So much girl power here! | The Darkest Magic

The Darkest Magic (Spirits and Thieves #2) by Morgan Rhodes

Published: June 28th 2016 by Razorbill

Genre: young adult, fantasy

Goodreads summary: In the second installment of New York Times bestselling author Morgan Rhodes's highly acclaimed Falling Kingdoms spin-off series, danger looms and the mystery deepens as two warring evils vie for possession of one elusive, powerful book.

Modern-day Toronto: Sisters Crystal and Becca Hatcher are reunited after reclaiming the Bronze Codex and narrowly escaping death. They have no one to trust but each other, and the only thing keeping them safe is the book that sent Becca's spirit to Ancient Mytica--the same book that their enemies would kill them for. 

Ancient Mytica: Maddox grapples to keep his newly discovered powers under control, while the ruthless goddess Valoria hunts him down. 

Modern-day Toronto: Farrell embraces his dark side as he unwittingly falls further under the spell of Markus, the mastermind leader of the nefarious Hawkspear Society, who will stop at nothing to find Crys and Becca--and the remarkable book in their possession. 

New York Times bestselling author Morgan Rhodes takes readers into exhilarating new high-fantasy territory with volume two of the Book of Spirits and Thieves series, an epic contemporary saga perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander.

REVIEW

I'm a huge fan of the Falling Kingdoms series, so when the Spirits and Thieves trilogy was announced, I was pretty excited, as it's a prequel of the main series. While I really disliked the cover of the first book, they improved a lot with this one, it was pretty badass and I had serious girl power vibes from it.

When I started this book, I didn't remember very well what had happened in the first book, except the key plot points. Nevertheless, Morgan Rhodes did recaps along with the story, which helped me a lot, because I hadn't find any recap of A Book of Spirits and Thieves on the Internet. However, my issue was that it took a lot of time to get through every character's point of view, because they were four of them. At the beginning of the story, I felt like the plot was moving very slowly because of that, but it picked up quickly.

This trilogy is set a thousand years before the Falling Kingdoms series and it set so much in place for the Mytica I've come to know and love. The Darkest Magic indeed gave a bigger place to the two goddesses, Cleiona and Valoria, but also the Watchers, which is part of Mytica's mythology/series in the original series. Moreover, this instalment developed the magic even further, especially for Maddox and his death magic, but also for Becca, because of her parentage. What I love the most about the world Morgan Rhodes created is the fact Mytica is intertwined with modern-day Toronto, which involves secret societies. The author went even farther in that aspect, about how loyal you can be to someone and to a cause, which was really interesting and challenging for Farell's character.

I was really invested in most characters' storylines in this book and I came to appreciate some of them a bit more, just like Farell. I felt so much girl power in this book, for the Hatcher sisters, but also from the secondary characters like their families or the goddesses. Morgan Rhodes is also great at writing romances in my opinion and I'm way more invested in Farell/Crystal than in Maddox/Becca, because there is this hate becoming love relationship trope happening, which reminds me of Cleo and Magnus in Falling Kingdoms, who are my OTP.

The plot was very entertaining to follow and I can't even tell if it was more interesting in Mytica or in Toronto, which was a good thing. It was cruel to leave small cliff-hangers at the end of each chapter though, because how was I even supposed to go to sleep? This novel introduced a new antagonist, who was very scary and I wasn't expecting him to appear really, because I didn't remember any hints from this in the first book. The ending left my mouth hanging open and I just need the next book in the trilogy now.

Overall, this book was everything I wanted, except that it took me awhile to get into it, as the chapters were pretty long and it followed four characters. Nevertheless, I was very invested in all the storylines and I cannot wait to read the last book in the trilogy, because it'll be explosive!

Other:

• Review of A Book of Spirits and Thieves

Have you read this book yet? What did you think of it? Are you a fan of the Falling Kingdoms series? Are you excited for Crystal Storm?

