altlovesbooks
"There should be a cost to power, and I paid it gladly."
I wasn't sure much could get darker tonally than the first book in this series, but this one managed to surprise me with how dark it got. Khraen still doesn't know the entirety of who he is, but he's started collecting the obsidian shards of his heart to find out. Now he has his old flame Henka in tow, but he still doesn't have any memories of her and is, basically, operating under blind faith that she means to him what she says she means to him. We're still never quite sure who's friend or foe yet, but Khraen still is on a journey to find out.
This book felt more like Khraen embracing all the worst parts of his power, while rationalizing it away every time. Each time he swears he'll do better next time, agonizes over it even, but still manages to make the wrong (right?) decision in the moment. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed a lot of his considerable inner turmoil in this book, it's very introspective and thoughtful, but I know it rubs some people the wrong way that he's not this badass demonologist doing badass demonologist things cover to cover.
There's even more visceral detail in this book than the last book, which, yay if you like that sort of thing, but I had to skim portions of the detailed necromancy bits, personally.
Bren is a great character here. A great foil against Khraen's descent into....idk, madness, instability, power, whatever he's got going on here. I look forward to reading book three shortly.
"There should be a cost to power, and I paid it gladly."
I wasn't sure much could get darker tonally than the first book in this series, but this one managed to surprise me with how dark it got. Khraen still doesn't know the entirety of who he is, but he's started collecting the obsidian shards of his heart to find out. Now he has his old flame Henka in tow, but he still doesn't have any memories of her and is, basically, operating under blind faith that she means to him what she says she means to him. We're still never quite sure who's friend or foe yet, but Khraen still is on a journey to find out.
This book felt more like Khraen embracing all the worst parts of his power, while rationalizing it away every time. Each time he swears he'll do better next time, agonizes over it even, but still manages to make the wrong (right?) decision in the moment. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed a lot of his considerable inner turmoil in this book, it's very introspective and thoughtful, but I know it rubs some people the wrong way that he's not this badass demonologist doing badass demonologist things cover to cover.
There's even more visceral detail in this book than the last book, which, yay if you like that sort of thing, but I had to skim portions of the detailed necromancy bits, personally.
Bren is a great character here. A great foil against Khraen's descent into....idk, madness, instability, power, whatever he's got going on here. I look forward to reading book three shortly.
