This review is for those who have read or are familiar with the previous book, Wings of Ebony, or don't mind knowing spoilers for it.
SPOILER ALERT
Rue has no memory of how she ended up locked in a basement prison without her magic or her allies. But she’s a girl from the East Row. And girls from the East Row don’t give up. Girls from the East Row pick themselves back up when they fall. Girls from the East Row break themselves out.
But reuniting with her friends is only half the battle. When she finds them again, Rue makes a vow: she will find a way to return the magic that the Chancellor has stolen from her father’s people. Yet even on Yiyo Peak, Rue is a misfit—with half a foot back in Houston and half a heart that is human as well as god, she’s not sure she’s the right person to lead the fight to reclaim a glorious past.
When a betrayal sends her into a tailspin, Rue must decide who to trust and how to be the leader that her people deserve…because if she doesn’t, it isn’t just Yiyo that will be destroyed—it will be Rue herself.
This was kind of a surprise pickup for me. I didn't love the first book, finding it just okay when compared to some of the other books surrounding the same sort of topics, so I wasn't exactly chomping at the bit to return to Rue's world. But when ads described this as the conclusion to a duology—a surprise to me—I figured it would be a good idea to go ahead and finish the series. So I went ahead and re-read Wings of Ebony and jumped straight in on this sequel.
Full disclosure: I think I might be unfairly biased in my reading and analysis of this book. If you read my review of the first book you'll know I vibed hard with best friend Bri, and found myself being pulled away from Rue's side despite having followed her and knowing all the same facts she did (as nebulous as they were at the time). And though I eventually came to appreciate my struggle as a positive aspect of the book, I can't help but think that maybe some of my frustration and saltiness may have carried over again after my re-read.
In fact, things began to go downhill right away in the first chapter.
So you remember how the last book ended with Rue talking to Julius about how she'd learned and grown from her experiences?
I hadn’t realized until that moment how protecting the people I care about is my knee-jerk reaction. So much so that I shove them away, which probably hurts them, too. [...]So she's learned not to push others away when things get intense, she'll try to accept help from others, and she says she'll come back for backup once she scouts out the situation in Ghizon. The book literally ends with this reflection and exchange right before Rue teleports away.
The world isn’t on my shoulders alone.
[...]
I wish I’d stopped and thought more. Pondered choices. Set aside my emotions for a moment.
[...]
“I’m going to do better. I can’t fix everything. But together, maybe we in Ghizon and in East Row can fix a lot.”
[...]
“You wanna come to Ghizon and help? I’m not going to say no.”
“Whaaaa? Rue gon’ accept some help?” He teases, laughing into his fist.
“Shut up.” I shove him. “But let me go there first. See what’s what, because I don’t know what we’d be walking into.”
[...]
“We’ll figure this out together. I’ll take all the help I can get.” [97%]
Cut to the beginning of Book 2 where Rue's been standing around for three days doing absolutely nothing. I'm not kidding. Rue and the Ghizoni have been hunkered inside their magical barrier for three days just watching the Chancellor and his army fire magic blasts at the barrier, just watching his movements? And then, with the barrier about to collapse (and no planning done before this point!) Rue decides that, being the only one with magic, she's got to be the only one to fight, explicitly refusing her friend/crush's offer of help. And as you'd expect, the barrier falls, the Chancellor and his army take out the villagers, and throw Rue in prison for six months.
I'm sorry, what? You're telling me that there was no discussion during those three days? No planning whatsoever? And that whatever leaders the village might have had decided to completely and immediately bow to an 18-year-old stranger just because she currently has the most magic? Oh, and this character who we've just spent an entire book watching grow to rely on others' support decides to forget everything she just learned without any explanation for it?! I call bull.
I get that the author wanted Rue to start off the story in a bad place, to once again grow from her struggles. But then just start it there! I'd rather just see her wake up in the prison cell, battered and with fuzzy memory (which she also has, btw), than know exactly what stupid decisions she made to get there. Even better would have been detailing why she made those bad decisions in the first place—did she witness a massacre of someone beyond the barrier, have a meeting with the leaders where they piled on how useless they were, try to teleport back to East Row but find even more bloodshed, or find her teleportation blocked? There are tons of reasons why she might have felt pressured into taking on the Chancellor alone, but without expanding on what happened during that 3-day time-skip, all we're left with is a character doing an immediate backtrack from the last book. Like nothing that happened in that last book mattered at all.
