the new world building aspects. The mysteries around Celie and her abilities were intriguing and I wished I cared more to find out what was going on. The pacing and the plot were pretty slow. It lacked a solid drive and motivation to keep me turning the pages. But the mysteries were
Although this is a new spin-off series, you definitely need to have read the S&D series completely to understand what is going on here because it picks up pretty much where that one left off. Even though the original cast of characters primarily took a back seat, I enjoyed the cameos that they made at times.
I’ll probably be in the minority here yet again, so don’t take my words to heart if you loved this. But I won’t be continuing with this series. I think die-hard fans of S&D are going to love this new series, especially if you actually liked Celie. For me that series really lost its luster after the first book. I was truly hopeful but this just failed to get it back again for me.
Disclaimers:
Huge thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for gifting me an early copy of this amazing story! I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Have you read this book? Planning to add it to your TBR?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
I love a good book discussion. 🙂
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