Review : A Book of Spirits and Thieves by Morgan Rhodes

A Book of Spirits and Thieves (Spirits and Thieves #1) by Morgan Rhodes

Published: June 23rd 2015 by Razorbill
Genre: young adult, fantasy

Goodreads Summary: Modern-day sisters discover deadly ancient magic in book 1 of this Falling Kingdoms spin-off series! Worlds collide in this suspenseful, page-turning Falling Kingdoms spin-off series, which explores a whole new side of Mytica—and an even darker version of its magic.

Crystal Hatcher, Modern-day Toronto: It’s a normal afternoon in her mother’s antique bookshop when Crys witnesses the unthinkable: her little sister Becca collapses into a coma after becoming mesmerized by a mysterious book written in an unrecognizable language.

Maddox Corso, Ancient Mytica: Maddox Corso doesn’t think much of it when he spots an unfamiliar girl in his small village. Until, that is, he realizes that she is a spirit, and he is the only one who can see or hear her. Her name is Becca Hatcher, and she needs Maddox to help get her home.

Farrell Grayson, Modern-day Toronto: Rich and aimless Farrell Grayson is thrilled when the mysterious leader of the ultra-secret Hawkspear Society invites him into the fold. But when he learns exactly what he has to do to prove himself, Farrell starts to question everything he thought he knew about family, loyalty, and himself. Fate has brought these young people together, but ancient magic threatens to rip them apart.

REVIEW

I'm still not a fan of the cover but this book was amazing! I'm not really surprised, because I love the Falling Kingdoms series. It was really interesting to mix modern world and Mytica, especially with the link between the two, Becca - mostly because she is more the link between the two worlds that I thought, in the end! I would have liked to read more about Toronto, though, because we saw everyday life's buildings, but that's pretty much all. During my reading, I had the feeling we were seeing less of Mytica (and proportionally, we were), but I don't think it's a big deal, because discovering everything people of our world knew about Mytica was so interesting!

The plot focuses around Valoria's reign in Mytica (for this part of the story), it was like a prequel to Falling Kingdoms on that point, but modern world so it was kind of disturbing. Still, it means that time doesn't work the same between the two worlds, maybe even reverse? It's a big spoiler but here is the thing : Markus is sent to our world sixty years before the story starts, but Becca witnesses that the book is sent in Toronto. Then, maybe Valoria could sent the book back in time, but had sent Markus before? I don't know, we'll in the next book. What I loved about this plot was the plot twists I didn't see coming. I liked how everything was connected somehow between the two worlds, even if I knew it was.

For the most part, the characters were enjoyable. From the three points of view, I liked Crystal's character the best, because of who she was, and how she wants to know. Farrell's was really good, but he was a total sexist asshole - he thought he could won every girl over. He liked Crystal, but for a part it was because she resisted him, I'm not sure I like that. Still, she'll be on guard with him for now on. I liked the characters from the beginning, because of Becca.

"Becca Hatcher-making dreams come true, one book at a time,"

She's a book lover and her mom owns a bookshop, where she works to help her. Their aunt Jackie was also really interesting. So was Adam, I think we'll see him more in the next book, but I hope there won't be a love triangle between him, Becca and Maddox (maybe I see them everywhere, but I'm on guard). About the romance, I liked that mostly, the characters were drown to each other, it wasn't really love, but the beginning.

Maddox rubbed his eyes. "Have you ever been in love, Barnabas?" Barnabas paused, as if in solemn thought. "Is that what this is with the spirit girl?" "I don't know what it is. I'm just asking you a question."

Of course it's suspicious, but still - not romance driven, like Falling Kingdoms. I love that about Morgan Rhodes, really. 

The book didn't finish on a big cliff-hanger (there were big revelations before, though), which is a good thing, because sometimes I forget what it was, but there are so many questions hanging in the air, mainly : Markus? What happened with Valoria, really? I can't wait to read the next book, and now I want Frozen Tides so much.