In retrospect, this problem I had didn't have much effect on the book as a whole. Since a huge part of Rue's story centered around learning and growing from one's mistakes, it's pretty natural to have her make a huge mistake at the beginning of the book in order to figure out a way to bounce back by the end. I just wish it hadn't come at the detriment of everything she'd already (supposedly) learned and promised from book one.
I think part of my issues stem from the time dilation, which is unfortunately continued throughout the book. We're told here that three days have passed, but are given absolutely no description of what those three days entailed. This is then followed by a 6-month time skip wherein we get some details of day-to-day monotony, but once they get out there seem to be no real consequences of the time lost. Sure, there's a large number of missed watch messages (from Julius), and there's some wear and tear to the Central District, but I never got any real sense of change or loss due to the passage of time. The only losses seem to be from Rue's choices before her capture, not because of her absence, and Julius and the gang back in East Row don't seem to act any differently than if it were a couple days MIA, as opposed to six months.
There's also a bit of confusion about the age of the Chancellor and his family members. We eventually find out that the Chancellor had some kids, and we never really get their ages, but considering there's talk about the Chancellor being well over 100, that would probably make his kids at least 70. And yet, I don't think there's any way the characters we see are that old, considering some of the things we see them do. Eh, this probably isn't that big of a deal either, but it's just another thing that irked me.
Speaking of things that irked me, I can't help but mention how much I hated Bri's treatment in this book. I get it, I'm biased, she's biased, we're both in the wrong here, but I hated her lack of agency and character. Her role in this book can be summed up as gadget maker and reminder that racism and classism is wrong. I know I harped on this in the last book, but it really does frustrate me that she's given no emotions or goals outside of serving a purpose for Rue. She's not allowed to have a breakdown over anything, no feelings about her family's absence and possible deaths, and no thoughts that conflict with Rue's, other than those that can be instantly shot down as biased and wrong and that she can quickly change. She is nothing but ride-or-die for Rue, and that's the end of her character. Disappointing to say the least.
I was also disappointed with the continued lack of detail in the magic system. Or maybe it's a lack of consistency? So there's this new element of blood oaths that ends up playing a pretty big role in the story, and yet I'm not exactly sure how they work. Suffice it to say, I think the oath gets broken at one point, but with absolutely no consequence befalling the oath breaker. Was the wording not specific enough? Was the promise met and released before being broken? Or was the oath never broken enough at all? It's like Rue getting kissed on the cheek by Miss Leola all over again—I need more details and consistency in my magic!
All that being said, I actually did like this book. I thought Rue's struggle with finding her confidence and self-worth after her major blunder was relatable (if not all her fault) and held a great message of self-forgiveness and perseverance. I found most of the twists and turns kept me on my toes, though I did call the resolution to the romance struggles at about the halfway mark. I loved the fleshing out of Ghizon, both its people and its societal structure, and the Sci-Fi and Fantasy elements mixing together gave a unique flavor to the series, even if I would have liked more details on how that tech came about in a magical society.
In the end, it all comes back to the lack of details. There were just so many things that didn't click for me, like how many Ghizoni there were (hundreds? thousands?!) hiding in Yiyo, how many Macazi were sneaking through the Central District together, how old the Chancellor and his family were, the ammount of emphasis placed on this long-eyelashed scientist who is unceremoniously dropped, and just the nitty gritty of potions and magic and technology and lead and—it's a lot. And that's not even mentioning my dissatisfaction with how Bri and Grays in general are treated in the end, cause that whole plan came out sounding very segregationist and short-sighted to me.
And I'm sorry if I'm coming off pedantic or petty in my focus on these details. I get that this book really wasn't written for me, and I'm probably bringing a whole lot of baggage and desires into a story that wasn't asking for it. But I think it's because I care. I really did see a lot of things I liked in this series, and I just wish they all came together into something I loved. As it stands, I hope some of my thoughts were helpful for future projects, and I wish the author the best.
Overall, despite all the problems I had, I'd still definitely recommend this series. I think there are some great messages for younger readers about overcoming adversity and finding inner strength, of forgiveness and mercy, and of learning from the past and moving forward. I can't say I loved everything about these books, but I'm sure others will see things that I didn't and connect to the story in ways I couldn't. There's definitely an audience for this series, it just didn't happen to include me this time. If there's ever another book set in Ghizon, I'll probably check it out, but in the meantime I'll be seeing what other fantasy worlds have in store for me.
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