Bridgid Kemmerer
YA Fantasy
To save their kingdom, they must embark on a dangerous journey…
The kingdom of Kandala narrowly avoided catastrophe, but the embers of revolution still simmer. While King Harristan seeks a new way to lead, Tessa and Prince Corrick attempt to foster unity between rebels and royals.
But the consuls who control the Moonflower will not back down, and Corrick realizes he must find a new source for the lifesaving Elixir.
When an emissary from the neighboring kingdom of Ostriary arrives with an intriguing offer, Tessa and Corrick set out on an uncertain journey as they attempt to mend their own fractured relationship.
This could be their only chance to keep the peace and bring relief to the people of Kandala, but danger strikes during the journey to Ostriary, and no one is who they seemed to be. . .
-Excerpt taken from Goodreads.
Check Goodreads to see the book’s ratings.
My Opinion
(4 / 5) A mysterious man shows up promising moonflower, the treatment for the fever ravaging their kingdom. Can they trust him? And what will they have to give in return?
I really loved book one so I was excited for this! (Defy the Night review here) While book 1 was mostly in the Wilds, book 2 took a slow start until they got on a ship.
Now, ship stories, pirates and the sorts are such fun books for me. I loved the ship and the extra drama that entailed. We have multiple mysterious characters but Corrick and Tessa need to trust them. We also hear from Fox (new character) back in the kingdom which was critical to Corrick’s story (on the ship). The court politics were fun and exciting with quite a bit of conspiracy thrown in. We even had a small LGBTQ romance that was super sweet. It was a great addition!
Kemmerer is great at adventure and grabbing me fairly quickly. I like that in this series she hasn’t over-stepped the bounds of (what I deem) to be “appropriate YA.” She kept the intimacy low and the danger high and I had a fun time reading along.
That ending, oh that was a doozy! It makes me excited for more even if it did make me mad at first for such a cliffhanger!
General content summary: There was a small LGBTQ romance but no intimacy, some m/f kissing, violence was high but had fewer details: some language, alcohol (underage), physical violence (weapons, blood, multiple), passionate kissing, previously a man was beaten and his tongue cut out as punishment, multiple arrows shot at one man (blood), m/f sleeping in the same bed (no intimacy), captivity and malnutrition, death by arrows, death by cannonball, ships attack each other with cannons, many people fall overboard.
Thank you to Bloomsbury USA Children’s Books/Bloomsbury YA and NetGalley for the gifted copy!
The book releases September 20, 2022.
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